In a nonstop political news cycle known for surprises, nothing could have prepared the Biden and Trump presidential campaigns for the events of the last six days.
Last Saturday brought the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump. With a bloody face and raised first, Trump survived the attack and appeared at the Republican National Convention just two days later with a bandaged ear and a newly unified party cheering him on.
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
The shooting led both Trump and rival President Joe Biden to call for national unity. The plea seemed to silence the talk among nervous Democrats about Biden leaving the race amid concerns over his age and mental fitness.
The RNC that followed has been a display of agreement among Republicans more accustomed to infighting. Even Gov. Brian Kemp was a constant presence on television from Milwaukee. He repeatedly called for Biden’s defeat this week, three years after battling with Trump over the former president’s attempt to overturn the 2020 Georgia election.
Days of seeing a resurgent Republican Party in Milwaukee rekindled fears among Democrats that keeping a declining Biden at the top of their ticket could lead to a blowout in their House and Senate races. A BET interview of Biden struggling to name Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, and finally calling him “Ketanji Brown,” only made it worse. Brown is a U.S. Supreme Court justice.
Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC
Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC
The week ends with Republicans riding a wave of confidence, more unified than they’ve been in eight years, and Democrats scrambling to understand their next steps.
Will Biden step back as their nominee? Is Vice President Kamala Harris their only alternative? Is it too late to contain the damage of this extraordinary week?
As one Georgia Democrat told us Thursday as the RNC wrapped up, “I’m scared to see the bounce out of this.”
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Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
RECORD-SETTING SPEECH. Former President Donald Trump’s Republican nomination acceptance address started with an emotional description of nearly losing his life in an assassination attempt a week ago. “I had God on my side,” he said.
But after promising a speech that would unite the country, he returned to the familiar, often acerbic, tone and topics that mark his many rallies.
He called former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, “crazy;” labeled Washington, D.C., “a horrible killing field;” and referred to COVID-19 as “the China virus.” He claimed “millions and millions” of immigrants had come to the country from prisons and mental institutions. And he said Democrats were “cheating on elections.”
It was the longest speech in convention history at 1 hour, 33 minutes, making former President Bill Clinton’s 33-minute rambler in 1988 seem like a crisp preamble. But it didn’t seem to matter by the end as delegates cheered him on for a third and likely final GOP nomination.
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Credit: Seeger Gray/AJC
Credit: Seeger Gray/AJC
WATCH PARTY. A Republican National Convention watch party, hosted by the GOP parties in Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton and Gwinnett counties, drew long-time supporters of former President Donald Trump as well as voters curious about his message following the assassination attempt. Many more attendees showed interest in seeing how many the party’s “big tent” can hold.
Our colleague Michelle Baruchman has more on the gathering.
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Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC
Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC
RNC NOTEBOOK. The “Politically Georgia” team is on the ground in Milwaukee providing you news and updates from the Republican National Convention. Some highlights from the convention’s final day:
- Former President Donald Trump, in his nomination acceptance speech, said that he recently met with the parents of Laken Riley, the nursing student killed in Athens in February. An undocumented immigrant now faces charges of murder. “She was so proud of being first in her class,” the former president said. “(She) was out for a jog on the campus of the University of Georgia when she was assaulted, beaten and horrifically killed.”
Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC
Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC
- U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene appeared to be letting bygones be bygones as she posted a photo with former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich, noting they were seated near one another on Friday night. A reporter for Business Insider noted that it was just a few months ago that Gingrich was comparing Greene to an obnoxious relative.
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Credit: TNS
Credit: TNS
STILL THE ONE. Despite a flood of articles detailing high-level efforts to push President Joe Biden out of the presidential race, deputy campaign manager Quentin Fulks told reporters at a news conference that Biden remains committed to running for reelection.
“Our campaign is not working through any scenarios in which President Biden is not at the top of the ticket,” Fulks said. “He is going to be the Democratic nominee.”
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Credit: Courtesy photo
Credit: Courtesy photo
PROJECT 2025 PROTEST. Savannah Mayor Van Johnson and two elected Democrats spoke Thursday at a news conference organized by President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign. Johnson, along with state Rep. Anne Allen Westbrook, D-Savannah, and Chatham Commissioner Adot Whitely, denounced the conservative platform known as Project 2025, and also bemoaned Trump’s choice for a vice presidential running mate, U.S. Sen. JD Vance of Ohio.
According to reporting from the Savannah Morning News, Johnson labeled Project 2025 a “radical agenda” and said it “makes America bad again.” Johnson was among Georgia’s Electoral College electors following the 2020 election and is a delegate to the 2024 Democratic National Convention next month.
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BISHOP SPEAKS. Ahead of former President Donald Trump accepting the Republican nomination for president on Thursday night, U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop, D-Albany, offered his own critique on what another Trump term would mean for America.
Speaking at the opening of a campaign office for President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris in Columbus, the long-serving congressman made an impassioned plea to save American democracy by voting against Trump.
“We don’t want a dictatorship. We don’t want retribution. We’re not trying to get revenge. We’re trying to have a better life for everybody,” Bishop said.
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Credit: Seeger Gray/AJC
Credit: Seeger Gray/AJC
AIR WARS. With the Republican nominating convention over, Democrats are taking the offensive on one of their core 2024 arguments.
The campaign launched a new ad linking former President Donald Trump’s support for abortion limits and declines in Black maternal health.
