Georgia GOP arrives in 'conservative fantasyland' at convention, embracing the far right
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This commentary is by opinion columnist Adam Van Brimmer.
Savannah’s fellow Georgia border town, Columbus, is known as the “Fountain City,” a nod to the many water features installed along the city’s streets during the early 20th century.
This weekend, though, Columbus takes on a new nickname: Conservative fantasyland.
The Georgia GOP’s annual convention is June 9 and 10 at the Columbus Georgia Convention & Trade Center. This year’s gathering doubles as a hostile takeover of the organization by far-right activists, with talk of instituting a conservative litmus test for members and candidates and scheduled speeches from former President Donald Trump, failed Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, election conspiracy theorist Garland Favorito and U.S. Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene.
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The meetings are sure to be long on grievance and short on policy refinement and direction. This will be a Trump 2024 campaign rally and another chance to affirm the Big Lie with Lake and Taylor Greene auditioning to be Trump’s running mate.
It will be conservative fantasyland, a moniker recently coined by a delusional bigot who knows of what she speaks, Taylor Greene.
Denial ain't just a river ...
The gathering is so antithetical to what could mean future success for Georgia Republicans that top officials won’t attend. Gov. Brian Kemp won’t be there. Neither will Georgia House Speaker Jon Burns, Attorney General Chris Carr or Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
The last two elections have convinced rational Georgia Republicans that the politics of fear and loathing are losers in this state, both in the general election and the GOP primary. In 2020, Democrats won both the presidential and U.S. Senate votes. In 2022, far-right and Trump-backed candidates were routed in the Republican primary. Of the two Trumpsters who advanced, Herschel Walker and Burt Jones, Walker was the lone GOP nominee to lose in the general election.
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If the definition of insanity is to do the same thing again and again and expect different results, the definition of fantasyland is believing that going to greater extremes will better the chances of success. It won’t, and by narrowing your focus, you appeal to an ever-shrinking constituency at the expense of everyone else.
Somehow, the state party missed that memo.
More voices, not less
The Georgia Republican Assembly, a coalition of far-right activist organizations, is co-opting the party. Among the priorities the GRA is pushing is a proposal that would give Georgia GOP delegates the power to block candidates for office that they deem to be “traitors.”
In politics and government, Georgia needs more voices, not fewer. Suppressing those who don’t echo the party line ensures idealogues go unchallenged and will move the state and the country farther to the fringes, be it right or left.
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Kemp is far from a moderate yet he realizes the iciness of the slope the state party is treading. He’s established his own conservative political apparatus that could supplant the Georgia GOP should it slip farther into fantasyland. Sooner or later even the hard-liners will realize the folly of rallying behind candidates who can’t win elections. Then they’ll turn to Kemp and other Republicans who have broader appeal because of their focus on policies that make a difference in voters’ lives.
Why so many conservatives remain in denial about this reality is mystifying. Reveling in one’s anger and angst is unhealthy and does not promote good government. Perhaps attendees at the Georgia GOP convention would do well to go for a walk around Columbus and spend some time in contemplation near the soothing water features of the Fountain City.
Anything to escape fantasyland.
Contact Van Brimmer avanbrimmer@savannahnow.com or via Twitter @SavannahOpinion.
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Georgia GOP convention embraces Trump, far right Republican politics
