”

Burt Jones refuses to budge on an endorsement—and four corporate filings at Jackson Healthcare explain why.

"If this is how business is done under the radar in Bowie County, Texas, what happens to rural Georgia when he takes the governor's office?"

Welcome back. If you are just joining us, we left off in Part 1 pulling back the curtain on billionaire gubernatorial candidate Rick Jackson—his personal narrative, the weaponized foster care ad, and why trust has completely broken down inside the Georgia Republican Party.

When I look at the tactics used in this campaign, a specific word keeps coming to my mind: devious. By definition, devious primarily describes someone or something that uses sneaky, indirect, or underhanded tactics to achieve a goal. It means being deceitful and showing a skillful use of manipulation, trickery, or scheming to get one’s way.

Keep that definition in mind as we look at the intense pressure mounting this week in the press, and as we follow the paper trail behind the single most volatile issue in Georgia politics today: data centers.

The Pressure Cooker: The NOTUS Report and the AJC Reality Check

Over the past few days, the establishment media has gone into overdrive trying to force party unity. A national outlet, NOTUS, ran a story claiming that President Trump personally stepped in to broker peace, reportedly floating an ambassadorship to Germany to convince Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones to endorse Rick Jackson.

Burt Jones flatly shot that down in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, telling Greg Bluestein that no ambassadorship was offered and pouring cold water on the idea of a forced reconciliation. Jones made his position crystal clear: why would he endorse a man who is actively suing him in a $25 million defamation lawsuit?

As Burt pointed out, you cannot sue someone for $25 million, manipulate a charity video meant for foster children into a political hit piece, and then demand an endorsement before you even consider dropping the suit. The establishment can call it “small talk” all they want, but Burt Jones’s response boils down to basic common sense: “Forgive me for not trusting them.”

The Data Center Battleground: Kemp’s Push vs. National Skepticism

This distrust is colliding directly with an economic issue that is sweeping across Georgia and the entire country. Data centers are no longer just an infrastructure discussion; they are a massive, bipartisan voting bloc. Working-class families, farmers, and local homeowners are packing county commission and city council chambers from Floyd County to Marietta, demanding answers about skyrocketing power bills, massive water consumption, and industrial sprawl.

Governor Brian Kemp has become one of the industry’s biggest champions, aggressively pushing for data center expansion in his final months in office. But Kemp is bucking a major national trend. In Texas, Governor Greg Abbott—staring down re-election—just ordered the Public Utility Commission of Texas and ERCOT to halt approvals and audit data centers connecting to the state’s power grid. Across the country, incumbent local officials are literally losing their seats over this issue.

Here in Georgia, Democrats are seizing on it. In the 14th Congressional District, Democratic nominee Shawn Harris is holding packed town halls pushing back against data center expansion, forcing Republican Congressman Clay Fuller to release a public statement declaring that big tech data centers do not deserve a dime of taxpayer money.

Democratic gubernatorial nominee Keisha Lance Bottoms has officially called for a statewide moratorium on new data center construction. In her public statement, she directly called out Rick Jackson, stating: “Rick Jackson has made part of his multi-million dollar fortune by investing in data center construction and has publicly said he is an investor.”

Let me look you in the eye: I did not put that statement out. Everything I am sharing with you today is already out in the public arena. The opposition is examining it, the voters are looking at it, and it is driving the narrative of this election.

The Receipts: Rick Jackson’s Undisclosed LLCs

The attacks on Burt Jones over data centers didn’t start in the heat of the primary—they began in December 2025 and January 2026, right before Rick Jackson officially announced his candidacy. What many consider an aligned dark-money group, Georgians for Integrity—although Jackson denies any connection to them—rolled out roughly $20 million in ads accusing Jones of backing deals to build data centers on his family’s land and supporting eminent domain.

Yet, when pressed on the campaign trail after a South Georgia rally, Jackson casually admitted that he personally has an “investment” in a Texas data center, claiming it simply made him knowledgeable about the industry’s economics. He declared himself “very pro-data center.”

When you look at his official Financial Disclosure Statement filed with the State of Georgia on April 2, 2026, he lists a fiduciary position as CEO of DataHub Developers, LLC, registered at 2655 Northwinds Parkway in Alpharetta—the exact corporate headquarters of Jackson Healthcare. It is classified as a land development company.

Dig into the Georgia Secretary of State corporate database, and you will find an entire cluster of corporate entities registered to that exact same Alpharetta address that were never disclosed on his candidate financial filings:

Corporate Entity Date of Formation Disclosed on Candidate Financials?

DataHub Developers, LLC April 10, 2024 Yes

DataHub Developers Holdings, LLC May 2, 2024 No

DataHub Developers Texarkana, LLC May 1, 2025 No

DataHub Developers Parent, LLC February 9, 2026 (6 days after announcing for Governor) No

What Is Happening in Bowie County, Texas?

Why did Rick Jackson form DataHub Developers Texarkana, LLC in May 2025?

In Bowie County, Texas, along Interstate 30 near the town of Hooks, local citizens have organized a fierce opposition group with thousands of members fighting a massive, controversial data center and solar farm development.

At a recent Hooks City Council meeting, local leader Danny Proctor took to the podium and identified the owner and CEO of DataHub—the company purchasing the development land—as Rick Jackson, candidate for Governor of Georgia. Proctor asked the council point-blank if local officials were bound by Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) signed with Jackson’s company that kept taxpayers completely in the dark.

Furthermore, campaign finance reports show that Jackson’s leadership committee accepted a $100,000 contribution from Evans General Contractors—an Alpharetta-based builder specializing in hyperscale data centers that recently expanded its operations into Texas. Are we supposed to believe this is all just a coincidence?

When asked directly if he would support a one-year moratorium on data centers in Georgia, Rick Jackson stated on video that he would adamantly oppose it. He argued that public opposition is merely a “lack of education.” Telling voters who are worried about their family farms and electric bills that they just need to be “educated” is fundamentally out of touch, and his hidden financial portfolio raises massive red flags about his mysterious reasoning.

Character and Conviction

Some of you might be sitting there asking, “BKP, what is the big deal? So what if Rick Jackson has a data center investment out in Texas?”

Here is the big deal: If he is doing this under the radar in Texas right now, we have to ask the ultimate question. If he becomes the Governor of Georgia, does he have plans to build data centers through his own undisclosed corporations right here in our state? Is his adamant opposition to a moratorium just a way to keep the door open for his own future projects?

Rick Jackson recently made a statement that really stuck with me. He said, “I learned this through going through psychiatry a long time ago... When somebody attacks me or criticizes me, I only ask one question: Is it true or not? If it’s true, I’ll probably get mad about it. If it’s not, I don’t care. He’s the only one I care about, and he knows what the truth is,” referring to the man upstairs.

Well, Mr. Jackson, the voters of Georgia deserve to know the truth, too. If these public records, corporate filings, and Texas city council videos make the campaign mad, perhaps it is because they are entirely true.

In the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 16, verse 24, Jesus says: “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.”

Denying oneself means putting the truth, the people, and the mission ahead of personal gain, corporate ambition, and political power. When a campaign preaches ethics and accountability from behind a podium while hiding multi-million-dollar land developments behind undisclosed corporate LLCs, character does indeed matter.

I will keep asking the hard questions, and I will keep bringing the facts into the light. Have a wonderful weekend, everybody.

BKP Politics on Voice of Rural America: Straight talk, real truth, no drama.

Just another Nugget of Truth from BKP.

"We heard all about the childhood pain and the tears, but every single story ultimately pointed right back to him."

A Pattern of Devious Politics: Before we expose the Texas data center paper trail in Part 2, let’s look at the broken trust and weaponized charity that define this race.

Welcome to BKP Politics and Our New Texas Listeners

I want to start out by welcoming our new friends in Texas. That is one of the reasons why I have my Georgia Bulldogs gear on today. I do not want you to get upset if you are watching from Texas for the first time, but there is no “Hook ‘em” here. It is “Go Dawgs,” got it? Nothing personal, but welcome to the show whether you are from Texas, anywhere else in the United States, or right here in Georgia. I am your host, BKP, and you are reading BKP Politics on Voice of Rural America.

The Trump Strategy, Trade Realities, and Bigger Fish to Fry

Before we dive deep, I need to address the messages I have received from those of you upset about my recent comments regarding President Donald J. Trump lacking a plan. Many of you have reminded me about the border. I get it, and I am with you. Let me look directly into the camera and be perfectly clear: on no given day am I telling you that Keisha Lance Bottoms should be the Governor of Georgia, nor am I saying that Kamala Harris should be the sitting President of the United States. I still have my Trump poster up, and I still wear my Trump watch.

If the President came out and said, “We are in trade negotiations with Canada right now. We are going to protect and back our dairy farmers in Wisconsin, we will never forget our lumber industry in Minnesota, and we plan to restore Michigan auto manufacturing,” I would be completely fine with that. Protect our industries and negotiate an agreement with our friends to the north. But instead, we are attacking Canada, putting far more pressure and heat on our northern neighbors than we are on China

.

Let that sink in for a minute: China is funding Iran, Iran is selling oil, we are at war in Iran, and you are paying $4.00 for gas at the pump. Yet there is more pressure on Canada than China.

And on top of that, President Trump signed an executive order renaming Lake Ontario to “Lake America.” When he changed the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, I was fine with that. But I am sorry—this time, it is still Lake Ontario to me. We have far bigger fish to fry than arguing over Lake Ontario versus Lake America. If working folks go to the pump and pay $4.00 for gas or $5.50 for diesel, there will be enough angry voters in November that Republicans could lose the House of Representatives and possibly the Senate.

When Does Character Actually Matter?

Now, let us get into the difficult part of today’s program. When you run for office, character matters. Rick Jackson, the billionaire CEO of Jackson Healthcare, entered the Georgia gubernatorial race on February 3, 2026. After a scorched-earth primary against Trump-endorsed Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones, Jackson’s campaign made their core slogan: “Character matters.” When exactly does that character take place? I watched a campaign engineered to completely destroy an individual, utilizing some of the most devious, underhanded tactics I have seen in my entire life in politics.

The $25 Million Lawsuit and a Broken Trust

You have heard a lot of noise recently about Burt Jones refusing to endorse Rick Jackson. If I were Burt Jones, I would not endorse him either. The first thing Rick Jackson should have done to consolidate the Republican base was drop his $25 million defamation lawsuit against Jones. According to reports, Jackson wants the endorsement first, and only then will he consider dropping the suit. Why on earth would Burt Jones trust this camp?

The Foster Care Video Betrayal

Let me remind you exactly why trust is completely absent here. In December 2025, before Jackson announced his run for governor, his team reached out to Burt Jones asking for a favor. They asked Jones to record a short script to help raise money for foster care—a cause deeply personal to Jackson. Jones happily obliged, praising his “good friend Rick Jackson” on camera for his commitment to foster children. Months later, once they became political rivals, Jackson’s campaign took that very same foster care charity video and repurposed it into a massive attack ad, accusing Jones of hypocrisy. To use a charity video meant for vulnerable children as a political weapon is the definition of devious.

A Manufactured Backstory: The Techwood Homes Imagery

This brings us to Rick Jackson’s deeply emotional personal backstory. If you have followed this campaign, you have heard it a thousand times: abandoned by his father at nine months old, raised in the projects by a single, sixth-grade-educated mother who struggled with alcoholism, enduring seven stepfathers and five foster homes by the age of twelve. Now, the core facts are real—his father leaving, his mother battling alcoholism, and him living in Techwood Homes.

What is manufactured is the Hollywood-style cinematic production designed to manipulate your emotions. In his campaign ads, you see dramatic B-roll featuring diverse groups of children playing and wrestling in the neighborhood courtyard.

The reality? Techwood Homes was strictly a legally segregated, white-only public housing project until 1968, well after Jackson lived there as a young boy. While the personal hardship occurred, the polished cinematography and selective imagery are crafted like a theatrical production to tug at your heartstrings.

The Missing Grace and the Unanswered Questions

I have searched everywhere to find out what happened to his mother. Finally, I found an old piece Rick Jackson wrote himself for Guideposts magazine. In his own words, he admitted that he eventually reconnected with his mother and that she had quit drinking. He even tried to live with her again, but eventually chose to return to his foster parents, the Prices.

But on the campaign trail, the story abruptly stops at his lowest point. He never mentions her sobriety. He never mentions her redemption. As a man who leans heavily on his Christian faith for votes, why not share the grace? Why not say, “I had a single mom in the 50s that was an alcoholic cocktail waitress that struggled to raise me. But she’s still my mom.”

It raises so many questions that I just cannot help but ask: Did she go on to stay sober and live a productive life? Did he ever go back later and say, “Hey mom, now that I am a billionaire, I want to help you buy a house. I want to be charitable to you now that I have money.” When did she pass away? And what about his father? He says his dad left him at nine months old and he “never knew him,” but did he ever try to find him later in life? Did he ever reach out to say, “Why did you leave us?” Did he make any effort to have a life with his biological family outside of the foster family he returned to? We only get the political sympathy, but none of the humanity that follows. It all seems to turn back to him.

Giving Credit on Foster Care, But Missing the Root Causes

Let us be completely fair and give credit where credit is due: Rick Jackson has poured millions of dollars of his own fortune into helping foster children. He has funded educational scholarships, built initiatives, and done enormous, commendable philanthropic work for Georgia’s foster care system. No one is taking that away from him, and his commitment there is undeniable.

However, I know firsthand what it means to care for the vulnerable across the entire spectrum of broken homes. I drove a church bus into rough neighborhoods, picking up kids who were stepping over fighting, intoxicated adults just to get a ride. I worked in church nurseries holding foster babies, I helped launch a men’s addiction recovery center, and I have sat in drug court graduations watching parents conquer substance abuse to get their children back.

When you look at Jackson’s philanthropic disclosures and business records, despite his own family being torn apart by alcoholism and abandonment, there is no public record of him personally funding, building, or supporting addiction recovery programs, drug courts, or rehabilitation centers for struggling mothers and fathers. Foster care is a vital safety net, but helping parents overcome addiction keeps children out of foster care in the first place. On the campaign trail, the waterworks come on, but the narrative is always centered on his own story rather than fixing the broken families at the root.

The Paper Trail Awaits in Part 2

He promises the highest ethical standards, an end to self-dealing, and a government that answers to the forgotten men and women of Georgia. But what happens when the cameras turn off, and the corporate paperwork gets filed? That brings us to Texas, data centers, and a paper trail that every Georgia voter needs to see.

Just another Nugget of Truth from BKP.

"Dallas isn't a victory convention this September. It’s Donald Trump's going-away party."

Where’s the Beef? The Republican Panic of August 2026

I’m your host, BKP, and you’re reading BKP Politics on voiceofruralamerica.com.

I’ve spent the last couple of days doing some intense, in-depth research. I traveled down to Warner Robins for the Fish Fry on Saturday, came back Sunday, and I’ve been on the phone with folks up in Washington, D.C. trying to get to the bottom of what is happening in our party. I want to be accurate, and if there is a missing piece to this puzzle, I implore you to send it to me. But right now, we are in choppy waters, and Republicans from Georgia all the way to D.C. are panicking.

Before we dive into the politics, we have to pause and pay our respects. Dolly Parton has passed away at 80 years old. If you grew up like I did, dropped right into the well of country music, you remember her getting her start on The Porter Wagoner Show back in the 60s. From 9 to 5 to Steel Magnolias (the movie you guys won’t admit you watch) to my personal favorite, “Hard Candy Christmas,” she was a legend. God bless her family. For this one time, we will say it: Rocky Top.

Now, let’s get down to business.

Trade Turmoil and Trump’s Missing Plan

Where’s the beef? Because we all know that President Donald J. Trump is currently importing 661 million pounds of foreign beef from Argentina.

For cattle farmers across the country—and especially right here in Georgia’s 14th District—this might be the breaking point. Shawn Harris, a cattle farmer and the Democrat candidate running for the 14th District, is already sounding the alarm. He’s pointing out that this stunt won’t actually lower prices; it will only damage our markets and slow herd rebuilding. Meanwhile, his opponent, current Congressman Clay Fuller, is just dancing on Trump’s strings—leaving our local farmers to foot the bill and pay the ultimate price.