The ad features Shawana Moore, a nurse practitioner from Atlanta who says patients and health care providers have been mired in “fear and uncertainty” since Trump’s three U.S. Supreme Court appointments helped overturn Roe v. Wade.
The ad runs ahead of the two-year anniversary of Georgia’s anti-abortion law taking effect. The spot will air in Atlanta and a half-dozen other large cities in battleground states and is underwritten by a $50 million campaign ad blitz for July.
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Credit: TNS
Credit: TNS
RAISING CASH. More political fundraising reports for the period ending June 30 are coming in, and the AJC’s Phoebe Quinton took note of the hauls by some of Georgia’s most prominent members of Congress.
U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff raised almost $1.3 million in the quarter that began April 1, and of that more than 60% were small-dollar donations. Ossoff also raised about $400,000 more in the second quarter than he did in the first, an indication that he is ramping up his fundraising efforts ahead of a 2026 reelection campaign.
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Rome, remains a prolific fundraiser, collecting over $1 million in the second quarter. More than half, about 55%, were small-dollar donations.
And Georgia’s controversial meme king, U.S. Rep. Mike Collins, raised over $230,000 in the fundraising period. That is an increase from the $175,000 the Jackson Republican raised in the first few months of the year and an indication his spicy social media posts may be resonating with his Republican base.
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Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC
Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC
LISTEN UP. The “Politically Georgia” show airs live from Milwaukee today for the final episode from this week’s Republican National Convention.
The hosts give a full recap of former President Donald Trump’s nomination acceptance speech and discuss the highlights and lowlights from the week.
Listen live at 10 a.m. on WABE 90.1 or follow “Politically Georgia” on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
In case you missed Thursday’s show, U.S. Rep. Mike Collins, R-Jackson, responded to criticism about his social media post accusing President Joe Biden of ordering the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump. And he talked about why he thinks JD Vance was the right pick to join Trump on the GOP ticket as the vice presidential nominee.
Also state Sen. Josh McLaurin, D-Atlanta, shared how his national profile has risen because of his old ties to Vance. The two were law school roommates. McLaurin offers thoughts about Vance’s first few days as the vice presidential nominee as well.
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Credit: AJC
Credit: AJC
LIVE FROM SAVANNAH. The “Politically Georgia” tour is making a stop on the Georgia coast. The team will be in Savannah on Monday for a live taping featuring U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock. The Democrat is a Savannah native.
We are currently at capacity with RSVPs for the event, which begins at 5:30 p.m. But if you want to attend, add your name to the waitlist for last-minute openings.
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Credit: TNS
Credit: TNS
ABORTION POLITICS. The issue of abortion was hardly mentioned at this week’s Republican National Convention. But Democrats are determined to make reproductive rights a central campaign issue.
As part of its effort to tie the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade to former President Donald Trump’s first term, our AJC colleague Maya T. Prabhu reports that President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign has organized a panel discussion this afternoon. The event features Candiace Dillard Bassett, an Atlanta native and star of the reality TV show “The Real Housewives of Potomac,” along with national and local abortion rights activists.
“If given the chance, Donald Trump would go much further,” the campaign said in a press release. “With JD Vance as his running mate, there’s no doubt that he would ban abortion nationwide, without the help of Congress or the courts.”
The Biden campaign has made abortion rights a central point of the Democrat’s case against the former president. Trump appointed three conservative justices during his term, all of whom voted to repeal Roe v. Wade.
Saturday marks two years since Georgia’s abortion law took effect. The legislation restricts the procedure in most cases once a doctor can detect fetal cardiac activity, which is typically around six weeks of pregnancy and before many women know they’re pregnant.
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Credit: Ziyu Julian Zhu/AJC
Credit: Ziyu Julian Zhu/AJC
DEMOCRACY DEFENSE UNITED. We told you last month about former Govs. Roy Barnes and Nathan Deal teaming up with former U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss and former Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin to form Democracy Defense United, a bipartisan initiative meant to debunk election fraud lies. Barnes and Franklin are Democrats while Deal and Chambliss are Republicans.
The quartet is out with its debut opinion commentary today in the wake of the Republican National Convention. The piece focuses on the lack of courage shown by elected officials, political parties, some media members and social media influencers in their refusal to denounce misinformation due to political ambition and greed.
More from the commentary:
Our mission is to seek and amplify truth, defend and preserve the democratic process, and ensure that generations to come can think critically and choose leadership wisely. This goes beyond the November election. We are looking decades into the future.
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TODAY IN WASHINGTON:
- President Joe Biden has cleared his schedule of all public events after testing positive for COVID-19.
- The House and Senate are in recess all week as Republicans convene in Milwaukee.
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DOBBS DEATH. Conservative TV personality Lou Dobbs died Thursday at age 78. Dobbs worked for CNN as a business correspondent and anchor before joining Fox News, where he gained a reputation as a strong conservative voice. He was a vocal supporter of former President Donald Trump.
Dobbs drew criticism — and lost two jobs — for propagating two debunked conspiracy theories. First, that former President Barack Obama was not born in the United States and not eligible for the presidency. And secondly, that Trump’s 2020 defeat was due to a rigged election.
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AS ALWAYS, Politically Georgia readers are some of our favorite tipsters. Send your best scoop, gossip and insider info to greg.bluestein@ajc.com, tia.mitchell@ajc.com, patricia.murphy@ajc.com and adam.vanbrimmer@ajc.com.
