Matthew Hardwick

I warned y’all about Rick Jackson. But let’s make one thing perfectly clear… Rick Jackson didn’t create the disaster that is Georgia politics. He is a product of it. He was the establishment’s handpicked candidate, backed by the same political machine that has spent decades running the Peach State into the ground. He had the money to buy his way into the race, but no amount of money could buy the trust of voters who have had enough. This is much bigger than Rick Jackson. This is an indictment of an incompetent, self-serving political class that has controlled Georgia for far too long. The line between Republicans and Democrats in Georgia has become so blurred that, when it comes to protecting their own power, you can’t tell them apart…. They are actually one and the same. And at the heart of this disaster is election integrity. For years, Georgia Republicans have failed to restore public confidence in our elections. They have dismissed legitimate concerns, ignored their own voters, and then acted shocked when those same voters became apathetic and stopped showing up. Meanwhile, under Brian Kemp’s leadership, Fani Willis was allowed to pursue her prosecution of President Trump and the 2020 electors. And for anyone I might lose saying at this point, this isn’t just about Trump. It’s about the weaponization of government, the abuse of prosecutorial power, and a political establishment that appears perfectly comfortable looking the other way when its opponents are targeted. Republican or Democrat, the message in Georgia has been the same: Challenge the establishment and you become the enemy. Protect the establishment and you’re part of the club. Rick Jackson was a symptom of that rot, not the disease itself. I warned that he was a deeply flawed candidate with deeply troubling questionable political loyalties and motives. Instead of listening, the establishment doubled down and many got on his payroll or gleefully campaigned with him during the primary. Jackson poured an extraordinary amount of his own money (~$200 million) into his political ambitions, resources that could have made a meaningful difference in competitive races across Georgia to stop the legislature from flipping blue. But apparently, building another political empire in Brian Kemp’s image was more important than building a Republican Party capable of winning. And now here we are. The GAGOP has spent years alienating its own base, protecting its insiders, refusing accountability, and treating voters like they have nowhere else to go. Well, congratulations. You finally found out what happens when those voters decide they’d rather stay home. There is so much more I could say about what has happened to Georgia, the people responsible and the damage they’ve done. But at this point, I’m genuinely too disgusted to even begin. This wasn’t just an electoral defeat or losing a few races. It was the bill coming due for years of arrogance, incompetence, and betrayal. And the people who created this mess have absolutely no business being the ones entrusted to fix it. They deserve it and should be shamed and shunned from politics in Georgia.

This is a great point I should have stressed!! It has been really eye opening. I have always said women are harder on other women compared to men.

The way conservative women have been treated these last couple of weeks has been reprehensible. From calling us “baby murderers” to saying the 19th Amendment should be repealed, it has showcased one thing very clearly: misogyny is alive and well in America, and it has been particularly disturbing to watch it come from conservative men. Conservative women aren’t suddenly going to start voting for Democrats, but I believe Republicans are making a massive mistake if they assume that means those women will automatically show up for them in the midterms. Mark my words…. women can also choose to stay home. Republicans in general, and especially the men entrenched in the good ol’ boy network, seem to have forgotten that they still have to earn women’s votes. Being the alternative to Democrats does not give anyone permission to demean, insult, dismiss, or take conservative women for granted and then simply expect their support when Election Day rolls around. And frankly, some of the big male influencers in our own movement have only made it worse… using their enormous platforms to mock, belittle, lecture, and pile onto conservative women instead of recognizing that we have every right to speak for ourselves. I am completely over watching men who claim to be on our side treat us like the enemy the second we dare to disagree with them. I am also so disgusted and disappointed by how quickly the once strong coalition that came together to elect President Trump appears to have fractured. What a time that was. There was a genuine sense that we were fighting alongside one another for something bigger than ourselves. Now, that unity feels like a distant memory. Maybe the most revealing part of these last couple of weeks is realizing that people can only mask who they really are for so long. Eventually, they show you exactly what they think of you.