Even Georgia’s Agriculture Commissioner, Tyler Harper—a state constitutional officer on the ballot this November—drew a firm, direct line of separation from President Trump over this issue, urging folks to support American beef producers.

I’m looking for the master plan here. If there is one, please share it with me. I want to stay optimistic. I want to maintain control of the House and Senate. I certainly don’t want Keisha Lance Bottoms to be the next governor of Georgia. I think it’s time to finally say out loud: I think Donald Trump has no plan.

Four months ago, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent should have been rolling out the devastating economic sanctions on Iran that he just announced the other day. Why wait until now, while Americans are paying $3.80 for gas and our small business owners—like a conservative buddy of mine running eight dump trucks—are burning through $5.50 diesel just to maintain cash flow?

And what is the strategy with Canada? It didn’t just come out of nowhere. Trump has been fighting with Canada since the day he took office in January 2025. Right out of the box, he started making references to Canada becoming the “51st state” and has gone after them almost every day since. I understand that we want to have balanced trade with our partners. I thought that was exactly what the USMCA was supposed to accomplish when he signed it in his first term. But what is going on right now with Canada makes no sense. We don’t even have to guess if his tariff stunts work; we are living through the fallout of his previous ones right now. Just look at the recent AJC analysis: when the Supreme Court finally struck down certain import taxes from Trump’s earlier tariff policies, it revealed a massive mess. Now, major Georgia companies are seeking over $1.5 billion in refunds. His past trade wars created a billion-dollar disaster, and now he is trying to start another one.

In states where Republicans are desperately trying to flip or save crucial Senate seats—trying to flip Michigan with Mike Rogers, defending Ohio against Democrat challenger Sherrod Brown, protecting Susan Collins in Maine, and holding the line in Texas with Ken Paxton against James Talarico—these chaotic 2:00 a.m. Truth Social posts are an absolute nightmare. A candidate never knows when they wake up in the morning what disaster or what statement President Trump may have put out overnight. In my opinion, I’d bet right now that Republican candidates are distancing themselves from Donald Trump as fast as they can. Just watch and see.

The Elephant in the Room: Data Centers and AI

You want to know why Republicans can’t find their footing? The voting block has shifted. Data centers and FLOCK cameras are the new mid-term boogeymen.

Grassroots voters are furious. Just look at the hundreds of angry people who showed up in Marietta last week. Yet, Republicans won’t touch the issue because they are too close to the fire.

Take Georgia’s Republican gubernatorial candidate, Rick Jackson. He has personal investments in data centers, and he receives major campaign funding from someone who builds data centers. Or look at Speaker of the House Jon Burns, who represents Effingham County—the exact place where Sam Altman and OpenAI are building a $20 billion data center.

Republicans are completely in a box on this issue. When Trump goes out and brags about the “Golden Age of America” and AI, it leaves our local Republican candidates stranded in front of furious, independent town hall crowds. This opposition to data centers is now a major voting block. These town halls are packed with Republicans, Democrats, and independent voters alike. But because of these strong ties and the national party line, if a local Republican comes out against data centers or calls for a moratorium, they are going directly against President Trump. That is a balancing act they are desperately trying not to mess up. So, Republicans remain trapped in this box while Democrats are eagerly taking advantage of this new voting block—and it could be enough to turn an election.

The Dallas Convention: A Going Away Party?

On September 9th and 10th, the first-ever Republican midterm convention will take place in Dallas. Now, when this was first announced, it was supposed to get everyone fired up and excited. But let’s call it what it really is: there is no such thing as real delegates here. They’re designating so many “delegates” per state, putting on a big show, and trying to manufacture convention hoopla.

Normally, a party comes out of a convention with a major polling bounce. But here’s the problem: nobody knows what the hell Donald Trump is going to say once he takes that stage. Will he get up there and tell working families that paying $4.00 for gas is just fine because Iran doesn’t have a nuclear weapon? Will he boast about egg prices, or brag that your 401(k) is climbing? Folks, you’d better start looking at the real purchasing value of that 401(k) rather than the top-line number, because if it isn’t keeping up with the skyrocketing cost of living, you’re falling behind.

Let me be blunt: this Dallas gathering is Donald J. Trump’s going-away party.

If Republicans lose the House in November—and I’m telling you right now, it’s looking grim—that is the end of the line for Donald Trump. The minute the gavel drops for the Democrats, the script flips completely. Just think about James Comer from Kentucky, who runs the House Oversight Committee. For the last year and a half while Republicans have been in control, we’ve watched them lead these investigations and hold major hearings, like the ones with Anthony Fauci. But those are just examples of the kind of hearings that are going to completely flip if Democrats take over. They are going to take over every single committee and start issuing subpoenas left and right. The investigations will begin immediately.

This convention will be the very last time many of these lawmakers ever show up to cheer for Donald Trump. Watch who actually attends. Both Senate GOP Leader John Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson are planning to go to Dallas to embrace the man who has shaped—and severely complicated—their political fortunes. But mark my words: if we lose the House in November, Mike Johnson will turn on President Trump between November and January.

Meanwhile, out on the campaign trail, candidates are already running in the opposite direction. Over 400 people attended the 10th Congressional District barbecue Saturday night where candidates like Rick Jackson and Mike Collins spoke—and people who were there told me they didn’t hear Donald Trump’s name mentioned a single time. I was at the fish fry in central Georgia with a couple hundred folks, and I didn’t hear his name dropped once either. Unless a Republican is running in a overwhelmingly safe deep-red district with zero opposition, they aren’t talking about Donald Trump.

And all the while, the Trump-aligned Super PAC, MAGA Inc., is sitting on a stockpile of over $400 million. Who is controlling that massive war chest? Why are we blowing millions on a manufactured September convention spectacle instead of dropping that money straight into competitive districts and crucial Senate races across the country where our candidates are begging for air support?

The Polling Collapse: Underwater Across the Map

If you want to know exactly why Republicans are panicking and desperately trying to distance themselves, just look at the polling data. According to recent numbers from The Economist—and yes, I know it was highlighted on Morning Joe, but the data is what they are running with—President Trump’s net approval rating has plummeted to a staggering minus 26. In fact, he only has a positive approval rating in just three states in the entire country: Idaho, Wyoming, and West Virginia. Everywhere else, he is underwater. Look at the state-by-state breakdown: he is down 31 points right here in Georgia. He’s down 25 in North Carolina, down 31 in Maine, down 22 in Texas, and down 27 in Michigan. This isn’t just a bad news cycle; it is an anchor dragging down our midterms. Because of these numbers, Democrats are turning what should be safe GOP Senate strongholds into absolute battlegrounds, and the media is already talking like Georgia’s already a win for Jon Ossoff, the Democrat.

Rick Jackson’s Campaign Stumbles

Speaking of Rick Jackson, it has been a brutal week for his campaign. He canceled his rally with former Governor Sonny Perdue in Perry yesterday, claiming he was “under the weather.”

I’ll make a prediction: I’m not really sure he is sick. His team is huddled in a war room trying to figure out how to handle the anger from South Georgia farmers over the Argentina beef issue, and get control to make sure there are no more off-teleprompter gaffes.

Rick is struggling. At a recent event, a hot mic caught a voter asking him about Trump sending federal troops to monitor the election. Instead of sticking to a script, Rick casually replied that Governor Brian Kemp is going to use the National Guard to watch over the midterms. Keisha Lance Bottoms has already jumped on this, putting out a statement, and the media is already making it a major campaign issue about him saying that Governor Brian Kemp is going to call out the National Guard.

I wonder if Governor Kemp is going to make a statement and contradict Rick Jackson because Governor Kemp just campaigned with Rick Jackson Saturday. When they were talking, because obviously Rick Jackson and the governor talk, is this something that the governor told Rick Jackson? What kind of clarification are we going to get from Governor Kemp? This was a pretty major gaffe that Rick Jackson made, but it also shows that when he gets off his scripted index cards or teleprompter and goes one-on-one away from a setup press conference, sometimes he says things that I think the campaign is going to try to get under control. The campaign has to keep a lid on who exactly has recorders around Rick Jackson asking him questions.

To make matters worse, they had to block seven Democrat trackers at the 10th District barbecue. What a Democrat tracker is, is people that will act as decoys for Democrat campaigns. They will pretend to be journalists, they’ll try to sneak into events to record, and they’ll try to get close with microphones and ask questions. So the Democrat trackers are out really hard. The media is piling on, and despite the $87 million ad buy that Rick Jackson probably thought would be enough, his campaign is up against a Democrat machine and the deep state corporate corrupt legacy media that, on any given day, does not like Republicans.

The Georgia Senate Race: Ossoff vs. Collins

The money is drying up for Republican Senate candidate Mike Collins, and the Democrats are keeping their foot on his neck.

Jon Ossoff is out raising massive amounts of corrupt money. Just this week, he was in the Hamptons at the home of Alex Soros, at an event with Hillary Clinton, hosting another fundraiser in New Jersey with John Corzine, and meeting with crypto CEOs.

At the same time, the media is dragging Collins through the mud over his son-in-law, David Allen Scheer II, and his online posts. And what are our Republicans doing? Governor Kemp and his wife Marty Kemp—who famously noted during the 2024 primary that Trump hadn’t earned her vote—campaigned with Rick Jackson this weekend, but stayed nowhere close to Mike Collins.

The reputable Insider Advantage poll just dropped. It shows Jon Ossoff leading Mike Collins by 7 points. Worse yet, it shows Rick Jackson in a dead heat—tied—with Keisha Lance Bottoms.

Character Matters, Rick

I have a direct message for the Rick Jackson campaign: Character matters.

The Rick Jackson campaign can keep their distance from Mike Collins all day long—you don’t have to campaign with him. But what you should never do is embrace a surrogate who is actively and publicly working to get Democrat Jon Ossoff elected at the exact same time he is trying to get Rick Jackson elected. If Shelley Wynter wants to personally vote for Jon Ossoff, that is his prerogative. But when he is out on social media actively promoting split-ticket t-shirt designs that say “Ossoff for Senate” on top and “Jackson for Governor” underneath, it is just not right. It is not ethical.

Shelley Wynter got furious and threatened to sue me because I raised the question of whether he is being compensated by the Jackson campaign. Now, I don’t know for a fact if he rides on the plane, but he certainly looks like the dancing guy on the dashboard of Rick Jackson’s private jet. He works for WSB Radio, and it is almost like many of his radio shows are full campaign ads for Rick Jackson and Jon Ossoff at the same time. Is he being paid? It’s a valid question mark. Rick Jackson seems to be spending millions and paying just about everyone else on this campaign, so why would he stop and not pay Shelley Wynter? It would certainly be unusual. But again, I don’t know that he is.

What I do know is this: Jon Ossoff is up in New York and New Jersey raising cash with Hillary Clinton, Alex Soros, and John Corzine to defeat our Republican nominee, Mike Collins. It is completely wrong for Rick Jackson’s campaign to welcome a surrogate with open arms who is actively boosting Ossoff while our Senate candidate is getting hammered. Maybe Shelley Wynter is trying to attract a certain demographic with a skin color—just saying. Regardless, the Jackson campaign needs to step up and say, “Look, we’re not going to campaign for Mike Collins, we’re going to keep our distance, but at the same time we really can’t have you as a campaign surrogate telling people to vote for Jon Ossoff. Thanks, but no thanks.” Tell your surrogates to pick a side.

Final Thoughts

President Trump looked straight into a camera this week and acted completely flippant about Americans paying $4.00 for gas, telling us it’s “no big deal.” Then, in the very next breath, he spoke with deep, emotional compassion about how the people and farmers of Argentina are “dying” and “fighting for their lives” to justify importing their beef.

Whatever happened to America First?

If you want to show compassion for others around the world, you first have to quit brushing off what everyday Americans are enduring right now in this economy. Where is that same emotion and compassion for the American farmer who can’t afford fertilizer? Where is it for the Georgia small business owner burning through expensive diesel just to keep the lights on and pay bank interest? Take care of our own people first—America First—and then you can worry about the rest of the world.

I have always supported the President, but if I were on the ballot today, I wouldn’t campaign with him until he remembers that principle.

Let me know if I’m missing the master plan, folks. Send me your thoughts, keep the nasties at home, and be sure to tune in to today’s podcast to catch our brand-new sign-off and daily nugget of truth. We will be back real soon for Where’s the Beef? Part 2.

Just another Nugget of Truth from BKP.

Just like that, we’re back. It’s Monday, August 17th, 2026, and it is brutally hot outside. I’m your host, BKP, and you’re reading BKP Politics on Voice of Rural America.

I hope everyone had a great weekend. I really did. Saturday morning, I had breakfast with some friends up at the Sawmill in Blairsville, Georgia, right up there in Union County. It’s a wonderful little biscuit and gravy spot—my kind of place. The waitress actually asked if I wanted the gravy on the biscuit or on the side, and I just looked at her and said, “Put my gravy right on that biscuit!” We spent nearly two hours catching up with good friends, enjoying the fellowship, and managed to make it an hour and forty-five minutes before political talk finally crept in.

Before we get rolling, I want to thank everyone who follows us on X, YouTube, Facebook, Rumble, and our Substack (VORA BKP Politics). Your support—especially from our paid subscribers—truly helps keep the lights on and pays the internet bill so we can keep bringing you this coverage every day.

Now, today is a difficult Monday, and I want to be upfront about why. After the June runoff between Burt Jones and Rick Jackson, I made a conscious decision to focus on the governor’s race. I want a governor who will protect Georgia from the far-left policies promoted by groups like the Democratic Socialists of America, the kind of policies destroying states like California, New York, and New Jersey.

Sometimes I sit on my back porch with a cheap cigar and wrestle with myself. You never want to sound overly negative about your own party, but my duty to you is always the truth. At the end of every broadcast and every article, I promise you “another nugget of truth,” and I refuse to carry water for any politician. I know today’s reality is troubling, but everything I’m bringing to the table comes directly from the facts, your calls, and what is happening on the ground across Georgia.

So, let’s jump straight into the deep end. Georgia GOP, we have a serious problem.

The Democratic Machine is in Overdrive

U.S. Senate Republican candidate Mike Collins needs to watch out, because the political bus is backing up and running him over at every single turn. And the people driving that bus aren’t just Democrats—it’s Republicans too.

I am an optimist by nature; my brain doesn’t naturally compute pessimism. But looking at the numbers and momentum right now, the Jon Ossoff “Red Wave” is becoming a tangible threat, and the GOP ship is beginning to look like an every-man-for-himself scenario.

To put this in perspective: eleven years ago, I sat down for an interview with former Democratic U.S. Senator Sam Nunn from Perry, Georgia. Right now, I’m reading The Best President the Nation Never Had and studying traditional Southern Democrats. Traditional Southern Democrats like Sam Nunn were not DSA socialists. But today’s modern Georgia Democratic operation is organized, flush with cash, and aggressively expanding its footprint.

Look at what happened this past Sunday. While Senator Jon Ossoff packed 1,600 supporters into an Atlanta concert hall, Democratic nominee for Lieutenant Governor Josh McLaurin held a meet-and-greet in Blairsville up in Union County. Around 150 people showed up. Keep in mind, Union County voted over 80% for Donald J. Trump. For years, local rural Democratic chairs couldn’t get statewide candidates to visit. The fact that a Democratic candidate is confidently drawing crowds in deep-red North Georgia proves they are mounting a comprehensive statewide offensive.

Down the ballot, national heavyweights are pouring resources into Georgia. Former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords and Arizona Senator Mark Kelly are in Georgia today hosting a high-dollar fundraiser for Tanya Miller, the Democratic nominee for Attorney General. Miller actually outraised the Republican nominee, Brian Strickland, during the last reporting period. Last Friday, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer was here campaigning with Democratic gubernatorial nominee Keisha Lance Bottoms. Meanwhile, major resources are flowing to down-ballot races, including Judge Penny Brown Reynolds for Secretary of State.

The Democrats are unified and expanding their map, while Georgia Republicans are caught in an internal fight for survival.

The Upcoming Middle Georgia GOP Fish Fry

In contrast to the Democratic mobilization, local Republicans are working hard to rally the grassroots. This Saturday, August 22nd, the Houston, Peach, and Bibb County Republican Parties are teaming up to host a joint GOP Fish Fry from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM (doors open at 9:30 AM).

