Guest writer

OPINION | GEORGE S. SMITH: Cue funeral dirge

The GOP went down in Georgia

The Republican Party, the entity associated with Ronald Reagan, the Double Bushes and Donald J. Trump, was jerked to Jesus on Jan. 6, 2021, with the defeat of not one but two Republican senatorial candidates in the Deep South state of Georgia.

David "Pious" Perdue and Kelly "Billionaire" Loeffler were sent to the political showers by Rev. Raphael Warnock, an in-your-face Black activist, and Jon Ossoff, a 33-year-old progressive Jew who is an investigative journalist and documentary producer.

What the hell is that all about? Democrats won? In Georgia?

Four words are the sole reasons for this stunning political upset, and the reasons the U.S. Senate swapped from Republican to Democratic Party control.

The four words: Donald Trump. Stacey Abrams.

President Donald Trump did everything he thought he had to do to make sure the two incumbent Republican senators were re-elected.

He verbally pounded their opponents, tweeted constantly about the race and how important it was to his agenda (forgetting/ignoring that he's on his way out), made several appearances at rallies where he juiced the effort that indicated he was promoting their candidacies and raised money he said would help their advertising efforts in the runoff.

Therein lies a big part of the problem. Trump does not know when to shut up, when to turn off his verbose tweeter and let nature take its course.

He badmouthed the Democratic candidates to the point that some on-the-fence-sitters felt sorry for them and cast pity votes; at rallies he talked about the injustices he has suffered rather than concentrate on Perdue's and Loeffler's re-election efforts; he raised money, but a lion's share went into his personal "campaign" chest.

The announcement in the weeks before the election that Loeffler had reached billionaire status and that Perdue had become even richer during the economic downturn did not help their chances.

But, on the other side of the political equation, there is Abrams, who saw voter-suppression ploys by the state Republican Party eliminate her chance to be Georgia governor in 2018. Rather than wailing and whining about that obvious injustice, she decided to change the system with her get-out-the-vote campaign.

Her efforts resulted in historic voter registration and turnout, which led to not only two Democratic senators from the state being elected, but also in the control of the U.S. Senate moving from the GOP to the Democratic Party.

Furthermore, by kowtowing to Trump's whims and wiles, the party he most recently adopted finds itself on the slippery slope to maintaining any national significance.

Do you see it? Do you see the writing in the Capitol rotunda?

There is no more Republican Party; it does not exist. There is the Party of Trump, and there are the other so-called Republicans who believe in fiscal responsibility and compassionate conservatism.

Divided, they have no concentrated power; working on opposite agendas, they are murmurs in a hurricane. Shrinking their base instead of becoming more inclusive guarantees--guarantees!--they become an also-ran in any national discussion or election.

If you are a Donald Trump supporter, give him kudos for starting a new political party that will continue to have a divisive impact in isolated political races, but is mere noisy and noxious verbal flatulence in races and issues of national importance.

If you believe the Democrats stole the 2020 presidential election and the Georgia senatorial races, you are double-dead-dog wrong. Blame two people for that political miracle: Donald Trump and Stacey Abrams.

And all of those elements can be directly attributed as a big part of the reason his hand-picked candidates lost, and Democrats control the executive and legislative branches of government beginning Jan. 20, 2021.

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George S. Smith of Sutton is a former longtime Arkansas editor and publisher.

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