By Vaughn R. Wilson
Georgia Lieutenant Governor Geoff Duncan was a guest commentator on CNN’s coverage of the Georgia Senate Runoff between The Rev. Raphael Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker. Duncan didn’t hold his tongue at all. He lambasted former U.S. President Donald Trump for personally picking Walker for the race. He pointed out that several of Trump’s handpicked candidates failed miserably in the mid-term elections. He would emphatically call for the Republican party to distance itself from Trump.
As I nervously watched the election roll into the 11:00 PM hour before it was finally projected that Warnock had held his seat and would be granted a full six-year term, I couldn’t help but ponder if many Democrats realized that there was a war going on inside the GOP.
In 2016, Donald Trump stormed through the Republican primaries, earning the party’s nomination. In his wake, his criticism and ousting of GOP leaders like Jeb Bush, Mitt Romney and others was the first tell-tell sign that he was not a party traditionalist. His criticism of war hero John McCain was appalling, even to those in the Democratic party who knew McCain’s sacrifice for our country. His erratic style was something different and it energized the party, so traditionalists were forced to jump on the Trump bandwagon as to gain control of the White House.
In my view it was much simpler than that. Trump was the anti-Obama. Obama was much hated by the GOP as he was liberal in his views, was an outsider to the political process and because he was Black. He may have been the most polarizing figure as U.S. President before Trump. Trump took the cake as his unpredictable style crushed everyone in his path…Republican or Democrat.
Democrats loathed Trump once he got in office as they figured out that he was self-serving much more than he was serving the GOP. As his term went on, it appeared everyone was looking for a break from his rhetoric. The problem was no one from the Republican party would check him. Everyone was afraid of the wrath that he exuded on all who challenged him.
For Blacks, the Trump era was dangerous. He emboldened hate groups, growing them to epic proportions. He applauded hate groups and often appeared to support them. Attacks on blacks were frequent and often deadly. As a father, the level of rhetoric he incited was cause for sleepless nights over the safety of my own family. It felt like Blacks were trapped in the Trump Society in America. With him appointing so many judges during his term, there were no guarantees that a fair trial was even possible.
After being defeated by President Joe Biden in 2020, Trump would retreat to his Mara Lago home, but his power did not immediately wain. He was still feared by members of the GOP. This midterm however, you could see a shift. Probably the biggest challenger to Trump’s throne is a former ally…Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