Houston County has a rich political history—it’s where Sam Nunn launched his U.S. Senate bid back in 1972 before the area flipped Republican. I’ll be down there with a table and a camera, sitting down with people like Brian Strickland, Tim Fleming, and Caleb Conway from the Georgia GOP to discuss their campaigns and let voters hear directly from them.

Looking back, nine years ago today I was interviewing then-Lieutenant Governor Casey Cagle during his run for governor. A lot has changed since then, but grassroots engagement remains the backbone of Georgia politics.

Rick Jackson’s Billion-Dollar “Outsider” Campaign

For 22 years—since 2005—Republicans have held Georgia’s governing “trifecta”: the Governor’s Mansion, the State Senate, and the State House. That historical context is crucial when evaluating the current campaign strategies.

Rick Jackson spent an estimated $150 million waging a scorched-earth primary campaign against Burt Jones and his family. The aftermath has left the party fractured with shrapnel, mutual defamation lawsuits, and deep division. Jackson reportedly refuses to return calls from Georgia GOP Chairman Josh McKoon, ignores First Vice Chair Salleigh Grubbs, yet his campaign is actively utilizing the state party’s nonprofit mailing permit—saving nearly 50% on postage costs (dropping bulk mail from roughly 39–46 cents down to 18–25 cents per piece).

Jackson is campaigning on an aggressive “outsider” platform, demanding term limits, ethics reform, and promising to “root out public corruption and self-dealing.” He insists government should serve the taxpayers, not the well-connected. However, voters have to reconcile that rhetoric with Jackson’s own record, including receiving a billion-dollar, no-bid state healthcare staffing contract funded largely by federal COVID relief block grants.

Furthermore, attacking the “political establishment” after 22 years of uninterrupted GOP control raises uncomfortable questions about recent Republican administrations, from Sonny Perdue and Nathan Deal to Brian Kemp. When Jackson promises teacher pay raises by implying educators have been neglected, or promises to clean house, he is running an individualized campaign that distances itself from the very party record voters are weighing.

Literacy, Policy, and Speaker Jon Burns

Recently, Jackson stood alongside Georgia House Speaker Jon Burns to praise the Georgia Early Literacy Act of 2026. While literacy reform is essential, the political urgency behind it was driven by stark data.

According to National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) data, Mississippi made historic educational strides—climbing from 50th to 16th in fourth-grade reading and from 49th to 9th in fourth-grade math, ranking number one nationally in growth and demographic equity. Meanwhile, Georgia’s fourth-grade scores experienced slight declines, ranking 25th in math and 28th in reading.

The legislature’s recent investments—including literacy coaches in elementary schools and nearly $100 million in early learning programs—are necessary, but touting outsider credentials while standing arm-in-arm with entrenched legislative leadership illustrates the inherent contradictions in Jackson’s platform.

Mike Collins Left on an Island and The Media Surrogates

The lack of ticket unity is most glaring in the U.S. Senate race.

At the 22nd Annual Tillman Rally in Rome, Georgia, Mike Collins proudly shared photos standing alongside Rick Jackson. Yet Jackson’s campaign platforms omitted the photo entirely. Days later, Jackson held a press conference in Atlanta to announce his “Legacy Corridor Initiative” focused on urban small businesses, signaling a distinct shift away from suburban and rural GOP ticket coordination.

Jackson has also leaned into surrogates like WSB 95.5 radio host Shelley Wynter. Wynter is acting as a highly vocal, almost hyper-enthusiastic spokesperson for the Jackson campaign. He regularly appears in Jackson’s social media ads—sometimes dancing and singing Jackson’s praises—hyping up the candidate and claiming Jackson is doing what no Republican has done before.

But there is a glaring transparency issue here. Wynter is sitting behind a WSB microphone broadcasting what amounts to daily infomercials for Rick Jackson, but Jackson’s campaign is carefully cropping out the WSB logo when they post these clips. You have to ask: Is WSB making an in-kind contribution? Is Wynter being paid directly by the campaign as a spokesperson?

What is even more frustrating for conservative voters is that Wynter isn’t just cheerleading for Rick Jackson—he is actively out there loving him some Jon Ossoff, too. He is helping push the exact narrative that could create a “Red Wave” for Ossoff by encouraging ticket-splitting.

When asked directly whether he intends to run as a coordinated tandem ticket with Mike Collins, Jackson made his strategy clear: he is focused solely on his own campaign and doing whatever it takes to win his race.

Meanwhile, Collins faces head-on attacks with limited institutional backing. Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger declined to endorse Collins, and senior deputy Jordan Fuchs publicly observed on the Politically Georgia podcast that the political forces stacked against Collins make a recovery exceptionally difficult.

Ossoff’s Offensive and the Anti-Trump Pivot

Senator Jon Ossoff is running an aggressive campaign designed to maximize down-ballot turnout. His Atlanta rally showcased high-end, cinematic production engineered to generate viral media clips.

Ossoff is actively peeling off moderate and rural support, showcasing endorsements from Republican figures such as Valdosta Mayor Scott James Matheson and Tifton Mayor Julie Smith by highlighting local infrastructure funding and disaster relief coordination.

At the same time, Ossoff is relentlessly attacking Collins as a “scandal piñata,” highlighting congressional ethics investigations and cryptocurrency trading disclosures. Ossoff has also taken sharp aim at President Trump, criticizing executive stock trading timing, the departure of Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, and the visibility of personal aides like Natalie Harp.

If Ossoff’s momentum creates a significant wave at the top of the ticket, the resulting margin could float Democratic candidates across the finish line in tight down-ballot races.

Election Integrity: Privacy of the Ballot

In an essential development for Georgia voters, data analyst Mark Davis recently published an analysis in The Federalist detailing a Princeton study on election database vulnerabilities. The study demonstrated how public voting records and system gaps could theoretically be analyzed with AI tools to de-anonymize ballots and determine how individual citizens voted.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported on the findings ahead of a Georgia State Election Board (SEB) meeting scheduled for Tuesday. The SEB is set to debate a proposed rule amendment aimed at establishing stricter security standards to guarantee ballot secrecy and protect voter privacy. Maintaining absolute confidence in the private ballot is non-negotiable for election integrity.

A Matter of Character

Rick Jackson recently shared deeply personal reflections regarding his upbringing—overcoming an unstable childhood where he never met his father, dealt with his mother’s alcoholism, spent time in five foster homes, and attended 13 different schools. He wrote, “By the odds, I was never supposed to be here. Hard times do not define you, but they test you. They build your character, fortify your values, and reveal who you really are at your core.”

Overcoming hardship builds resilience, but public leadership requires character, consistency, and genuine coalition-building. And honestly, it’s that last part—who you really are at your core—that I’ve been trying to figure out since the day Rick Jackson entered this race.

When you look closely at his campaign, it’s full of contradictions. He’s the billionaire outsider who claims to be fighting the political establishment, yet he made his fortune securing massive state contracts and actively utilizes the state GOP to subsidize his campaign mailings. He speaks of unity and forgotten communities, yet he aggressively distances himself from fellow Republicans like Mike Collins when the political winds shift. Is the man at his core a principled conservative fighting for Georgians, or a transactional billionaire fighting only for Rick Jackson?

To step outside of politics for a moment: consider the recent Major League debut of rookie Javier Báez with the St. Louis Cardinals against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. Báez hit three home runs in his debut, and his cleats were immediately sent to Cooperstown.

Even though he was playing for their fiercest rival, Cubs fans stood up and gave the young rookie a standing ovation.

That is class. That is character. It is the ability to recognize excellence, put aside petty rivalry, and show respect when it is deserved. As Georgia heads into a pivotal election season, our leaders and candidates across the board would do well to remember that lesson.

What’s Coming Next

Before I sign off today, I want to give you a quick preview of what’s coming up here at Voice of Rural America. I am currently working on two major stories that will drop before early voting starts so you can share them.

First, right after Labor Day, I’ll be publishing a deep dive into the history of Southern Democrats—there is a very specific reason I’m doing this now, and I’ll go into great detail when we get there.

Second, my phone has been ringing off the hook with people asking, “What if this happens? What if that candidate wins?” It’s like a giant chessboard right now. Because of that, I am putting together a comprehensive “Scenarios” article breaking down exactly what could happen depending on who wins these individual races and how the ripples will affect the rest of the political board in Georgia. Keep an eye out for both of these.

Have a great week, stay safe in the heat, and I’ll see you soon.

Just another Nugget of Truth from BKP.

Welcome back to BKP Politics on the Voice of Rural America. As always, I want to start by saying thank you. Thank you to everyone who shares our content, and a special thank you to our paid subscribers on Substack. Your support means the world to us.

Before we dive into the meat of today’s political landscape, I want you to keep a golden rule in mind. Anytime you are watching a podcast or listening to a pundit, you need to ask yourself two questions: Who is paying them, and who are they performing for?

My focus is 100% on you, this audience. No one else. Keep that in mind as we navigate through the noise.

Here is a breakdown of where the campaigns stand, the voting blocs the GOP is ignoring, and the political maneuvers shaping the 2026 elections.

A Note to President Trump: Enough with the Reflecting Pool

Before we get into the state races, I want to set the table for a tough conversation. This is not “Bash Donald Trump Day,” but I am asking nicely: President Trump, enough with the reflecting pool. We don’t want to hear about it anymore. Repair it, clean it up, restore it—just get it back together and move on.

More importantly, I am putting together a deep dive on affordability and the reciprocal tariffs President Trump rolled out back on April 2, 2025. I was hopeful about those tariffs. I supported the initiative. But as the saying goes: good initiative, poor judgment. The tariffs did not work, and they will not work. Republicans don’t want to talk about affordability or why that strategy failed, but we are going to cover it in full detail soon, along with how 1913 ties directly into the economy today and the Democrat Socialists of America (DSA).

Rick Jackson’s Bold Move into Atlanta

Let’s shift to the Georgia Governor’s race. Republican candidate Rick Jackson held a major press conference in downtown Atlanta, and he is making a highly calculated move.

If you study the demographics, Jackson already has the 55-and-older white voting bloc locked in. It is baked into the cake. He doesn’t need to spend his time preaching to the choir. On the flip side, Democratic nominee Keisha Lance Bottoms relies entirely on cornering the Black vote, particularly Black women. There is absolutely nothing Bottoms can do to move the needle and steal Jackson’s 55+ white base. But Jackson can make inroads into hers.

Jackson is rolling out what he calls the Opportunity Agenda and the Legacy Corridor Initiative. He is aggressively targeting historic minority commercial districts that have been forgotten or gentrified out of existence, including:

• Sweet Auburn District (Atlanta)

• Golden Blocks (Augusta)

• West Broad (Savannah)

• Liberty District (Columbus)

• Harlem District (Albany)

• Cotton Avenue (Macon)

Jackson’s plan is incredibly detailed. He is proposing a designated “navigator” in every corridor—an actual person with a direct phone number, not just a website—to coordinate state contracting, licensing, and financing for minority-owned businesses. He wants to restore historical buildings without pricing out the locals.

Is this fool’s gold for a Republican? Maybe. But the citizens of Fulton County remember Bottoms’ disastrous administration and how she let Atlanta burn. We already know this is getting under her skin. When Jackson visited Toast on Lenox and other local Black-owned businesses, Bottoms and her supporters lost it. Jackson has her on guard in her own backyard.

The Data Center Dilemma: The Monster Under the Bed

While Jackson is playing offense in Atlanta, there is a massive voting bloc developing across the electorate that Republicans are entirely ignoring. Democrats are in lockstep, zeroing in on three emotionally charged local issues: affordability, Flock cameras, and data centers.

Data centers are becoming a massive, bipartisan flashpoint. To understand this, look at Alabama. Doug Jones, the Democrat running for governor over there against Tommy Tuberville, is sounding the alarm on data centers. He is calling for a one-year moratorium and strict environmental “guardrails.” He is talking about tech companies waving dollars around, politicians acting like cats chasing laser pointers, and secret Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) signed behind the public’s back.

Jones is asking the million-dollar question: When politicians tell you something is a gold mine, you need to ask who is getting the gold and who is getting the shaft.

Why does Alabama matter to Georgia? Because the exact same playbook is rolling out here.

• Shawn Harris, the Democrat congressional candidate in Georgia’s 14th District, is holding packed town halls regarding data centers. Republicans, Democrats, and Independents are all showing up because they are terrified about their brown water, their skyrocketing Georgia Power bills, and the massive hum of eight football fields’ worth of concrete.

• Keisha Lance Bottoms is now echoing the exact same talking points, calling for a “pause” on data centers to get the facts on environmental impacts and utility costs.

  

Democrats are turning this into a massive wedge issue. Meanwhile, Republicans are telling voters that data centers are the goose that laid the golden egg, and asking folks to just “trust them” that their taxes will go down. But voters aren’t buying it. Jackson has a tricky time navigating this issue because he is personally invested in the industry. As he has publicly stated, Jackson is invested in a data center in Texas. He argues that this investment gives him the hands-on business insight needed to understand how data centers can actually help rural communities economically, provided they are structured correctly.

Republicans love to campaign on the fear of the radical left—the “monster under the bed.” I am with them 100% on that. But you can’t just yell about the monster. You have to explain how the monster got there, drag it into the daylight, and prove you have the guts to eradicate it. Right now, the GOP is letting Democrats corner the market on local, kitchen-table affordability issues.

The Media’s Double Standard

Finally, let’s talk about the media’s absolute hypocrisy in covering these campaigns.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Greg Bluestein recently cited unnamed sources claiming Donald Trump is trying to broker a truce between Rick Jackson and Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones after their bitter primary, complicated by defamation lawsuits. The media loves to ask Rick Jackson if he is going to campaign with folks like Congressman Mike Collins to prove GOP unity.

But do you think the media is asking Keisha Lance Bottoms those same unity questions?

• Are they asking why DeKalb CEO Michael Thurmond isn’t out on the campaign trail with her?

• Are they asking if former Republican Lieutenant Governor Geoff Duncan is going to campaign for her?

• Are they asking if she will hold joint rallies with Senator Jon Ossoff?

• Are they asking if she will stand on a stage with State Representative Ruwa Romman? Romman is currently running for State Senate District 7 and campaigning for progressive, firebrand Democrat Socialists of America, like New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan. She even stated on her X account that it’s now time to bring that to Georgia. Will the media ever ask the tough questions of Jon Ossoff and Keisha Lance Bottoms to see if they will push back on the Democrat Socialists of America? I don’t think so.

Don’t look for the mainstream media to give our side any space to get our message through. We have to do it ourselves.

Stay tuned. We will be back to break down the failed tariffs, why they were politically unprofitable, and what actually needs to be done to fix affordability in America.

Just another Nugget of Truth with BKP.

I hope everyone is doing well. First and foremost, I want to say thank you. I appreciate you very much. I get the “uglies”—the people who leave nasty comments and have nothing constructive to say—but whether you are new to the program, new to our Substack feed, or an old-timer, you know I love critique. I love when you send me how you see it, and I appreciate all the kind words and everyone who shares our articles. You can follow us on Voice of Rural America across Rumble, YouTube, Facebook, and X. For our written content, head over to our Substack: VORA BKP Politics.

Now, let’s get into it.

I’ve been talking to a lot of people lately, and the consensus is clear: Mike Collins cannot break through. I want him to break through. Let me be very clear on this program—I am not advocating, in any way whatsoever, for John Ossoff to get another six-year term as a Democrat here in Georgia. But Collins is stuck, and we need to talk about why.

The Media’s Double Standard

The media does not want to talk about policy. They act like they are worried about affordability, gas prices, and food costs, but they aren’t. When it comes to Keisha Lance Bottoms and John Ossoff, the media bends over backward to make them look compassionate and empathetic to your pain.

Let’s be real. John Ossoff is a trust fund baby. He has absolutely no idea where you and I are coming from financially. Keisha Lance Bottoms? The former mayor that watched Atlanta burn, a senior advisor to the Biden administration, and a Martha’s Vineyard homeowner. They want to lead you to believe they have a plan, but when it comes to the Republican candidates—Rick Jackson for Governor and Mike Collins for Senate—the legacy media has zero interest in their America First policies. Instead, they just want to attack.

The media is pushing a narrative that Ossoff and Bottoms are this united, cohesive ticket, while pushing the illusion that Rick Jackson is distancing himself from Mike Collins.

