A photo of former President Donald Trump shaking hands with Georgia Governor Brian Kemp is making waves online.
Trump and Kemp met in person in Evans, Georgia on Friday to discuss Hurricane Helene disaster relief efforts. The meeting was the first joint appearance of the two Republican leaders since Trump launched a crusade against Kemp over Georgia legally certifying President Joe Biden‘s 2020 presidential election win.
Trump, who continues to falsely claim that the election was “stolen,” referred to Kemp as “disloyal” during a rally in Georgia as recently as August. With polls in Georgia showing a tight 2024 race, Trump has since changed his tune on the popular governor, thanking Kemp for his “help and support” in a Truth Social post just weeks after bashing him.
However, some suggested that relations between Kemp and Trump remained frosty on Friday after CNN‘s Kaitlan Collins shared a photo of the pair shaking hands during their meeting to X, formerly Twitter. The image, which had over 240,000 views at the time of publication, shows the leaders appearing to awkwardly grip hands while their faces show neutral expressions.
Joe Raedle
“Kemp: How far away can I be from him and still be at the same table,” writer Tara Dublin captioned the photo while commenting on Collins’ post.
“Kemp blink twice if you want help,” wrote @InverseMarcus.
“They despise each other. This is merely a photo op!” @BowiesNana wrote.
Trump campaign communications director Steven Cheung said the following in an email to Newsweek: “Leave it to some morons on social media to politicize a very serious and unified moment between the President and Governor working to help the people that Kamala Harris has abandoned in the wake of Hurricane Helene.”
Newsweek reached out for comment to the office of Kemp via email on Friday evening.
Trump said that his relationship with Kemp was “great” during their meeting on Friday, insisting that the pair have “always worked together very well.” Kemp also praised the ex-president for focusing “attention on those who are hurting in Georgia.”
While Kemp and Trump appeared to be on the same page during their meeting on Friday, they were at odds over Helene relief efforts earlier this week, with the Georgia governor directly contradicting Trump’s claim on Monday that the Biden administration was “not being responsive” regarding the disaster and Kemp was “having a hard time getting the president on the phone.”
Hours before Trump’s remarks, Kemp said that Biden had spoken to him over the phone on Sunday to pledge assistance and any “other things” that were needed to recover from the hurricane, with the president telling the governor that he could “call him directly” for more help.
Trump and other Republicans have recently made multiple unsubstantiated claims about the Biden administration’s response to the hurricane, including a false claim that the Federal Emergency Management Agency is diverting disaster relief money to illegal migrants.
Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a staunch supporter of Trump and a frequent critic of Kemp, appeared to blame the hurricane itself on her political opponents, absurdly suggesting this week that Democrats “can control the weather.”
