[King:] Again, A reminder, we're waiting for the president to speak. You see the room is lit up there in Kansas City. That's the Veterans of Foreign Wars annual convention. We'll take you there when it happens. Back to politics now. Now, Georgia's Republican primary for governor is today and it is a Trump feast. The secretary of state Brian Kemp has the official Trump endorsement. The president re-tweeting that endorsement today. Kemp says the president getting involved is like gasoline on a fire.
[Brian Kemp , Georgia Gubernatorial Candidate:] The president and I line up on a lot of things that we believe in, securing our borders. You know, I have plans to track and deport criminal illegals, stop and dismantle gangs like MS-13 that have become a distribution hub to our state for the Mexican drug cartels and other things putting Georgians first. That's been what my whole campaign is about. Somebody up there fighting for those Georgians out there that are still struggling from the Obama recession.
[King:] The lieutenant governor in the state Casey Cagle says he's more like Trump, and he's trying to explain away why his rival got the big endorsement. Quote, the president decided to do this because, Cagle says because Washington insiders who have weaseled their way into his ear convinced them to make a power play. Why? So they'll have a governor who answers to them instead of to Georgians. OK.
[Jonathan Martin, National Political Correspondent, The New York Times:] One of those Washington insiders used to be Atlanta insider. His name is Sonny Perdue, he's the ag secretary. And according to our reporting, he is the one that actually sealed the deal with the president after a cabinet meeting last week in the Oval Office. Now, the larger question of who else helped that cause and sort of pushed the president to endorse Kemp is still a matter of some debate. But look, if you're Cagle, you're in a bad spot, right because the president is so popular with primary voters. You can't, you know, take on him after he, you know, supports the other guy. So you have to find something to say here. And of course, what typically is said is, it wasn't Trump but somebody got to Trump, right? He's being misled. I mean, how many times have we heard this where the
[Martin:] It's like Reagan, right? They're in his ears. The swamp types are sort of like leading him astray on this one. God forbid it's his fault, you know. It got to been a
[King:] But let's go through that very point. First, to the point of the primary endorsement, how much it matters. The Atlanta Journal Constitution asked Republican voters in Georgia, how are you going to vote in this primary? Twenty-five percent say for some
[Kemp:] And two things. If you're going to date one of my daughters
[Unidentified Male:] Respect.
[Kemp:] And?
[Unidentified Male:] A healthy appreciation for the Second Amendment, sir.
[Kemp:] We're going to get along just fine. I got a big truck, just in case I need to round up criminal illegals and take them home myself. Yes, I just said that. I'm Brian Kemp. If you want a politically incorrect conservative, that's me.
[Martin:] It's not Sacha Baron Cohen, this is actually the candidate. That's not the
[King:] Break down the nuance there for us, Dan.
[Balz:] Yes, well, forget nuance. We've long since gone past nuance. The other point about this race is the concern among Republicans about how difficult this race could be in November, as they are deciding who their nominee is going to be. The Republican Governor's Association lashed out at Stacey Abrams, the Democratic nominee with a very tough ad in which they linked her to Nancy Pelosi and Hillary Clinton and say that she's a dangerous radical. So we can see what the argument is going to be going forward. They're going to be nervous about who they get coming out of this primary today.
[Phillip:] You couldn't end up with a more opposite situation. I mean, I think either in some ways if either of the Republican candidates go up against someone like Stacey Abrams, an African-American Democrat, going into some of these suburbs, it could not be a greater contrast. So it will be one of those tests of what are people actually looking for? What are these moderate voters in the suburbs concerned about? Are they concerned about Trump's political correctness or lack thereof? Or are more are foundational issues going to be at play here? Like, you know, sort of like the politics of a southern state.
[King:] As we pay so much attention we're based in Washington as we pay so much attention and we look at the Trump effect. To the point earlier, can the Democrats take the House back. If so, by how much? Will the Senate stay Republican or do the Democrats really
[Martin:] Yes, and Democrats have not won the governorship of Georgia in 20 years. It was '98 was the last time. And before then, they had basically never, never won it or lost I should say. So I think Georgia will get a lot of the attention because of the fact that Stacey Abrams would make history as the first black woman. Because Brian Kemp could be the nominee with those kinds of kind of Trumpian ads. But here's the other reason why. Georgia at some point is going to be a swing state on the national level. And maybe not '20, but certainly '24.
[Balz:] To that point, there are six counties in the United States that had gone at least four and probably a number more than that for Republicans. Four in a row in presidential that flipped to Hillary Clinton in 2016. Three of those are in the Atlanta suburbs. Three of those six counties across the country. So that's an indication of how that's changing. I mean, those changing demographics in those areas and the question will be, can Stacey Abrams energize that kind of vote in the fall.
[King:] It will strengthen the suburbs that gave Republicans their electoral lock in the Reagan post-Reagan years and now the suburbs
[Martin:] And one final point on Georgia. There's so much talk now about Democrats moving to the left and, you know, embracing in some cases sort of Democratic socialism. Here's the irony. [12:50 00] If Kemp is the nominee in Georgia, Stacey Abrams, who has run an unapologetic liberal campaign at least in the primary, she's going to be the quiet favorite of a lot of the business crowd, Delta, Coke. The big corporate players in Atlanta may be more comfortable with her than with somebody like Brian Kemp. If you look at those kinds of ads and demeanor, man, if you're a Fortune 500 company in Atlanta and you're trying to bring more business and employees to your state and that city, it's going to be a harder sell. So watch for that. The progressive champion, Stacey Abrams is the quiet favorite potentially of the Atlanta business crowd.
[King:] It's a great point. We'll watch that. It's another question of Trump and Trump-like effects and I think particularly
[Unidentified Male:] The year 1959 brought
[King:] That's Vice President Richard Nixon in Moscow for the American National Exhibition, showing the soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev around a model home filled with color T.Vs and other modern American gadgets. That little walk soon deteriorated into a heated argument in the kitchen over the
[Richard Nixon, Former President Of The United States:] Every word that you have said has been taken down, and I will promise you that every word that you have said here will be reported in the United States, and they will see you say it on television.