Collins’ “Amateur Hour” Campaign

Please, let me pause for a second to allow you to hurl insults at me. Get angry. Throw a tomato at your screen. Are you done?

Mike Collins’ campaign has been amateur hour from the start. He is running for the U.S. Senate, yet he launched his campaign with his congressional Chief of Staff, Brandon Phillips, by his side. He knew right from the start he shouldn’t have done that. Did he think the media would give him a pass? The media does not give Republicans a pass. They don’t like you.

Because of these unforced errors, Collins couldn’t get his message out about championing the Laken Riley Act or passing bills signed by both Donald Trump and Joe Biden. He couldn’t pitch himself as a highly effective lawmaker for Georgians because his campaign exploded right out of the gate. He was forced to make a staffing move, only to replace him with a second Chief of Staff with similar issues. Then came the failure to vet family social media.

This is Campaigns 101. You have to sit your family down at the dinner table and ask, “What do we have in the background? What do we need to get out in front of?” You don’t wait for the media to find it.

The Savannah Setup

When you are running for major office, you guard yourself. You have security. You have a team that scans the room before you speak to identify anyone who might cause an issue. I’ve seen Rick Jackson’s team do this; they run a machine.

Then we have Mike Collins in Savannah.

Dominic Box, a man involved in January 6th, stood up and boxed Collins in on camera. He asked Collins if the government should financially compensate people whose lives were destroyed by the federal government. Collins, thinking about everyday government overreach—like the Catholics arrested for praying outside abortion clinics—agreed that when the government harms you, they have a liability.

What happens next? Box goes on social media and posts that Mike Collins is the first U.S. Senate candidate to publicly call for financial compensation for January 6th political prisoners.

Dominic Box knew exactly what he was doing. He did not help Mike Collins’ cause; he handed the deep-state, corporate media the exact soundbite they wanted. If you want Donald Trump to have a Senate majority, you do not stand up and pull stunts like this. And if you are the Collins campaign, you have to know who is sitting in your room.

The 14th District Strategy

This brings us to the Tillman rally in Rome, Georgia, inside the 14th District. This is the largest populated Republican voting bloc in the state (R+19). Mike Collins has a strong voting block in that district, even though he represents the 10th District. MTG is currently trashing President Trump and trying to start a third party.

Rick Jackson needs that base.

So, when Rick Jackson took a thumbs-up photo with Mike Collins last Saturday, the media tried to bait him. Georgia Democrats and reporters from the Atlanta media immediately pressed Jackson at his Atlanta press conference to denounce Collins or confirm a “tandem ticket”.

Jackson’s campaign does nothing by accident. He is approaching a $200 million war chest and has hired the absolute dream team of political consultants. Every decision is a calculated “win-win.” He didn’t take a picture with Collins just to be nice; he took it because he needed to consolidate the 14th District vote against Shawn Harris’s momentum—the Democratic nominee for the 14th Congressional District who has been running a surprisingly competitive campaign in the area—and MTG’s party-splitting antics.

When asked about white nationalism and campaigning with Collins, Jackson masterfully pivoted: “Focus is the way I’ve been successful. I’m focusing on this race, period... There is no room for racism or bigotry. I treat everybody the same because I was mistreated.”

You will likely not see Rick Jackson traveling the state taking side-by-side questions with Mike Collins. That one photo was a strategic, isolated maneuver to lock down the 14th District base without permanently tethering his gubernatorial campaign to Collins’ amateur-hour missteps. Jackson knows that surviving the media gauntlet means controlling the narrative, and sharing a stage with a campaign that consistently stumbles into controversy is a liability he simply will not accept. He got the photo he needed, and now he is focused on his own race.

The Fight Ahead

The media will do anything to extend John Ossoff’s lead and run interference for Keisha Lance Bottoms. While Jackson is in downtown Atlanta holding press conferences about revitalizing black neighborhoods and economic development, the media ignores his policy and asks about Mike Collins.

Jackson is making a massive play for the minority vote. With a projected record turnout of Democrat voters—especially black women supporting Bottoms—the question remains whether Jackson can pull enough votes in Atlanta to offset it, or if he is chasing fool’s gold.

We will see what the polling actually looks like when the dust settles, but one thing is certain: Republicans cannot win this state by making amateur mistakes.

Just another Nugget of Truth from BKP.

First, I guess the really, really left Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) candidate up in Wisconsin, Francesca Hong, is going to have plenty of time to make a decision on whether she’s going to fix that Thanksgiving Day dinner or not. She lost her bid in the state’s Democratic primary for governor.

There were a lot of elections yesterday in the primaries across South Carolina, Vermont, and Minnesota. Mike Lindell lost his primary challenge for governor in Minnesota, just to name a few.

But let me say this: South Carolina just frustrates me. Lindsey Graham’s sister, Darline Graham, is in a runoff election. She was appointed to finish her late brother’s term, and now she is running for a full term to replace him. This whole idea of inheriting a seat—whether it be the House of Representatives, the State House, the State Senate, or the U.S. Senate—just rubs me the wrong way.

Enough With the Reflecting Pool

Let me say this to start, and I promise you, this is not “Attack Trump Day.” But enough with the reflecting pool! Please, Mr. President, Donald J. Trump, I don’t want to hear anything else about the reflecting pool. It’s painfully obvious that you hired a guy—who I think sprays bed liner or something, I don’t even know—that wasn’t really qualified to take on the reflecting pool. I don’t know all the details, but I don’t want to hear about it anymore. I don’t want to hear about Judge Jeanine Pirro, or whoever she is. No more reflecting pool. Deal? Thank you.

The Hard Truth About Tariffs

I’m also working on a story, and I am going to go into full detail about why the tariffs did not and will not work. You know, you really don’t want to say this to the President of the United States, but: Good initiative, poor judgment. The tariffs will not work.

I figured I can’t just throw that out there without a full story explaining why. There is an old saying: “No pain, no gain.” When Donald Trump made campaign promises about the economy, I am on tape saying that I didn’t know if the American people were prepared to go through the pain it would take to turn the economy around and put the private sector back at the top, instead of letting government spending and the public sector drive the economy. I was concerned: would the American people actually go through the pain necessary to right the ship?

Just a little side note before we get started on our main topics: keep in mind that if you don’t institute taxes, you can’t campaign on cutting taxes. Keep that one in mind.

Rick Jackson’s Economic Pitch and Campaign Distance

Here is one of our big stories: Republican candidate for governor Rick Jackson held a press conference in Atlanta this morning with Greg Bluestein. He introduced an economic proposal aimed at expanding his political reach to Black-owned businesses, encouraging entrepreneurship in the inner city and across the state. They’re calling it “Opportunity All”. We will talk about whether or not that plan will actually work.

Our second story is about campaign distance. They are pushing Rick Jackson on whether he will campaign in a tandem ticket with Mike Collins, who is running for U.S. Senate. We’ll get into the reasons they are doing that in full detail. I don’t want to say two-term Congressman Mike Collins can’t catch a break—he’s been in D.C. and he knows how campaigning works—but there are aspects of his Senate campaign that, with all due respect, I have to call “amateur hour.”

The Alabama Governor’s Race

Here is my question for you: what does the Alabama governor’s race have to do with Georgia? Over in Alabama, you have Tommy Tuberville, the Republican U.S. Senator, running for governor against the Democrat, Doug Jones. Keep in mind, Doug Jones won a special election for the U.S. Senate and served for a couple of years before Alabama flipped the seat back to red. The people of Alabama know him well. We’ll explain how this all ties back to Georgia in an upcoming segment.

(And as a quick aside: we do not say “Roll Tide” on this show. But we are going to throw out exactly one “Roll Tide” for Noreen, wishing her well in her recovery from surgery. That is the only time you’re ever going to hear me say it. Now, back to “Go Dawgs!”)

The Media’s Martha’s Vineyard Double Standard

Let’s focus on a story we are going to go into great detail on. Every single time the media mentions Rick Jackson, they love to spin it. Democrats and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC) love to say, “Healthcare Billionaire Rick Jackson.”

They also love to claim he secured a billion dollars in state contracts. We said we would fact-check this, and yes, it is true: records show Jackson’s healthcare companies have indeed been paid nearly a billion dollars by state agencies since 2020.

But here is my question: why does the media never say, “Part-time Martha’s Vineyard Resident Keisha Lance Bottoms”? Why won’t they call her a former Biden administration staffer or the former Mayor of Atlanta with a multi-million-dollar vacation home?

Let me give you the facts, and a special shoutout to Phil Kent and James Magazine Online for having this research available. Keisha Lance Bottoms and her husband, Derek Bottoms, purchased a property located at 18 Pacific Ave in the town of Oak Bluffs back in June 2016. We wanted to fact-check the location, and yes, Oak Bluffs is located on Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts.

According to public real estate records in the Vineyard Gazette, they paid $1,010,000 for their home, financing it with an $808,000 mortgage and making a $202,000 down payment. Zillow estimates the current value of that 5-bedroom, 4-bath, 2,283-square-foot home at around $2,521,200. She remains a homeowner there today, and it serves as her family’s second home.

I don’t want to alarm Democrats out there, but let me just say this: having money is okay! True, free-market capitalism without government infusions is a great thing. The Bottoms family made their money somehow to afford these kinds of luxuries, whether through the private sector or the public sector. But you don’t hear a peep about her wealth when she talks about affordability or understanding the struggles of everyday people.

Instead, she gets the “Vineyard Icon Award” for Excellence in Public Leadership in Martha’s Vineyard for 2025. They tout her for “leading Atlanta through the pandemic.” Really? Ask the Atlanta police officers who worked during the riots how they feel about her leadership during that time.

Democratic ‘Strategery’ in Massachusetts

Why am I bringing this up right now? Because Georgia Democrats are currently having a massive powwow over at the house in Martha’s Vineyard.

Just a couple of days ago, Cora Masters Berry put up a post about “Black Women Leaders in Martha’s Vineyard,” calling them a power trio. She mentioned Maryland Senator Angela Alsobrooks, Congresswoman Joyce Beatty, and “Future Governor” Keisha Lance Bottoms. The majority of the statewide Democratic ticket consists of Black women, and they are up there right now putting their strategy together.

High-powered candidates and power brokers from the Democrat Governors Association and the Democrat Secretary of State Association have flown in. As George W. Bush once said, they’re working on some “strategery.”

I bring this up because the mainstream media will not tell you about it. I want you to send me a message and tell me where in the media you have seen anyone mention that Keisha Lance Bottoms owns a second home in Martha’s Vineyard.

We are going to take a quick break. When we return, we will dive deeper into the campaign distance between Mike Collins and Rick Jackson, and why the Collins campaign is acting like amateur hour. We’ll be back real soon!

Just another Nugget of Truth from BKP.

First and foremost, I want to welcome our new viewers. You are finding us all over the internet—on YouTube, Rumble, X, and our Facebook page. You’re finding our Substack, and many of you have stepped up to become paid subscribers. There’s an option at the bottom of our articles to support us for just $8 a month, and I cannot express enough how much we appreciate you for that. Oh, and yes, we are even on TikTok now at BKP Politics. Why not, right?

Whether you are a new viewer coming on board or a long-time friend sharing our content, thank you.

Before we dive into the heavy political maneuvering of the day, I have to take a second to brag on Georgia farmers. I love them; they are absolutely amazing. We often talk about South Georgia and for good reason—you can’t beat their blueberries, peaches, and watermelons. But let me tell you, North Georgia has some incredible farmers, too. This past weekend, I went up to the farmers market in Blairsville, Georgia (not far from me in Union County). There were truckloads of the most beautiful corn and fresh, locally grown tomatoes.

I spent my weekend putting up ten quarts of farm-fresh tomatoes and getting a whole bunch of “roastineers” (corn) ready for the freezer. The folks up there also had incredible fresh basil and garlic. So, a huge shout-out to our North Georgia agricultural community.

Now, let’s get down to business.

The Picture That Paints a Thousand Votes

Recently, we’ve put out podcasts on the economy, affordability, and those two Republican mayors in some of Georgia’s reddest districts (Valdosta and Tifton) coming out to endorse Democrat John Ossoff over Republican nominee Mike Collins. But today, I want to talk about something else. Last week, many of you reached out to thank me for our deep dive into Marjorie Taylor Greene (MTG). Today, we are following that thread right into the heart of a highly calculated political photograph.

If you’ve been paying attention to the race for U.S. Senate and Governor, you’ll know that Republican Senate nominee Mike Collins and Gubernatorial nominee Rick Jackson have kept their distance on the campaign trail. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC) loved pointing this out last week, stating that Georgia Democrats were actively trying to turn that distance into a major campaign issue.

There is a huge difference between being at the same event and campaigning together. Every weekend, there are countless rallies packed with local candidates, state representatives, and hopefuls. Up until recently, Mike Collins and Rick Jackson might have been in the same room, but they certainly weren’t shoulder-to-shoulder.

Then came the annual Tillman Rally in Rome, Georgia.

Following the event, the AJC ran a story titled: “What the Georgia Republicans Tillman rally revealed ahead of November.” To push their narrative of a fractured GOP, the AJC strategically used a photo of John Ossoff and Keisha Lance Bottoms holding up a unity sign in Savannah, but they didn’t publish the unified photo of the Republicans.

Your eyes are like a camera. Your brain constantly takes pictures and files them away in a library that affects how you feel politically. The media knows this. That’s why the AJC hid the reality of the Tillman Rally: Rick Jackson and Mike Collins finally took a picture together, standing side-by-side, giving the thumbs up.

The $200 Million Strategy

I make it very clear on every podcast that I am voting for Rick Jackson. But make no mistake, Rick Jackson’s campaign is a machine. He is approaching a $200 million war chest, and we aren’t even out of August. Let that sink in. He has hired the absolute “dream team” of political consultants, effectively buying up Brian Kemp’s entire team and almost every major consultant in the state.

Because of this, Jackson’s campaign does nothing by accident. They don’t wake up and say, “Let’s go kindly prop up Greg Dolezal or Tim Fleming today.” Every single decision is calculated based on a simple question: Where is the win-win for Rick Jackson?

So, why did Rick Jackson, a candidate running an incredibly tight ship, suddenly need to take a chummy, thumbs-up photo with Mike Collins?

The 14th District Danger Zone

You have to look at where the Tillman Rally was held: Rome, Georgia, in Floyd County. That is the heart of the 14th Congressional District, an R+19 district that should be solid red, but is currently sitting in a political danger zone.

In this district, you have a perfect storm brewing against establishment Republicans:

1. Defecting Mayors: Two Republican mayors in other parts of the state have already endorsed Ossoff.

2. Heavy Democrat Funding: Democrat candidate Sean Harris, heavily funded by national Democrats, is running hard in the 14th.

3. Third-Party Threats: Marjorie Taylor Greene, Tucker Carlson, Joe Kent, and Thomas Massey are actively forming a third-party movement right before the midterms.

   

According to reports, MTG says the third-party movement is drawing “overwhelming” interest from major donors. Meanwhile, Hunter Biden is out there publicly praising Thomas Massey and MTG. We are living in a bizarro political world, folks.

The Democrats are pouring money into an R+19 district because they know there is a faction of the Republican base—upset with Donald Trump, loyal to MTG, or leaning toward a third party—that might just sit this election out.

By The Numbers: The Burt Jones Factor

To understand Rick Jackson’s vulnerability in the 14th District, we have to look back at his primary and runoff battles against Burt Jones.

Look at the primary numbers from May 19th:

Even in the June runoff, where voters are highly motivated for their specific candidate, the numbers were incredibly tight. In Floyd County, Jackson edged out Jones (45% to 37%). In tiny Dade County, it was practically neck-and-neck. But in Whitfield County—home to Dalton, a large Hispanic population, and a city council that recently saw its last Republican replaced by a Democrat—Burt Jones actually beat Rick Jackson in the runoff (3,501 to 3,148).

There are thousands of highly motivated Burt Jones voters in the 14th District. And guess who has an incredibly strong base in that exact same area? Mike Collins. In Whitfield County alone, Collins crushed his runoff opponent 66% to 33%.

Rick Jackson has the money, but Mike Collins has the localized base in the 14th. Jackson needed that picture with Collins on Saturday to project a unified front and secure those voters. It was a purely transactional, highly necessary campaign move.

