NOTUS: “Kemp’s decision to push for his own candidate, despite an agreement with the White House to work together, is viewed as a ‘slap in the face.’”

This morning, Mike Collins, a MAGA extremist who has faced criticism for his “racist, antisemitic or xenophobic” comments, officially jumped in the Georgia U.S. Senate race – but his entrance so far has been overshadowed by Georgia Republicans’ increasingly messy and chaotic primary.

Collins’ entry follows a week full of intensifying “infighting” and tension among Georgia Republicans, including damning reporting from Fox News exposed a growing rift between Donald Trump and Brian Kemp as the two Republicans refuse to get on the same page about a “consensus candidate” and let the “proxy fight for the future of the Georgia GOP” continue in the Georgia Senate race. 

Read more below:

NOTUS: ‘Pissed Off Is an Understatement’: Inside the ‘Proxy War’ Between Brian Kemp and Donald Trump

• […] the détente may be wearing thin, as top lieutenants in Trump’s political orbit believe Kemp is going rogue in the Georgia Senate race.
  
• While no one strictly objected to Dooley, the message to Kemp was that he shouldn’t get involved without everyone signing off.
  
• “You think in Georgia they would’ve learned their lesson with someone tied to football. But apparently they haven’t,” one source close to Trump told NOTUS.
  
• Now Kemp’s decision to push for his own candidate, despite an agreement with the White House to work together, is viewed as a “slap in the face.”
  
• “People are pissed. Trump world is pissed,” a second source close to Trump’s political operation told NOTUS.
  
• “If he wanted to have a say in this, he should’ve just run.”
  
• “For Governor Kemp to go rogue like this shows he had no intention of ever wanting to work together. And we’re scratching our heads. It doesn’t make sense. Pissed off is an understatement.”
  
• One source with knowledge of the rift said Kemp seeming to jump the gun “all but guarantees Trump goes against Dooley.”

POLITICO: Playbook PM

• Collins’ announcement is a big blow for Gov. Brian Kemp, who desperately wanted to avoid a repeat of the GOP infighting over Trump’s nomination that ultimately cost the GOP control of the Senate in 2020.
  
• Collins and Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.) are “both pitching themselves as unapologetic MAGA warriors…”
  
• Derek Dooley, “a Kemp ally and political newcomer who’s expected to model his imminent campaign on the governor’s playbook.”
  
• Though Kemp may not have been looking for a fight, he’s certainly found one. 

• “[Republicans] wanted to find a Trump-Kemp candidate who had the backing of both, and they so far have not been able to do that.”
  
• “Brian Kemp appears to be pushing for Derek Dooley, whose dad was a famous coach at the University of Georgia, but he’s pretty much a political unknown, and that has a lot of people frustrated.”
  
• “It doesn’t seem like the ones likely to get President Trump’s endorsement is necessarily the candidate that Brian Kemp is backing.”