Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee on Wednesday responded to an attack last week by former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, who called Lee a RINO.
“I can’t really explain what that was about,” Lee said, according to The Associated Press. “But, yeah, I mean, it doesn’t change anything about how I feel about what we’re doing or where we’re going. And, everybody has their own style. The president has his. And, you know, I certainly am hopeful that his style leads to him continuing to lead and be elected. But I can’t really explain what happened there.”
Lee told reporters that he “absolutely” still supported the former president.
Trump’s social media post came a few hours after the polls closed for primary elections in Tennessee on Aug. 1. Trump and Lee had endorsed opposing candidates for a Northeast Tennessee seat in the state Senate. Trump’s candidate won the primary.
“I went 10 for 10 on endorsements tonight in the Great State of Tennessee, including Bobby Harshbarger, running against a strong, long-term incumbent supported by RINO Governor Bill Lee,” Trump’s social media post said, using the acronym for Republicans in name only. “A Great Day for Tennessee — now on to a complete and total victory in November. MAGA 2024!”
Lee had endorsed state Sen. Jon Lundberg, R-Bristol, who had backed the governor’s unsuccessful school voucher bill in his capacity as the influential chair of Senate Committee on Education. Trump endorsed Harshbarger, the successful challenger, a Kingsport pharmacist and anti-voucher candidate who is the son of U.S. Rep. Diana Harshbarger, R-Kingsport.
Two nights later, Trump in Atlanta attacked a neighboring red-state sitting governor, Georgia’s Brian Kemp.
Trump called the governor “little Brian” and called him “a bad guy” and a “disloyal guy.” Trump, who lost in Georgia to Democrat Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election, has argued the results were rigged. Kemp did not go along with those claims, which were also rejected by Trump’s own administration, the courts, the Electoral College and eventually Congress.
Kemp responded to Trump’s attacks by suggesting Trump should focus on winning in November and refrain from “petty personal insults, attacking fellow Republicans or dwelling on the past,” according to Fox News.
“I think you can’t look at it in isolation,” said Tony Smith, a University of California, Irvine, professor of politics and law. “He spent a lot of time bashing Gov. Brian Kemp, who is more popular in the state than he is.”
Although Tennessee is not considered a battleground state, Georgia is, which makes the comments about Kemp more problematic.
“He doesn’t fundamentally understand how important governors are for a get-out-the-vote reelection campaign,” Smith said.
The dispute speaks to a broader problem in the Republican Party, said pollster and Vanderbilt University political science professor John Geer.
“There’s a kind of purity test he’s applying in all kinds of dimensions that will lead to a whole bunch of figures being publicly scolded,” Geer said.
The 40th U.S president, Republican Ronald Reagan, famously touted an 11th commandment in his party, saying, “Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican.”
Trump has been willing to criticize fellow Republicans, including his own former vice president, Mike Pence, who, like Kemp, did not go along with Trump’s efforts to undo the 2020 election results.
“This is a strategy based on his personal beliefs,” Geer said. “It may prove right, he may win. But we only have two parties, and each party has to have a pretty big tent to be competitive.”
Contact William D’Urso at wdurso@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6125.