The Appalachian Gun and Pawn Rally

Later that Saturday afternoon, Rick Jackson traveled to Pickens County for a rally at Appalachian Gun and Pawn in Jasper. Jasper is deep red territory—a place that went 82% for Donald Trump.

Ralph, the great guy who owns the shop with his wife Kim, was out there grilling free hot dogs for the crowd and delivering a prayer from the stump to open the event. It was a good event, but there was a glaring issue.

When Rick Jackson first announced his run for governor back in February, he held an event at this exact same location in March. The crowd back then was double the size. This past weekend, there were maybe 120 people there, and I’m being generous.

More concerning than the size of the crowd was the makeup of the crowd. It was overwhelmingly composed of GOP chairs, vice-chairs, political operatives posturing for connections, and senior citizens—or as Rush Limbaugh used to call them, “seasoned citizens.”

Rick Jackson is doing absolutely amazing with the 55-and-older white voter demographic. His stump speeches about property taxes play perfectly to that crowd. But what is the plan for the 18-to-40-year-old voters? I am not hearing a message tailored to attract them, and Jackson’s campaign feels like it relies entirely on a base that is already baked in.

Jackson’s campaign is leaning heavily on Keisha Lance Bottoms’ tenure as mayor—specifically pointing to the 2020 riots when protests turned destructive in downtown Atlanta. While Bottoms made an impassioned, nationally-televised plea for protesters to “go home,” critics highlighted a generational disconnect between the city’s leadership and the young people in the streets. Jackson is banking on the visual memory of Atlanta burning to drive conservative turnout. However, assuming young voters will reject Bottoms simply because of this record is a dangerous political gamble. While those images might energize the older, conservative base in rural and suburban Georgia, relying solely on an “anti-Atlanta” or “anti-Bottoms” message often falls flat with millennial and Gen Z voters. Young voters generally want a proactive reason to vote for someone, and right now, Jackson is mostly giving them a reason to vote against someone else.

The Missing Pictures

While Rick Jackson was quick to take a photo with Mike Collins in the 14th District, and immediately blasted out his unity with Brian Kemp, there are a few photos conspicuously missing.

At a recent GOP marksmanship event, Rick Jackson was in attendance. So was Georgia GOP Chairman Josh McKoon. McKoon favored Burt Jones heavily during the primary. Jackson hasn’t even returned McKoon’s phone calls, and despite being at the same event, there is no photo of the two of them together. Right now, Jackson is only using the state party for ballot access. At this time, neither the state party leadership nor Jackson has projected unity in this election.

There is one more picture I am waiting for. Sometime before this Wednesday, I am looking to see Rick Jackson in a photo with a very specific, prominent South Georgia farmer. If that picture hits the internet, it will be the ultimate “green light” to the agricultural community across the state. We will see if his $200 million team can pull it off.

I want to thank you all for tuning in, reading, and sharing. To the person at the rally this weekend who reluctantly gave me kudos for my MTG article—I know we’ve had friction, but I appreciate you for your kind words. If you like what I write, tell me. If you hate it and want to write me a long critique, send it my way. Just leave the ugly crap at home; I don’t have time for it.

Until next time, thank you.

Just another Nugget of Truth from BKP.

The Split-Ticket Trap: Why Georgia Republicans Need to Wake Up and Face the Brutal Reality

I hope you guys had a great weekend. I had an absolutely phenomenal one—I mean, I really can’t complain at all.

Before we get into the heavy stuff, I always want to take a moment to welcome our new viewers. Every single day, I say to people: just every once in a while, say thank you. Say, “I appreciate you.” When I lived in North Carolina—and I love my Tar Heels up there in that great state—there was no “A” on appreciate. It was just, “’Preciate you.” I picked that up, ran with it, and it stuck. So, thank you very much for joining us, thank you for sharing the podcast, thank you for the messages you send, and a huge thank you to our paid subscribers. ‘Preciate you. It doesn’t hurt to say it.

So, what did you do this weekend? I canned 10 quarts of Roma tomatoes. Yes, it’s just too good to be true. I can’t take my eyes off of you! There is nothing like a good-looking, purdy tomato in a can. I ran up to the Blairsville Farmer’s Market in Union County just really quick—and I promise I’ll get this out of the way, but I love fresh produce. We love to say “Georgia Grown.” We constantly talk up the incredible farmers in South Georgia, and rightly so—we love our blueberries, our peaches, and all the rest. But let’s not forget the amazing farmers in North Georgia.

In Blairsville, they have the most beautiful farmer’s market. You want corn? They roll in with truckloads of the most gorgeous corn on Saturday. I actually have some in the freezer right now. I know a local farmer right out of Blairsville, and I grabbed a full box of Roma tomatoes. Then I walked over to a guy who grows fresh herbs, picked up some basil and fresh garlic, and went to work. Ten quarts. I honestly don’t even want to do the political story now; I just want to talk about produce! But we have a country and a state to save, so let’s get into it.

The Media’s Golden Boy: Jon Ossoff on a Pedestal

A massive political story out of Georgia just made national news, and it centers entirely on our Democrat incumbent, U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff. The national media has him on cloud nine right now. In their eyes, he can do no wrong.

What the media should be doing is pushing back. They should be asking Ossoff—along with Keisha Lance Bottoms—why he absolutely refuses to condemn the Democrat Socialists of America (DSA). They should demand to know why he won’t condemn the radical podcaster who claimed America “deserved 9/11.” Do they mention that this same podcaster has campaigned alongside Abdul El-Sayed, the Democrat U.S. Senate candidate up in Michigan? Of course not. And they certainly don’t mention that Ossoff himself supports El-Sayed, a man who has attended at least six events with the DSA and even hosted a fundraiser for them.

And why won’t Ossoff condemn extremists in his own party, like Ruwa Romman running for Georgia State Senate in District 7, or Zohran Mamdani up in New York? Because the media refuses to press Ossoff on any of this. They won’t ask him the hard questions because they have placed him on a pedestal. They’re building him up because they genuinely believe he might be president one day. First, they plan on sending him back to Washington for another six years.

The “Split-Ticket” Illusion: A Democrat Trap

I am not calling this race today. I am not saying Ossoff has already won. But if you listen to the national news and look at the polling, it almost feels like, why even show up?

Here is what they are actively doing: they are heavily pushing the “split-ticket” narrative. And if you are out there right now, thinking about the U.S. Senate race in Georgia and contemplating a split ticket, you need to understand that they are setting you up on purpose.

They use commentators like Shelley Wynter from WSB radio—who claims he’s endorsed and will work every day to get Republican Rick Jackson elected for Governor, but at the exact same time, he is endorsed and working every day to get Democrat Jon Ossoff elected for Senate. Split ticket.

To some Republicans, this might actually sound appealing. You might be rationalizing it by saying, “Well, if we can convince Democrats to vote for Rick Jackson, then even if Ossoff wins the Senate seat, at least Rick Jackson will win the Governor’s mansion.”

You are walking into a trap.

They are promoting this split-ticket fantasy to make Republicans feel “safe” voting for Ossoff. The Democrats’ real goal is to boost Ossoff’s margin of victory to around 5% or 6%. Why? Because if Ossoff wins by that margin, his coattails will be long enough to pull the rest of the Democrat ticket up from the bottom. Ossoff and Senator Raphael Warnock have already endorsed Democrat Josh McLaurin for Lieutenant Governor. If Ossoff wins comfortably, down-ballot races stand a massive chance of flipping to the Democrat column. It’s an illusion designed to secure a total progressive takeover.

Follow the Money: Why the Cavalry Isn’t Coming for Mike Collins

While the media gives Ossoff a free pass, they continually try to bury the Republican nominee, Mike Collins. They throw up roadblocks every time he steps out, demanding he answer for his son-in-law’s alleged white nationalist comments, calling him a bigot and a racist. The media runs with the smears, leaving Collins trapped. It is going to take a miracle for Mike Collins to break through this layered media blockade and get his message out.

And if you think outside conservative groups are going to parachute into Georgia with millions of dollars to save him, you are not looking at the national map.

Let’s look at the averages:

• Georgia: Ossoff is sitting at +8.8. AARP had him up 9 points. Fox News had him up 13.

• North Carolina: Roy Cooper has a 7.2 advantage over former RNC Chair Michael Whatley.

• Michigan: Republican Mike Rogers only has a slim 2.2 advantage over Abdul El-Sayed.

• Texas: James Talarico is showing a 2.1 average over Ken Paxton.

• Maine & Iowa & Ohio: Tightly contested. In Ohio, former Senator Sherrod Brown has heavy name recognition. In Arkansas, it’s statistically tied.

Why does this matter? Because the U.S. Senate confirms federal judges and cabinet appointments. Just look at what happened this past weekend with the 50-49 confirmation of Todd Blanche for Attorney General. Two Republicans—Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine—bailed on the vote. Mitch McConnell will soon be gone, and we can’t even guarantee a Republican will replace him in Kentucky.

If Donald Trump has two more years in office, and we don’t hold the Senate, he will not get a single judge confirmed. What if Supreme Court Justices Samuel Alito or Clarence Thomas decide to retire?

The national Republican Party is going to funnel its money into saving vulnerable seats and picking up tight races in Michigan, Texas, Maine, and Ohio before they dump a dime into Georgia for a candidate trailing by nearly 9 points. Unless internal polling numbers shrink the Ossoff race dramatically by mid-September, do not look for the money to pour into Georgia.

The Runoff Reality Check: The Plan Unfolds

I hate to do an “I told you so” segment, but I laid all of this out months ago. On June 8th, during the GOP runoff, I wrote an article titled: The Runoff Reality Check: Why Jon Ossoff is Begging to Run Against Mike Collins.

I took a lot of heat for it. I got angry hate mail from people who couldn’t believe I wasn’t backing the “grassroots” guy. But my target has never shifted: my number one focus is, and always has been, saving the Governor’s office of Georgia.

In that article, I wrote:

“Democrats have picked the GOP nominee they want to face, and it’s not who you think. The Democrats’ strategy: take out Dooley to avoid Kemp... Democrats are signaling that they want to take Derek Dooley out of the picture. They do not want to run against Brian Kemp’s political machine.”

I warned you that Kemp’s polling numbers were incredibly high. If Kemp took his machine—his money, his donors, his effort, his time, along with Marty Kemp and the girls—and told the critical block of independent voters that Derek Dooley was okay, Ossoff’s margin would have dramatically shrunk. Maybe Ossoff would only win by 1%, or maybe he would lose entirely. Either way, a tight margin helps Republicans retain the crucial down-ballot races.

But the Democrats succeeded. Mike Collins became the nominee. And just as I predicted, Brian Kemp and his donor network packed up and went home regarding the Senate race. Who is Brian Kemp campaigning with and taking pictures with today? Rick Jackson. You do not see Brian Kemp out there with Mike Collins, and it will be a miracle if you ever do.

The Secret Weapon: Constituent Services

Then, on June 12th, I wrote another piece: Wake Up, Georgia Republicans: Why Jon Ossoff is Woven Into Our Deepest Red Counties.

I warned you exactly why Jon Ossoff was going to be an absolute nightmare to beat, and it had nothing to do with partisan ideology. It was about constituent services. Over the past six years, Ossoff hasn’t just focused on deep-blue areas like DeKalb, Gwinnett, Fulton, Savannah, or Macon. He has purposefully woven himself into the fabric of the most conservative, deepest red areas of our state.

If you go ask your local county commissioners and mayors in rural Georgia, they will whisper to you: “When we call Jon Ossoff’s office, they actually answer the phone. They ask what we need. His staff shows up at our meetings. He gets us money.”

I gave you hard proof back in June:

• White County (Cleveland, GA): Trump won 83% of the vote here. Yet, Republican Mayor Josh Turner—a 2008 RNC delegate—publicly praised Ossoff for securing a $17.9 million grant to upgrade their wastewater treatment facility. Turner called Ossoff and his staff “champions for Cleveland,” noting Ossoff personally called him with the news.

• Lumpkin County (Dahlonega, GA): Trump won 80.5%. Ossoff and Warnock secured $700,000 for clinical training at UNG Dahlonega, plus over $8 million for broadband funding.

• Fannin County: My home county! In 2023, Ossoff helped secure a $1.2 million USDA grant for our fire department, bringing in 76 brand-new breathing apparatus units and a pumper truck, plus another $75,000 in FEMA fire safety funding.

Do you really think the firefighters and local officials in these deep-red counties don’t know who funded their life-saving gear? It’s printed right there in their local papers. Ossoff’s constituent services are a massive, almost insurmountable hurdle for any Republican challenger.

The Betrayal of the Mayors

This brings us to the national news that broke on August 6th. An AJC article by Greg Bluestein hit the wires: “Two Republican mayors from the reddest part of Georgia are breaking ranks to back Democrat U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff’s re-election bid.”

Valdosta Mayor Scott James Matheson and Tifton Mayor Julie Smith crossed party lines, delivering a brutal signal of weakness for Mike Collins.

Mayor Smith, a former president of the Georgia Municipal Association (GMA), claimed that Ossoff’s work securing funding for the UGA Tifton campus and the Tift Regional Medical Center outweighed partisan differences. She stated, “I don’t have to track him down. He tracks me down... The proof is in the pudding.”

Mayor Matheson, who considers himself a “hardcore conservative” and a former conservative radio host, praised Ossoff for securing $2 million for Valdosta’s transit system and for being the first politician to visit in person after a devastating hurricane. Matheson blatantly stated: “I will take heat for this endorsement, and it doesn’t matter... There’s no way I could turn my back on this relationship.”

Now, let’s inject some vital context the national media is leaving out. Yes, Tift County and Lowndes County voted heavily for Donald Trump. But if you look strictly at the city limits where these mayors govern, the demographics shift dramatically.

In the city of Valdosta, the New Jerusalem precinct voted 62% for Kamala Harris. Lowndes Civic went 66.4% for Harris. Trinity Church was 47.6% for Harris. In the city of Tifton, the Tifton South precinct went nearly 65% for Kamala Harris, and the Mott Lippman Gym precinct went a staggering 79% for Harris.

These are nonpartisan mayors running cities with enormous Democrat voting blocs. They have to keep those voters happy to maintain their power, and they used federal money secured by Ossoff to do it. Furthermore, the GMA—which Mayor Smith used to preside over—is overwhelmingly run by Democrats, no matter what they try to tell you.

A Direct Message to Matheson and Smith

Let me close this segment by speaking directly to Valdosta Mayor Matheson and Tifton Mayor Smith.

When you come out publicly as “Republicans” and endorse a Democrat, you are doing far more than just casting a personal vote. You are actively influencing the votes of your constituents. You are explicitly encouraging other Republicans to walk into that voting booth and push the button for Jon Ossoff.

If you truly wanted to vote for Jon Ossoff because he handed you a federal check, that is your right. You have the right to privacy in the voting booth. No one ever has to know how you vote.

But a real Republican does not hold a press conference to publicly endorse a Democrat. Never. It does not happen.

If you are a real Republican, you do not tell your community to vote for a man who supports the Democrat Socialists of America. You don’t endorse a man who backs radical candidates like Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan or stays silent on far-left extremists like Zohran Mamdani in New York. If you had any true conservative convictions, you would have held a press conference calling out Ossoff’s failure to condemn the DSA. But you didn’t. You sold out because he got you some money. That’s what makes the wheels turn for you.

So, when someone asks if you are a Republican, I will look them dead in the eye and say: No, you are not.

Wake up, Georgia Republicans. The DSA is right around the corner, and we are being sold out from the inside.

We are going to take a brief break. When we come back, we’ll talk about “campaign distance”—why they are desperately trying to put distance between Mike Collins and Rick Jackson, and why they finally decided to take a picture together in Rome, Georgia this past Saturday. Stay tuned for the next episode of BKP Politics.

Just another Nugget of Truth from BKP.

Welcome back, folks. I’m your host, BKP, and you’re reading BKP Politics on Voice of Rural America (VORA). It is great to be here today, and I genuinely hope everyone had a fantastic weekend.

There is a lot going on right now. Last week, we put out several stories, and I want to start by saying how much I appreciate each and every one of you who shares our work. I never want to miss an opportunity to express my gratitude for the kind messages and comments you send my way. And of course, there are always those “other” comments out there, too—but we take it all in stride.

