Gov. Brian Kemp Unloads on Trump Over COVID Response: ‘He May Not Remember, but I Sure as Hell Do’

[mystery-ak]

Gov. Brian Kemp Unloads on Trump Over COVID Response: ‘He May Not Remember, but I Sure as Hell Do’
By Jeff Charles | 4:05 PM on September 09, 2023

Are the gloves starting to come off? If a recent post on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, is any indication, high-profile Republicans and conservatives are starting to attack former President Donald Trump over his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic while he was in office.

Even before the primary season began in earnest, many speculated that his support of lockdown orders and vaccines could become his Achilles heel. But so far, few on the right have raised the issue as they have been hesitant to attack Trump directly. Things appear to be changing, as Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp posted a response to a video the former president made in which he decried leftists trying to bring back mask mandates.

In the video, Trump said that “left wing lunatics are trying very hard to bring back COVID lockdowns and mandates with all of their sudden fearmongering” about the emergence of new coronavirus variants. “They want to restart the COVID hysteria so they can justify more lockdowns, more censorship, more illegal dropboxes, more mail in ballots, and trillions of dollars in payoffs” in the leadup to the upcoming election.

In a post on Saturday, Kemp wrote:

    The fact is former president Trump led the opposition to my decision to reopen Georgia - the first state in the country to do so.

    While he listened to Fauci & parroted media talking points, I listened to hardworking Georgians.

    He may not remember, but I sure as hell do.

more
https://redstate.com/jeffc/2023/09/09/gov-brian-kemp-unloads-on-trump-over-covid-response-he-may-not-remember-but-i-sure-as-hell-do-n2163615

[Maj. Bill Martin]

Awaiting the usual excuses as to why this wasn't Trump's fault, he just listened to the experts and nobody would have done differently, etc. etc....

Except there were governors who did go against the recommendations of the Trump Administration, Kemp being one of them.  They weren't experts either, but they figured it out.  So why couldn't Trump?

Everyone - including Trump - gets a mulligan for the first month or so because there wasn't much data.  But after that, there was data that you didn't have to be an expert to interpret.  Specifically, there was very little to worry about if you didn't have co-morbidities, and there were epidemiologists right from the start who said that locking down the healthy was asinine.  The mortality rate also was much lower than was predicted when the restrictions were initially justified.

Trump wanted to play "the middle" so that nobody could criticize him rather than acting as many other conservatives encouraged him to do.

[Fishrrman]

Wait a minute.

Seems I remember that early on, Mr. Trump came before the cameras and said that it would be up to the governors of the 50 states as to how to implement most of their pandemic policies.

It was because of such presidential policy that governors like Kristi Noem and Ron DeSantis kept their states relatively "free" while other governors in blue states doubled down.

Indeed, members of this forum were praising Mr. Trump for that decision back then. People here have short memories, but I do not.

What is Mr. Kemp upset about?
Did he not have the same powers and options as governor, as did Ms. Noem and Mr. DeSantis?

[cato potatoe]

Wait a minute.

Seems I remember that early on, Mr. Trump came before the cameras and said that it would be up to the governors of the 50 states as to how to implement most of their pandemic policies.

It was because of such presidential policy that governors like Kristi Noem and Ron DeSantis kept their states relatively "free" while other governors in blue states doubled down.

Indeed, members of this forum were praising Mr. Trump for that decision back then. People here have short memories, but I do not.

What is Mr. Kemp upset about?
Did he not have the same powers and options as governor, as did Ms. Noem and Mr. DeSantis?

April 13, 2020

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump claimed the “total” authority Monday to decide how and when to reopen the economy after weeks of tough social distancing guidelines aimed at fighting the new coronavirus. But governors from both parties were quick to push back, noting they have primary responsibility for ensuring public safety in their states and would decide when it’s safe to begin a return to normal operations.

https://apnews.com/article/virus-outbreak-donald-trump-ap-top-news-politics-health-ba9578acf23bdb03fd51a2b81f640560

[LMAO]

Donald Trump was also highly critical of Governor Kemp for opening up his state too early

[Wingnut]

Get him Kemp.   Trump, Welcome to reality you bitch.