International Courant
Former President Donald Trump on Friday made his second cease in battleground Georgia this week to survey the devastation of Hurricane Helene, the place he was joined by Georgia’s Republican Governor Brian Kemp for the primary time since 2020.
In the course of the Friday cease, Trump and Kemp — who beforehand had a frosty relationship — obtained a briefing on the devastation of Hurricane Helene earlier than delivering remarks to the press in Evans, Georgia. Greater than 200 individuals have been killed by Hurricane Helene, which precipitated devastation in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee.
In the course of the remarks, Trump heaped reward on Kemp after he mercilessly focused him and his spouse a number of months in the past.
“It is nice,” Trump mentioned of his relationship with Kemp.
Republican presidential candidate, former President Donald Trump, shakes fingers with Georgia Governor Brian Kemp after talking at a short lived shelter whereas visiting areas affected by Hurricane Helene, October 4, 2024, in Evans, Georgia.
Evan Vucci/AP
“We work collectively. Now we have all the time labored very nicely collectively, very, very nicely,” Trump mentioned.
Kemp instantly walked out after Trump completed his remarks earlier than reporters might shout questions at him.
Earlier than the occasion, Trump visited the Emergency Operations Heart for Columbia County after arriving in Augusta, Georgia, the place he participated in a briefing on emergency administration and greeted volunteers and first responders. Kemp sat subsequent to Trump in the course of the briefing.
The joint look got here after Trump’s go to earlier this week, when he injected politics into his day and falsely claimed that Kemp was unable to achieve President Joe Biden about federal help, regardless that Kemp confirmed earlier within the day that he had met with the president spoken.
Whereas Friday’s feedback weren’t a marketing campaign occasion, it’s notable that the state’s common Republican governor appeared alongside Trump after selecting to not be a part of Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris throughout their visits to the state earlier this week.
Kemp praised Trump on the occasion on Friday, saying he appreciated Trump for serving to “maintain the nation’s consideration on these hurting in Georgia.”
Republican presidential candidate, former President Donald Trump, listens as Georgia Governor Brian Kemp speaks throughout a go to to a short lived shelter whereas visiting areas affected by Hurricane Helene, October 4, 2024, in Evans, Georgia.
Evan Vucci/AP
Kemp led a fundraiser in Atlanta for Trump in late August, an indication of how Kemp is working to re-elect Trump regardless of the previous president’s earlier campaign towards him.
The previous president had publicly and repeatedly criticized Kemp in recent times and even satisfied former Republican Senator David Perdue to launch a main bid towards him in 2022, which was unsuccessful, after Kemp refused to provide in to Trump’s efforts to overturn the state’s election outcomes. in 2020.
In latest weeks, nevertheless, Trump appeared to finish his grievances with the favored Republican governor after seeing a efficiency Kemp did it on Fox Informationwherein Kemp criticized Biden and Harris and promised to assist encourage Republicans to vote for Trump on Election Day.
“I additionally need to thank Governor Brian Kemp, who’s working across the clock to get this concern resolved. He works laborious across the clock,” Trump mentioned Monday of the governor’s response to Hurricane Helene, throughout a go to to Valdosta, Georgia.
The feedback marked a pointy change in rhetoric from the final time Trump campaigned in Georgia, the place he repeatedly lashed out at Kemp and his spouse.
“He is a nasty man, a disloyal man, and he is a really common governor,” Trump mentioned earlier in August at a marketing campaign rally in Atlanta, simply days earlier than he started praising Georgia’s governor and the governor who had cash for him collected.
An unidentified man paddles a canoe to rescue residents and their belongings in a flooded house advanced after Hurricane Helene handed by means of the realm in Atlanta on September 27, 2024.
Ron Harris/AP
Trump’s change in angle towards Kemp highlights the significance of successful the battleground state for the Trump marketing campaign after Harris took excessive of the Democratic ticket earlier this summer season and shook up the presidential election.
The race in Georgia stays extremely shut, with Trump polling at 48.4% and Harris at 47.1%, in keeping with 538’s most up-to-date polling common.
Additionally throughout Friday’s press convention, ABC Information’ Rachel Scott requested Trump if he acknowledges that the economic system is doing nicely because the inventory market and job development soar, to which Trump replied, “No, it does not.”
“Inflation is – it has destroyed our economic system. It is one of many large issues we’ve,” the previous president mentioned, later including, “we’ve to get the roles for the individuals who have lived right here for a very long time, and so they’re nice, nice residents of our nation.”
Within the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, ABC Information’ “Good Morning America” will present 5 days of particular protection titled “Southeast Robust: Assist After Helene” (#SoutheastStrongABC), protecting communities throughout the Southeast affected by Hurricane Helene and the pressing scenario is delivered to consideration. efforts to assist them recuperate.
Trump and Georgia Governor Kemp hardly ever seem collectively to evaluate the injury from Hurricane Helene
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