Sometimes, I have to wait a couple of days to speak on certain issues because I like to let things develop. I try to study the political side of the narrative and see what direction it is heading before I present a story to you.

Before we dive into the politics, what did you do this weekend? Because I spent mine canning ten quarts of tomatoes. I won’t bore you with the details for too long, but after canning all those tomatoes, I had just enough sauce left over to whip up a batch of elbow macaroni and tomatoes. My mom used to make it for me all the time when I was a kid, and let me tell you, it was wonderful.

Now, let’s get down to business. I have four main subjects I want to discuss with you today.

The Four Big Stories on the Horizon

Here is a quick look at what is on the docket:

1. The Rome Encounter: Over the weekend in Floyd County, Georgia—right in the 14th Congressional District—Rick Jackson, our Republican candidate for governor, bumped into Mike Collins, the Republican candidate running against John Ossoff for the U.S. Senate. I’m going to break down exactly why they finally took a picture together.

   

2. GOP Mayors Crossing the Aisle: We are going to discuss why two GOP mayors are crossing party lines to endorse Democrat John Ossoff. It’s a story that garnered national coverage over the weekend, giving the Democrat incumbent fresh support in a region where his party has struggled. You might see this on Fox News—though, as you know, I don’t watch Fox News. I watch Morning Joe so I can keep up with the narrative the other side and the Democrats are trying to put out. We will go into detail on what this really means.

   

3. The Tariff Strategy: Later on, I want to talk about tariffs. I applaud President Trump for attempting to use tariffs to balance trade and bring equity back to our country, but I am going to explain why I think they might not work right now.

4. The Affordability Crisis: This is where we are going to start today, and it requires a deep dive.

The GOP’s Disconnect on Affordability

This weekend, I went to Appalachian Gun and Pawn in Jasper, Pickens County, Georgia, to attend a Rick Jackson event. I listened to his stump speech, and I walked away feeling a little confused.

Let’s clear the air right now: I am a Republican, and I am voting for Rick Jackson. But when I look at the current political landscape, I hearken back to Bill Clinton’s famous line: “I feel your pain.” I am trying to figure out why Republicans are leaving that sentiment on the table.

Young people—specifically the 18 to 40 demographic—are upset. Radical candidates and the Democrat Socialists of America (DSA) are gaining ground. So why are Republicans ignoring this reality?

There is a segment of the base that supports Donald Trump so fiercely that if he says the economy is great, they will agree—no matter how much they are personally struggling to make ends meet. But you cannot change human nature, and you certainly cannot tell people how they feel. You have to meet people where they are at.

Imagine you are on your way to work, and your kid calls because they have a flat tire on the way to high school. Mom is also on her way to work and can’t turn around. You have to call a service, and it costs you $125 out of pocket just to get the tire fixed so your kid can get to school. If someone walks up to you in that moment of financial stress and says, “You feel fine. The economy is great,” you aren’t going to buy it.

I’m listening to these political speeches, and I’ll look you right in the eye and say this: I think President Trump refuses to say the word “affordability”—and even calls it a hoax—simply because Democrats coined the term. Now, I don’t like the word “affordability” either. I’m so old that I just call it “making a living.” It is getting tough out there making ends meet. It’s tough buying shoes for the kids. I’ve been there, and I don’t think the Democrats have the answers or the right policies to fix it.

But the reality is that how a person feels about the economy is dictated entirely by what they have in their pocket today.

The Echo Chamber vs. Reality

President Trump is out there talking about the positives, boasting about the stock market, but there is more to the story. We are currently at war with Iran. Whether you agree with it or disagree with it, the reasoning is that we are stopping them from having a nuclear weapon, wiping Israel off the face of the map, and continuing to fund terrorism.

But whether we want to admit it or not, 95% of Americans are outside the political echo chamber. They aren’t fixated on elections, and they aren’t looking at “Trump accounts.”

They are looking at the reality of back-to-school expenses. You have three kids, and you go through their book bags during the first week of school. There’s a $35 or $45 sign-up fee for this club. There are fees for that sport. Your kid wants to take music, but you have to go rent the flute, the violin, or the fiddle. Then they need specific shoes for an activity, or there is a school trip that requires every family to cough up $150. All of this financial pressure is caving in on parents. Telling them, “Don’t worry, honey, we have a Trump account,” doesn’t fix the immediate pain. I have nothing against Trump accounts, but they don’t affect my day-to-day life, and there’s no telling how they will truly affect our children’s futures.

Do you remember when Joe Biden and Kamala Harris tried to tell you the economy was roaring? They bragged about adding 250,000 jobs, a 4.1% unemployment rate, bringing inflation down to 2%, and creating 16.6 million new jobs. Biden called it the strongest economy in the world.

Did you believe him then? Did you buy it at the ballot box when they tried to tell you how to feel? No. You saw that inflation was through the roof and everything cost too much, so independent voters and families elected Donald Trump.

People elected Trump because they remembered the engine of the 2016 economy before COVID, and they trusted him. Trump told us that the Biden economy was unacceptable and promised he would turn it around immediately on day one. Trump was not a naive newcomer in this election; he knew exactly how the Situation Room, the Cabinet, and the White House functioned. He made new promises, and now the American people are going to hold him accountable for them.

Yet, I recently listened to audio of President Trump claiming that our country is doing better than it’s ever done. He said we are literally in the “golden age of America” and that his polling numbers on the economy should be at 150%

.

I have to ask: Do you feel like you are in the golden age of America?

The Fuel Factor: Real Economics in 90 Days

Let’s look at a picture taken at a gas station in Gwinnett County this morning. Diesel was sitting at $5.59—basically $5.60 a gallon.

The lady who cuts my hair is a hard-working woman who stays busy all day. Like most Americans, she doesn’t have time to fixate on every political issue, but she saves up her political questions for me. Before the 2024 election, she asked if President Trump could really turn the economy around quickly enough for us to actually feel it.

I told her yes, absolutely. How? Through fuel.

Americans’ money goes into and comes out of their pockets directly at the gas pump. If Trump comes in and drops the price of gas by a full dollar a gallon, the math is simple. If Mom and Dad are both commuting to work, they each immediately save $25 a week. That’s $50 a week for the family, or $200 a month injected directly back into their household budget.

With that $200, they can start paying down credit cards, take the family to the movies, go out to eat, or go to a box store and finally buy that new washer. That right there is an economic engine turning. It makes families feel confident. If they were looking at a $1,200/month mortgage but thought they could only afford $1,000, that extra fuel savings makes the $1,200 feel possible.

Now look at a small business. Let’s say a guy owns five trucks—milk trucks, bread trucks, you name it. They use about 30 gallons of fuel a day. If diesel comes down $1.50 a gallon, that business saves $225 a day. That is $1,125 a week, or roughly $4,500 a month shoved right back into the business owner’s pocket within 90 days.

With an extra $4,500 a month, that owner feels comfortable expanding, hiring more people, buying new equipment, giving raises, or easily covering their worker’s comp insurance. Conversely, when fuel is high, the concrete truck rolling up the road has to charge more, which makes the house it’s pouring a foundation for cost more. It is simple math.

We can talk about stopping Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, and yes, nobody wants Iran to have a nuke, destroy Israel, or fund terrorism. But your family comes first. Feeding your children comes first. Clothing them and keeping a roof over their heads comes first. “America First” is supposed to mean that you come first. We cannot keep increasing our national debt with war payments while telling struggling parents that a “Trump account” is saving their future.

The Generational Gap and the Threat of Socialism

I am concerned about the midterms. Yes, Republicans can run against the Democrat Socialists of America, but we have a fundamental issue with young voters aged 18 to 40.

I’m not attacking you young folks, because I understand why you are upset. But the truth is, you don’t know what a true, functioning free-market capitalist economy looks like, because you haven’t lived in one. You are living in an unbalanced system, which is why you hear so much talk about getting rid of “crony capitalism” or “greed capitalism.”

Socialism is merely a transition to communism, but it is currently being presented to young voters as an answer because they are tired of the government telling them how to feel. Nobody on the campaign trail is actively pitching a return to a true, free-market capitalist system that young people can actually participate in and enjoy.

Politics has become highly profitable, and that is one of the greatest dangers to our republic. It should be politically unprofitable to serve in government, but unfortunately, we do not live in that world.

Georgia’s Missed Opportunity: The Tax-Free Weekend

Let me give you one final thought on affordability. On the campaign trail in Georgia, I keep hearing about property tax relief. But let me remind you that anytime Georgia has alleviated a tax in the past, it hasn’t lasted long. Governor Brian Kemp did an excellent job exempting the state fuel tax several times, which put money back into pockets (even if gas stations weren’t legally required to pass every penny of the savings down to the consumer).

But if I were a Republican lawmaker in Georgia right now, I would be presenting policies that prove I understand what families are going through. Specifically: Why didn’t we bring back the back-to-school tax-free weekend?

Look at the states hosting a tax-free weekend for back-to-school shopping in 2026: Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia.

The Tennessee Department of Revenue explicitly lists a traditional sales tax holiday for clothing, school supplies, and computers. People will argue, “Well, Tennessee doesn’t have a state income tax, so their sales tax is higher year-round.” True. But look at all those other states on the list!

We used to have this in Georgia. It was a popular summer tradition from 2002 to 2009. It got rolled back in 2010 during the Great Recession due to a budget deficit, but we brought it back from 2012 to 2016. In 2017, lawmakers permanently discontinued it.

Why? Studies by Georgia State University claimed the state was losing $36 million to $50 million in tax revenue. Data showed it didn’t create new economic growth or jobs; it just shifted when families bought things. Retailers would also manipulate base prices and scale back standard sales because they knew crowds were coming anyway.

I understand it wasn’t a perfect economic solution. I know families were just waiting three weeks to buy the socks and underwear they were going to buy anyway. But my God, is letting parents buy socks, underwear, and a laptop tax-free for 48 hours the end of the world?

Right now, in August, it would have been the perfect time to show voters that you get it. I used to go back-to-school shopping in the Stone Ages for my kids. I bought them laptops for college during those tax-free weekends. We’d fill buggies with clothes and supplies. Now, Georgia residents who live along I-75 just drive straight up to Chattanooga, or cross the borders into Florida and Alabama to get their tax-free shopping done.

Doing away with property tax is a talking point, but it’s not the total answer. Doing things that directly impact a family’s budget proves you understand their struggle.

Conclusion

You didn’t buy it when Joe Biden told you the economy was booming. Can Republicans keep moving forward if President Trump keeps telling you the exact same thing while you are still struggling to pay $5.60 for diesel? Some people are doing well right now, sure. But not everybody.

Thank you so much for heading over to our Substack at VORA (BKP Politics). A massive thank you to our paid subscribers—I appreciate you very much. I thank everyone who reads our articles, shares them, and leaves comments. I read them all, and I genuinely appreciate the dialogue. We don’t have to be nasty to each other, so I just scroll right past the “uglies.”

I’m going to take a brief break, and when I come back, we will dive into why Rick Jackson and Mike Collins bumped into each other this past weekend. Stay tuned.

Just another Nugget of Truth from BKP

Before we dive deep into the meat of today’s discussion, I want to take a moment to express my sincere appreciation for everyone who subscribes to our Substack, watches the show, and shares our content. I also want to say thank you for all the messages and comments. I have no problem whatsoever if you critique the program—it’s called Freedom of Speech, and I am good with that.

For those of you who are new here, let me set the baseline: I study politics. I have been very clear with everybody about where I stand. I am voting for Rick Jackson for governor. Yes, I voted for Burt Jones in the primary and in the runoff, but I am voting for Rick Jackson on November 3rd. I vote on Election Day. I am not part of their early-voting algorithm.

Now, let’s get into Part Three of our series: The Cracks in the Parties. We’ve talked about the Democrat Socialists of America, Abdul El-Sayed’s primary win in Michigan, and that movement making its way down to Georgia. Democrats in this state—whether it’s Jon Ossoff or Keisha Lance Bottoms—never have to answer to the media about whether they truly believe in capitalism or support the socialist platforms pushed by their radical wings. They get a pass.

But today, we are turning our attention to the Republicans. Because in politics, there is no such thing as a coincidence.

The Reality of the Georgia GOP

Let’s not forget a crucial fact: Republicans have held the Georgia trifecta—the Governor’s office, the State Senate, and the State House—since 2005. That is complete control of all three branches of government all the way to 2026.

Some of you aren’t going to like hearing this, but this is the Democrats’ year in Georgia. They have already won two statewide Public Service Commission (PSC) races. They are currently looking at the very real possibility of flipping the 3-to-5 Republican control of the PSC to a 5-to-3 Democrat majority. They are eyeing control of the Georgia State House, where several Republican members are within striking distance of losing. While the State Senate isn’t as competitive, the Democrats could still narrow the margin.

One thing is guaranteed: Democrats will be highly competitive next year.

Even if the State House remains under Republican control, the margins will be much narrower. What happens if Democrat candidate Josh McLaurin wins the lieutenant governor’s race? What if they pick up just one more Senate seat? It guarantees their relevance next year, regardless of who is in the top seats. Democrats are bringing out record numbers, and this could be a banner year for them.

Meanwhile, the Georgia Republican Party is fracturing. We have about nine different lanes right now. You have the far-right, the middle-of-the-road folks, and—Lord, forgive me for this one—the white women who identify as Republicans, drive four-door Porsches, and drink wine in the middle of the day at the club. I know I’m in trouble for that one, but we have to power through.

The biggest threat to the GOP right now isn’t just Democrat turnout; it’s the very real possibility of Republicans staying home.

The Disconnect: Leadership, Messaging, and Reality

There is a major push forming for nonpartisan elections, led by groups like the Independent Leadership Council. Why is this gaining traction? Because the internal party structure is collapsing.

Take Rick Jackson, our Republican nominee for governor. He is currently not communicating with Josh McKoon, the Chairman of the Georgia Republican Party. Jackson isn’t returning his calls. And honestly, I understand exactly why. McKoon’s entire plan for 2026 was to support Burt Jones for governor. McKoon campaigned for Jones, and Jones campaigned for McKoon to keep his chairmanship. If the state party chairman was 100% in the tank for my opponent, I wouldn’t be rushing to ask him how his day is going, either.

Governor Brian Kemp has already moved on from the state party, and others are following suit. All you need to be relevant in modern politics is ballot access. If 45% of voters start identifying as independents, the need for traditional party ballot access goes out the window.

But the disconnect goes deeper than just party infighting—it’s in the messaging.

Just yesterday, Speaker of the House Jon Burns put out a back-to-school campaign piece. It touted literacy coaches in every K-3 elementary school, a nearly $100 million investment in early literacy, and more time for math instruction (learning your gazentas—you know, two gazenta four two times).

Now, I am not knocking our educators. But this messaging proves a massive disconnect. If I were running a campaign, I wouldn’t be talking about literacy coaches right now. Have you seen the back-to-school pictures of everyone’s “little angels” on social media? I would put up a picture of one of those kids holding their “First Day of 5th Grade” sign, and I’d draw an arrow to their new shoes: Up 18%. An arrow to their bookbag: Up 22%. An arrow to their milk money: Up 12%.

The cost of raising a family, feeding children, and putting them on a school bus is going through the roof. That is what families are feeling.

Look at Shawn Harris, the Democrat candidate running for Congress in the 14th District—Marjorie Taylor Greene’s old stomping grounds, a heavily Republican (R+19) district. Harris, a cattle farmer, is running an aggressive campaign solely focused on affordability. His platform is about getting Wall Street out of the housing market, cracking down on price gouging, and lowering the cost of fuel by suspending the federal gas tax and taxing excess oil company profits.

I know we are capitalists, but when you hear that giant oil companies are making billions while it costs you $200 more a month to drive your vehicle, it angers you. Democrats are capitalizing on kitchen-table economics, while the GOP seems terrified of the word “affordability” just because Donald Trump didn’t coin it.

The Master Timeline: Sabotage from the Inside

This brings us to the core of the political cracks in Georgia. Why would anyone actively try to destroy Republicans from within? Let me lay out a timeline of one of the best-laid plans that completely collapsed like a house of cards.

It all revolves around Marjorie Taylor Greene (MTG).

