Former President Donald Trump may not be attending Erick Erickson's annual "The Gathering" event in Atlanta this weekend, but his presence and legal problems were still a persistent ghost hovering over his presidential primary rivals.
Even before Erickson started interviewing GOP presidential hopefuls on Friday, he told the audience that Trump's multiple indictments wouldn't be a question he'd ask of the candidates. And after his talk with Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) about topics that didn't include the former president, Erickson had a tongue-in-cheek remark.
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"Isn't it amazing what you can learn when you ask the candidates about the candidates' policies instead of asking about other people?" Erickson quipped.
The Peach State and its GOP leaders have been a persistent thorn in Trump's side after he lost the 2020 elections to President Joe Biden, lost the state's 16 electoral votes in 2020, meddled in the state's two senatorial races costing Republicans both seats, made an infamous call to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger pressuring him to "find" votes to overturn his Georgia loss, and unsuccessfully tried to unseat Gov. Brian Kemp (R-GA) in his 2022 reelection race. Trump's Georgia woes culminated this week when Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis indicted him and 18 others for allegedly interfering in the state's 2020 election results late Monday night.
Kemp told Erickson that although Willis is attempting to hold Trump's trial on March 4 of next year, in the middle of the GOP primary nominating contests, he doesn't believe that will happen. "One thing is certain about these indictments, and my mind in my opinion, this trial, despite what dates anybody's asking for, anything else, it is not going to happen before the election," Kemp said before stating that the GOP must look to the future in order to defeat President Joe Biden.
"It should be such an easy path for us to win the White House back, but if we are looking in the rearview mirror, and this is what my message has been to every candidate in the race, including former President Trump, and I first said this in Nashville at the RNC donor retreat, is we have to be focused on the future," Kemp added. "Not something that happened three years ago. We don't need to be focusing on stupid things that aren't going to happen before this election. We can deal with that later after we win."
The Georgia governor also cautioned the Republican Party that the Peach State was a critical battleground in the 2024 race. "The road to the White House is running through Georgia, y'all. If we don't win this state, we are not winning the White House," Kemp said.
Similarly, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley called for the GOP to move beyond Trump's leadership in order to win next year's presidential election. "I think that President Trump was the right president at the right time. I agree with so many of his policies, but at the end of the day, we have to win in November, and it is time to put that negativity and drama behind us," Haley said. "We can't keep talking about the past. We have got to talk about how we are going to take America to a new future that is full of peace and law and order and opportunities for our children. And in order to do that, we have to have a new conservative leader. We have to have a new person that's going to go forward and start giving us solutions."
Former Vice President Mike Pence claimed he was "proud" of the Trump-Pence administration but was looking forward to facing off against Trump on the debate stage.
"I always stood loyally by President Donald Trump until my oath to the Constitution required me to do otherwise," Pence said in reference to Trump pressuring him not to certify the 2020 electoral votes on Jan. 6, 2021. "But my differences with the president go far beyond that fateful day. And I hope to have a chance to debate them with him. Sometimes people ask me how do you envision debating Donald Trump? I say, I've debated Donald Trump a thousand times, just not what the cameras on."
Trump has repeatedly signaled he will not attend the Republican National Committee's first primary debate cosponsored with Fox News next Wednesday. The New York Times reported Trump will instead sit down with Tucker Carlson, the ousted Fox News prime-time host. An online interview with Carlson will almost certainly deprive his rivals of media attention from the debate.
Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) subtly challenged Trump to appear on the debate stage during his interview with Erickson one day after a firm headed by Jeff Roe, a strategist on DeSantis's affiliated super PAC, suggested in a debate memo that DeSantis should defend Trump in response to attacks from other candidates.
"Well, we're prepared either way. You know it is what it is, and I think everyone should debate if you qualify. I think you owe it to the people to put out your vision, to talk about your record," DeSantis said. "Answer questions about your record and decisions that you may have made or not made. And if you're not willing to do that, then I think that people are not going to look kindly on that. So who knows what'll end up happening? We'll be prepared either way."
Other 2024 rivals, including former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, will speak Saturday with Erickson, where he will likely ask them why they, and not Trump, should become the next president of the United States.
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Meanwhile, Trump is required to surrender to the Fulton County jail at Rice Street by Aug. 25 at noon, where his fingerprints and mugshot will be taken.
But if his past indictments are any indication, Trump will likely see a boon in his fundraising and poll numbers, further cementing his hold over the Republican base.