June 2025: MTG speaks at the Georgia GOP convention. After passing on a Senate bid (because internal polling and the White House allegedly told her she couldn’t win statewide), she gave a speech that sounded exactly like a gubernatorial kickoff. I even asked Greg Bluestein of the AJC about it right after, and he was already publishing the article: Marjorie Taylor Greene flirts with Georgia governor bid. She publicly stated she wasn’t impressed with the GOP field and claimed she could carry the Trump platform better than anyone.

August 2025: Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones finally announces his run for governor. Around August 12th, Donald Trump officially endorses him. MTG is boxed out. She is told, essentially, “Don’t announce. You aren’t getting the endorsement or the support.”

August 4, 2025: MTG officially sours on the Republican party. She puts out a statement claiming the GOP has turned its back on “America First.” She formally opts out of the 2026 governor’s race but explicitly warns that she will not be quietly watching from the sidelines. She rails against the “men only” power structure and “out-of-state consulting leeches.”

After this, MTG begins her mainstream normalization tour—going on Bill Maher, appearing on The View, and receiving glowing coverage from the AJC’s Patricia Murphy.

Now, let’s look at the polling that created this mess. Back in September 2025, Burt Jones was sitting at 18%, but a massive 73% of voters were undecided. Even by December 2025, a poll by Insider Advantage showed Jones with Trump’s endorsement sitting at 24%, but a staggering 49% of voters were still undecided. I warned the Jones campaign about this vacuum.

That 49% undecided vacuum is exactly what told Rick Jackson to jump into the race in early 2026.

No Such Thing as a Coincidence

Fast forward to August 2026. Campaign season used to start after Labor Day, but with Georgia’s weeks of early voting, the war has already begun.

For months, the media and the Democrats have been branding Rick Jackson as “Billionaire Rick Jackson.” I predicted on Monday that this strategy would inevitably pivot, and Democrats would start tying every Republican directly to Donald Trump to exploit generic polling that currently favors Democrats on the economy.

Right on cue, it happened.

Just days ago, Marjorie Taylor Greene started launching direct, calculated attacks on Donald Trump and the Republican ticket. Out of nowhere, she attacks Trump over the price of gas, blames him for the “illegal, senseless war on Iran,” accuses him of covering up for his friends in the “Epstein files,” and blames him for not holding Fauci accountable. She wrote, “It’s all Trump’s fault.”

Is it a coincidence that the exact week MTG drops these specific attacks, Democrat Jon Ossoff launches a $4.8 million ad campaign attacking Republican Senate nominee Mike Collins over... his support for the war in Iran and the Epstein files?

Is it a coincidence that Keisha Lance Bottoms drops her very first general election attack ad against Rick Jackson, directly tying him to Trump? Bottoms’ new ad explicitly calls Jackson the “ultimate insider” who bought Trump’s support with millions in primary donations, claiming Jackson will just be “Trump with a southern tongue.”

MTG held onto these specific attacks until the exact moment the Georgia State Democrat convention wrapped up in early August. She gave Ossoff and Bottoms the ultimate green light and the exact ammunition they needed.

Tonight, Tucker Carlson is hosting a segment titled, “MAGA was betrayed. We all were. It’s time for a new path forward,” featuring Thomas Massie and MTG. It appears she is sending the message not to trust Mike Collins and not to trust Rick Jackson. Remember, she thought she should be the Senate candidate or the governor candidate, and she is making sure it appears that she’s retaliating against Donald Trump and the Republican ticket in Georgia to stop what she thought should have been hers.

Marjorie Taylor Greene is doing everything she can to sabotage the Republican party in Georgia because she feels she was passed over by the “good old boy system.” In her old 14th District, Shawn Harris is going to drive record Democrat turnout, and MTG’s rhetoric is going to suppress the Republican vote by making conservatives angry enough to stay home.

And as a quick side note on coincidences: Where did MTG live before she ran in the 14th District? She owned a commercial construction company with her ex-husband in Alpharetta. Isn’t that exactly where Rick Jackson is from? Just a coinkadink, I’m sure.

Meanwhile, you have Republicans completely split on the reality of our own elections. Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger is out here touting a 5-star rating from the R Street Institute, claiming Georgia has the highest standards for election administration in the country, while half the party base believes the exact opposite.

Folks, the knives are out in Georgia politics. I used to have a sweet little puppy that would come into the studio named Charlie. You all thought he was so cute. But I could have easily named him Chucky, because the second you drop a knife, politics will stab you in the back in a heartbeat.

We will continue looking at these cracks, and who behind the scenes is trying to dismantle Republican victories, in Part Four. Until then, make sure you follow Voice of Rural America on X, Facebook, YouTube, and Rumble. Keep the comments coming, tell me what you think, and I’ll see you next time.

Just another Nugget of Truth from BKP.

The media grills Republicans on every detail of their platform, but gives Democrats a complete free pass on socialism.

First, let me say thank you for all the incredible responses to the Substack article I published on Monday: The Cracks in the Parties, Why Georgia’s 2026 Election is on a Knife’s Edge, Part 1: Fear is Not a Strategy and Why Georgia Republicans Are Playing a Dangerous Game. I love hearing your critiques and reading your different viewpoints. The political world keeps turning—even when I’m just trying to find a break to can a box of tomatoes from the farmer’s market.

Today, we are moving into Part 2. I have a serious question for you, Georgia.

Do you think the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) are on their way to Georgia? Or are they already here?

Candidates hate to admit when they support the DSA. But we are going there today, and I am going to show you exactly what the results of the Michigan Democratic primary have to do with the future of Georgia. Every Republican consultant out there needs to wake up and pay attention to this.

The GOP’s Missed Opportunities

Before we get into Michigan, let’s look at our own backyard. The Georgia Republican Party has had total control of all three branches of state government—the Governor’s office, the State Senate, and the State House of Representatives—since 2005. Total control.

Yet, there is a massive push right now for independent, nonpartisan elections by groups like the Independent Leadership Council. George Washington warned us about the dangers of the party system, and today, while Republicans and Democrats each identify at roughly 27% of the electorate, independent voters make up as much as 45%.

Meanwhile, the Georgia GOP is struggling under Chairman Josh McKoon. I’ve called for his resignation multiple times. The “best-laid plans” of the state party have entirely collapsed. When your Republican nominee for governor—Rick Jackson—doesn’t even communicate with the leadership of your state party to formulate a winning action plan on day one, that is a failed party. Today, candidates only need the state party for ballot access. They don’t need them financially.

Just look at what Georgia Republicans, like Speaker Jon Burns, are currently campaigning on. They aren’t talking about the crippling price of milk, beef, gas, or insurance. Instead, they are campaigning on “making back-to-school better” and putting “literacy coaches” in K-3 elementary schools.

Give it a minute. I am so old I remember when we just called them reading teachers.

Republicans have had total control since 2005, yet our proficiency scores in math and reading have come in below Mississippi. Now they want to talk about nearly $100 million invested in early literacy and “distraction-free classrooms”? It’s not like they didn’t have a chance to fix this last year, or the year before that.

The $350 Million Race and the Michigan Warning

The 2026 Georgia Governor’s race could easily cost upwards of $350 million. Let that sink in.

Back in 2018, Brian Kemp spent around $10 million to defeat Stacey Abrams. In this primary alone, Rick Jackson spent around $107,000, plus dark money. Burt Jones threw in around $50,000. Add in Brad Raffensperger, Chris Carr, Keisha Lance Bottoms, Geoff Duncan—and now Rick Jackson has made a massive $87 million ad buy. This race could easily top $350 million to $400 million.

But if Republicans think money guarantees a win, they need to look at Michigan.

In the recent Michigan primary, the Democratic establishment—backed by figures like Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Senator Gary Peters—threw their weight and money behind Congresswoman Haley Stevens. They outspent progressive Abdul El-Sayed three-to-one. Yet, El-Sayed won.

Why does this matter for Georgia? Because grassroots momentum can beat establishment money. And that momentum is being fueled by the Democratic Socialists of America.

The DSA Playbook: New York, Colorado, Wisconsin... and Georgia

The DSA is actively shifting its staff, star surrogates, and resources into major battleground states like Michigan and Wisconsin. After major wins across the country, they want to prove they can win competitive statewide races. If you don’t think they are gaining ground, just look at what they have pulled off recently:

• New York City: Look at Claire Valdez. She’s a state Assembly member and former union organizer who just steamrolled her way to a massive victory in the June 2026 Democratic primary for New York’s 7th Congressional District. Her campaign was heavily driven by the NYC-DSA and the United Auto Workers. And guess who was there celebrating with her on election night? Zohran Mamdani—who just used this same Democratic Socialist momentum to win his race and become Mayor of New York City.

  Ballotpedia+ 3

• Colorado: If you think this is just a New York problem, look at Melat Kiros in Colorado. She is a 29-year-old former attorney running proudly as a Democratic Socialist. In June 2026, she pulled off a massive upset in the Democratic primary for Colorado’s 1st Congressional District by defeating Rep. Diana DeGette—a 15-term incumbent who had held the seat since 1996! Kiros was endorsed by the Denver DSA, Justice Democrats, and Bernie Sanders, running on a platform to abolish ICE and pass the Green New Deal.

  Time Magazine+ 3

• Wisconsin: Now they have their sights on the governor’s mansion in Wisconsin. State Assemblymember Francesca Hong is running for the Democratic nomination for Governor. She is a dues-paying member of the DSA, a member of the Wisconsin Assembly’s Socialist Caucus, and has the official endorsement of Wisconsin DSA chapters for her 2026 run. She is running as the progressive frontrunner using the exact same populist playbook that Mamdani used in NYC.

  Wikipedia+ 1

They are organized, they are winning, and they are bringing that exact same network right here to our state.

Candidates like El-Sayed in Michigan will publicly play the game of plausible deniability. El-Sayed claims he supports a “regulated capitalist system” and distances himself from the DSA label. Yet, he has spoken at six DSA-affiliated events between 2017 and 2020, headlined a 2019 fundraiser that raised $10,000 for the Detroit chapter, and is introduced by DSA organizers as a “longtime friend.”

And who is helping them build this national movement? Georgia’s own Ruwa Romman.

Romman, a Democratic candidate for the Georgia State Senate, is actively participating on the national progressive stage. She flew to Queens, New York, to knock on doors for Zohran Mamdani and was there to celebrate his victory. Just last week, she was in Michigan standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Abdul El-Sayed at a campaign event opposing a data center project.

She isn’t hiding it. On social media, Romman posted:

“From Georgia to Michigan to Tennessee, we’re building a movement to take back our government so that it works for us instead of corporations and special interests.”

She is publicly bragging about bringing this movement to Georgia. And it’s working with the younger generation. Look at the college campuses: Romman proudly posted that at the University of Michigan’s Ann Arbor student precinct, El-Sayed captured 95% of the vote compared to Stevens’ 5%. These are the indoctrination centers parents are paying for.

The DSA doesn’t just have its sights set on Georgia; they are already operating here. According to their own website, they have active chapters and organizing committees in:

• Athens

• Atlanta

• Augusta

• Middle Georgia

• Savannah

• West Georgia

  

The Media’s Deafening Silence

The DSA platform is radical. They want to end capitalism, end the Senate, open the borders, and fundamentally overthrow our system of government.

Yet, the Georgia media is completely silent.

If a Republican candidate goes on television, the media immediately grills them: Do you support Trump? Do you disavow MAGA? Did Joe Biden win the 2020 election? They demand that Republicans answer for every facet of their party’s platform.

But when Chairman Charlie Bailey and the Democratic Party sit down, do Greg Bluestein, Patricia Murphy, Atlanta News First, or WSB ask them to disavow the Democratic Socialists of America? Do they ask Jon Ossoff or Keisha Lance Bottoms where they stand on the DSA’s radical agenda? No. Ossoff floats on a cloud where he can do no wrong.

We have a Georgia state lawmaker flying across the country, rubbing elbows with AOC and Bernie Sanders endorsees, and publicly declaring she is bringing a socialist-linked movement back to Georgia. I think it is a valid question to ask these candidates where they stand.

The Democrats have a golden opportunity right now. They have their sights set on flipping 11 GOP-held House seats, but this radical wing is getting in the way.

The movement is here. The media won’t ask the questions, so we have to.

Stay tuned for Part 3. Follow Voice of Rural America on X, Facebook, YouTube, and Rumble.

Just another Nugget of Truth from BKP.

But just like the weather, the political landscape in Georgia right now is turbulent. You see, the internet is full of people who give you a “snapshot in time.” They look at a single issue—data centers today, flock cameras tomorrow—and miss the long game. I analyze the entire circle. And right now, we need to talk about the deep, structural cracks forming in both the Democratic and Republican parties.

This is Part One of a four-part series breaking down exactly how we got here and where we are heading in the 2026 election cycle.

To set the stage, ask your so-called conservative lawmakers what their favorite Milton Friedman quote is. Here is one to keep in mind: “If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in five years there’d be a shortage of sand.” Or, “The government’s solution to a problem is usually as bad as the problem.”

We need to remember those principles, because right now, the Georgia Republican Party is in a precarious position.

The Stakes for Republicans in 2026

Since 2003, when Sonny Perdue took the Governor’s office and the State Senate flipped, and since 2005 when the State House followed, Republicans have had the run of Georgia. By 2014, the GOP held a supermajority—they didn’t even have to worry if a Democrat showed up to vote.

But as we march toward November 2026, the reality is starkly different. Democrats are within striking distance of taking the Georgia House of Representatives. Furthermore, they have a legitimate chance to flip the Public Service Commission to a 3-2 Democratic majority. There is a massive amount on the line.

Down in Savannah, the Georgia Democratic Party just wrapped up their convention. I spoke with several Democrats who were credentialed delegates in that room. Let me tell you, they walked out of there electric. They are energized, united on the surface, and highly motivated.

Look at their slate of candidates. From Keisha Lance Bottoms running for Governor down the ballot, they have put forward a powerful slate driven predominantly by Black women. Now, I am not saying anything derogatory about their candidates—Republicans have run slates of all-white men for years before recently diversifying with leaders like Insurance Commissioner John King. But the Democrats’ strategy is clear: they are capitalizing on the Georgia GOP’s failure to expand our base into the Black community.

You can see this playing out in real-time. When Republican gubernatorial nominee Rick Jackson—a billionaire who just dropped $87 million on an ad buy—stopped by Big Daddy’s on Old National Highway to buy a meal and talk to a small business owner, the Democrats immediately attacked the restaurant. They forced a small business to put out a public statement clarifying they don’t endorse candidates. The Left wants to squash any Republican attempt to bridge that gap. My advice to Rick Jackson? Keep going. Keep visiting these communities, order lunch, leave a good tip, and listen to their concerns.

The Independent Push and the End of Ballot Access

Before we look at the Republican infighting, you have to understand a massive structural shift happening in the background: the push for nonpartisan elections.

Political parties fundamentally exist for one major reason today: ballot access. If a candidate doesn’t need a party to get on the ballot, the party loses its power. Right now, there is a coordinated, well-funded national effort to push for ranked-choice voting and open, nonpartisan primaries.

Look at what former West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin and his daughter, Heather Manchin, are doing with groups like Americans Together and the Independent Leadership Council. They were just on Morning Joe pushing a simple narrative: 45% of Americans identify as Independents, while only 27% identify as Republicans and 27% as Democrats. They argue that our taxpayer-funded primary systems exclude Independents and reward extremism by catering only to the bases.

Their solution? Open, nonpartisan primaries where everyone competes on the same ballot.

You might think, “That won’t happen in Georgia.” But it is already happening. District Attorney races in five Metro Atlanta counties have been pushed toward becoming nonpartisan. We already have nonpartisan judges, nonpartisan boards of education, and nonpartisan city councils. Just two years ago, a Republican state representative introduced a bill to test ranked-choice voting in smaller Georgia cities to save them the cost of runoff elections. It sounds good on paper, but once you crack that door open, you pave the way for the total erosion of the party system.

The Failures of the Georgia GOP

This brings us to the Georgia Republican Party and its Chairman, Josh McKoon.

I have repeatedly called for McKoon’s resignation, not because of a personal vendetta, but because he has done a flat-out poor job. He assembled a pyramid of followers with himself at the top, relying on “best-laid plans” that have completely collapsed since Rick Jackson won the gubernatorial primary

.

Consider this: As of late July, the Chairman of the Georgia GOP hadn’t even spoken to the party’s nominee for Governor. Rick Jackson won the primary, built his own ground game, funded his own door-knockers, and is entirely ignoring the state party apparatus.

Instead of a unified front, the Georgia GOP is fractured into about six pieces. While Democrats have Chairman Charlie Bailey working lockstep with their candidates, the GOP is adrift.

Decoding McKoon’s Cry for Help on “Politically Georgia”

When McKoon went on the Politically Georgia podcast with Greg Bluestein and Tia Mitchell recently, the conversation offered a highly revealing look at a party chairman trying to salvage his influence.

The Claim: During the interview, McKoon admitted, “I have not had a conversation with Mr. Jackson since the primary period.”

The Reality: This is a stunning admission. It indicates that Rick Jackson, who is fully funding his own massive ground game, sees zero strategic value in coordinating with McKoon’s apparatus. McKoon’s admission isn’t just about poor communication; it’s a public acknowledgment that the state party has been completely marginalized by the top of the ticket.

The Claim: When pressed, McKoon pivoted to 2024, saying, “President Trump and I spoke on a regular basis... They made a strategic decision to embed their campaign in the state Republican Party apparatus.”

The Reality: McKoon is trying to remind Jackson of his perceived value as a unifier. By contrasting Trump’s successful coordination with Jackson’s isolation, McKoon is subtly warning Jackson that going it alone is risky. But beneath the surface, this reads as an act of self-preservation. McKoon staked his chairmanship—and likely his state job making well over $200,000 as the lead attorney for the Technical College System—on the assumption that Burt Jones would be the nominee. With Jackson freezing him out, McKoon used the podcast to publicly beg for a seat at the table.

The Claim: McKoon explicitly stated, “The strategic decisions made by the Jackson campaign ultimately are up to them, and they’ll be owned by them...”

The Reality: This is preemptive blame-shifting. McKoon is laying the groundwork to absolve himself of responsibility if Jackson loses to Keisha Lance Bottoms in November. By stating publicly that Jackson is making independent “strategic decisions,” McKoon is ensuring that if the campaign fails, the blame falls entirely on the candidate, not the party chairman.

The Democratic Socialists of America in Georgia

While Republicans are fighting internally, they are completely missing the radical shift happening on the Left.

At the Democratic Convention in Savannah, delegates were fired up by State Senator Josh McLaurin (running for Lt. Governor) and Judge Penny Brown Reynolds (running for Secretary of State). But beneath that mainstream excitement lies a very real, very organized Socialist element.

One of my Democratic sources at the convention was shocked by the visible presence and organization of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) in Georgia. This isn’t just a New York or Michigan problem anymore. We have Democratic State Senator Ruwa Romman, who recently traveled to Michigan to stand in solidarity with US Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed—a known progressive—and oppose a data center project. Last year, she was in Queens, New York, knocking on doors for DSA candidate Zohran Mamdani.

Romman herself stated they are “building a movement of the many beating the money” from Michigan to Georgia. She is actively using her platform and visibility to help construct a national socialist network, aligning herself with prominent far-left figures. These groups are quietly establishing deep roots right here in Georgia, preparing to exert significant influence on the political landscape, and the Democrats have shown no inclination to disavow them.

From 1960 to 2026: The Return of the Fear Campaign

The rise of groups like the DSA highlights a glaring problem with the current Republican strategy. We have come full circle. Back on September 11, 1960, a group of young conservatives gathered at William F. Buckley’s house in Connecticut to found Young Americans for Freedom. They created the Sharon Statement, uniting around free enterprise, limited government, and strict anti-communism.

Here we are in 2026, and the GOP is running the exact same playbook. Instead of campaigning on the incredible successes of free enterprise and the high standard of living conservative policies have brought to Georgia, our candidates’ best strategy is to instill enough fear in voters not to elect a Democrat. The GOP is trying to drive what I call the “fear vote,” hoping to scare Republicans to the polls by warning them that Keisha Lance Bottoms will let their towns burn down or bring a Joe Biden-style administration to Georgia. Fear might motivate a base in the short term, but it is not a sustainable, winning message that gravitates everyday voters who are struggling to pay for car insurance, gas, and groceries.

The 14th District Wildcard

Finally, we cannot ignore the chaos in the 14th Congressional District. This is an R+19 stronghold, Trump country, and formerly Marjorie Taylor Greene’s seat. Greene recently got married in Vegas, met with figures like Thomas Massie and Tucker Carlson, and publicly stated that the “civil war in the Republican Party is successfully gutting the true America Firsters.”

With her gone, the district held a special election. Republican Clayton Fuller came out on top with Trump’s endorsement (much to the anger of Colton Moore’s supporters), while Democrat Shawn Harris put up a surprisingly strong performance.

Make no mistake: Democrats are pouring money into Shawn Harris. Why? Because to win statewide in Georgia, Democrats know they must cut into the Republican margins in the heavy-red 9th (R+17) and 14th (R+19) districts to offset Atlanta. If Republicans in Northwest Georgia stay home because they are alienated by party infighting, John Ossoff and Keisha Lance Bottoms will ride those margins straight to the Governor’s mansion and the U.S. Senate.

The 2030 Delusion

I am going to leave you with this terrifying reality before Part Two: There are actually Republicans in leadership circles right now writing off 2026. They are quietly having conversations about the “Republican Return of 2030.” They are telling themselves that if Keisha Lance Bottoms wins, four years of her progressive, Biden-style leadership will be so disastrous that voters will be begging for a Republican savior in 2030.

That is not strategy. That is surrender.

We will get into the rest of these party cracks tomorrow. And just like my dog Charlie, who somehow managed to sneak into the kitchen and grab a knife off the counter during the show today—you have to stay vigilant, because the situation can get dangerous fast.

Stay with me. Part Two is coming.

Just another Nugget of Truth with BKP.

Watching Dr. Fauci plead the Fifth brought back a flood of dark memories about the control the government seized over our everyday lives. From absurd grocery store arrows to being locked out of my dying father's hospital room, we must stand up and ensure they never do this to us again.

• The Personal Toll: We can never forget the heartbreak of those years, like being forced to say goodbye to dying parents over FaceTime due to blue-state quarantine laws.

• The “COVID Kids”: Our youngest generation is still paying the price for mandatory masking, virtual learning, and endless classroom quarantines.

• Holding the Line in Georgia: We must be thankful our state reopened early, and we must ensure politicians with a lockdown mentality never take the governor’s mansion

  

  .

Reflections on a Dark Day: Remembering What They Did to Us

By BKP | Voice of Rural America

I’ve been spending time in the studio lately working on several in-depth articles, including a major piece down in Effingham County regarding the massive OpenAI data center project—whether it’s a 20 or 30 billion-dollar investment (hey, what’s 10 billion between friends?), and cutting through a lot of the social media misinformation surrounding it. But sometimes, current events force you to switch gears and look at what’s right in front of you.

By the way, as I sit here in the studio, I have all kinds of books on my shelves. I was just looking at one of them today: Standing Firm by Dan Quayle. Remember this guy? He was Vice President of the United States. It’s just one of the many books I keep around here for a quick read.

Anyway, I don’t want to say today is a totally dark day, but darkness certainly surrounds this day as we watched Dr. Anthony Fauci testify before a Senate committee.

What memories did that stir up for you? What did it cause you to start thinking about after watching this guy for just a couple of minutes?

First of all, I want to thank Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri, but I want to give a very special shout-out and thank you to Kentucky Senator Rand Paul. Now, there have been times where Rand and I have disagreed, but today he deserves immense credit. It was through Rand Paul that I first started learning about gain of function research—something I never studied or expected to encounter in my entire life.

Yet today, Anthony Fauci received a preemptive pardon from President Joe Biden. And then, he sat there and pled the Fifth. Now, I don’t like that he pled the Fifth, but I understand it, because you can’t lie to Congress. Even with a preemptive pardon from Joe Biden, lying to Congress is a crime. A politician can lie to you all day long, but you can’t lie to them under oath. So you sat there watching him plead the Fifth, while senators did a commendable job outlining what he was responsible for and how he misled this country.

And that’s just the polite way to put it. I don’t want to get overly aggravated today, but thinking about it brings back the control—another heavy notch of control they took over our lives.

Remember all the videos they took down? Remember the doctors who held a press conference on the Capitol steps, only for YouTube to scrub it? If you said anything about COVID, if you mentioned ivermectin, or if you questioned the shot—and I don’t call it a vaccination, because a true vaccination eradicates something, and we know this didn’t—your content was instantly deleted.

Today just dredged up so many memories of what they did to the American people: to you, to me, to our children, and to our grandchildren. I did not take the shot. Absolutely did not. And looking at the research and the side effects that have come to light since then, it is just heartbreaking.

It also brings to mind the political landscape right here in Georgia. Now, if you’re not from around here, we have folks who don’t always see eye to eye or get along with Governor Brian Kemp. And I’ll admit, I’ve been in that bucket myself. But during COVID, as angry as some viewers might get at me for saying it, I thanked God I lived in Georgia. Governor Brian Kemp didn’t shut our schools down completely, didn’t lock our businesses down into oblivion, and we were the first state to fully reopen.

So after you get done yelling at me, I get it. But let me say this: we cannot let these Democrats take control again. We cannot let them lord over us, because God only knows what would be next.

Think back to the sheer absurdity of those years. Remember when they put arrows in the grocery store aisles? You were supposed to travel north in one aisle and south in the next. And remember when you turned your buggy against the current and someone halfway down the aisle looked at you like you had committed a cardinal sin? They had everybody at odds with each other over a grocery cart. You don’t go to the grocery store to have friction with your neighbors, but that was happening every single day.

Remember when they told us the virus could live for days on plastic and cardboard, so we were wiping down every grocery box and putting it on the kitchen counter? Remember standing in checkout lines spaced six feet apart, where if you stepped an inch over the imaginary line, the person in front of you looked at you like you were trying to infect them?

I remember standing in a line outside Home Depot. They were only allowing 50 people in the store at a time. They had one designated entrance and one exit, and a Home Depot employee acting like a nightclub bouncer with a velvet rope. At the other end of the store, when one customer finally exited, they’d send a signal to the front of the parking lot to let one more person in. I am completely serious.

And toilet paper? I remember going into a grocery store, finding the manager—someone I knew—and asking when they were getting toilet paper in. He told me a truck was coming that afternoon, but pleaded with me not to tell anyone publicly. He said, “Here’s what I’ll do: when it comes in, I’ll set two packs aside behind the counter for you.” And when I went back to pick them up, someone actually warned me to be careful walking between the store and my car with two damn packs of toilet paper. You remember that.

The list goes on and on. Putting masks on our children. Forcing kids into virtual learning where they weren’t actually learning anything, leaving teenagers locked in basements for nearly two years—and now we wonder why so many kids are struggling today. Those masks didn’t work. Plexiglass cash registers didn’t stop a microscopic virus. Students were quarantined for 14 days at a time because a kid sat near someone whose uncle worked with someone who tested positive. One child might get quarantined five times in a single school year, missing over 60 days of class. It was an absolute disaster for our kids.

You remember not being able to visit aging parents in nursing homes. You remember family members dying of COVID. There is not one American family that wasn’t touched in some painful way during that era.

And that brings me to why leadership matters so much. Figures like Keisha Lance Bottoms wanted to close every single school in Atlanta and force every child into a mask. We cannot take chances with our future here in Georgia. People like Rick Jackson and I might not be best friends, and he probably doesn’t care for BKP much, but I’m pretty damn positive Rick Jackson isn’t going to shut down the state of Georgia, put a mask on my children and grandchildren, and lock us down. Keisha Lance Bottoms cannot be allowed to be the governor of Georgia, period. This is not your parents’ Democratic Party anymore—it’s the Democratic Socialists of America, and we cannot let them take over and suppress free speech again.

Every family has a story from those years, and I’ll share mine, even though it’s hard to tell. My dad was very sick, bedfast, with a hospital bed set up in his living room. A family member went to church on a Sunday, completely unaware that a couple attending had just returned from out of the country with a case of COVID. They shook hands, sat nearby, and that afternoon, that family member visited my dad.

Forty-eight hours later, my dad became critically ill. We had no choice but to call an ambulance to take him to the hospital in Pennsylvania. When they put him in that ambulance, we never saw him alive again.

We weren’t allowed inside the hospital. COVID patient, quarantine room—no exceptions. We finally convinced nurses dressed in full spacesuit PPE to take his phone and FaceTime us so we could at least speak to him. When I called a local doctor here in Georgia to ask about driving 12 and a half hours up there to demand entry, I was warned: if they find out you crossed state lines from a red state into a locked-down blue state, they could arrest you. You aren’t getting into that hospital. You aren’t getting into that nursing home.

I remember the night my sister called, completely broken, saying she couldn’t take the hospital updates anymore. Around 10 o’clock that night, the hospital called to tell me my dad had passed away.

Because of executive orders from figures like Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, we couldn’t even have a proper funeral. Only seven people were legally allowed to attend. My poor mother couldn’t even sit next to my brother or sister because of forced social distancing mandates.

My dad wanted to be buried in a family cemetery up in the mountains of North Carolina. Under Democrat Governor Roy Cooper, North Carolina was locked down too. The local funeral director had to quietly break the law just to transport my dad’s body across state lines. When we got up into the mountains, there was no traditional service. A dozen of us were there, and my brother, myself, a couple of cousins, and the funeral director had to carry our father’s casket to the grave ourselves.

We can never let them do this to us again. Never.

We need to stand up, remember what happened, and tell our stories. Don’t suppress it—bring it back up. Look at our youngest generation today, the “COVID kids” now dealing with speech development delays and reading comprehension hurdles. These are the downstream effects of government overreach and unchecked panic.

Today was a dark day watching Fauci before Congress, but it’s also a vital reminder of why we must remain vigilant. We cannot let the socialists and government bureaucrats take over and rule over our lives ever again.

Let me switch gears for a second before we wrap up this Wednesday afternoon. Back here on the home front in North Georgia, we’ve got some of the best farmers markets in the country. I took a trip up to the Union County Farmers Market in Blairsville this week, got some gorgeous, farm-fresh Roma tomatoes straight from local growers (none of those grocery store stickers on them!), fresh garlic, and got to work making a fresh batch of homemade sauce. Some of those tomatoes are even waiting for just the right amount of Duke’s mayonnaise.

Be sure to check out our Substack and stay tuned for the full articles coming down the pipeline. I’m your host, BKP—Voice of Rural America. Take care, and we’ll talk to you soon.

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Hello, folks. I’m your host, BKP, and welcome to another behind-the-scenes look at Voice of Rural America.

"I don't really like Rick Jackson, and I'm pretty sure he doesn't like me either. But here's exactly why he's getting my vote for Governor anyway."

First of all, I want to take a moment to thank everyone for subscribing to our Substack, keeping up with the content, and sharing our videos. I simply cannot say thank you enough for reading the articles, sending messages, and tuning in. If you haven’t yet, you can find our Substack under VORA (V-O-R-A), and you can watch all of our videos across Rumble, YouTube, X, and Facebook by searching for Voice of Rural America.

I started this “behind the scenes” series the other day just to give you a quick, six-to-seven-minute glimpse into what I do when the cameras aren’t fully rolling. Going forward, I’d love for you to start sending me your questions. Now, I won’t tell you exactly how old I am, but I will tell you I’m straight out of the ‘70s. I’m not Mork from Ork—how many of you remember Mork from Ork?—but that 1969 to 1979 era, that would be me.

A Little Studio Show and Tell

If this is your first time joining me behind the scenes, welcome to my studio. This is where I spend a lot of my life. When I first turned this office into a studio, I didn’t have time to properly cover the window back here, so I put up my John Deere blanket. I didn’t even realize until the other day that it’s hanging upside down! Add in my Ronald Reagan picture behind me and Ty Cobb, the Georgia Peach, up above—because I absolutely love baseball—and you have my setup.

Today, I thought we’d do a little show and tell. While digging around, I found an old ticket to Brian P. Kemp’s inaugural Georgia Gala from Monday, January 14th, 2019. We had such high hopes back then, didn’t we?

Speaking of high hopes, a lot of people know how boring I am. Because I’m so boring, I like to read things that most people wouldn’t touch. I have a copy of the Handbook for Georgia County Commissioners from the Carl Vinson Institute of Government and the Association of County Commissioners of Georgia (ACCG). Every time you hear me refer to the ACCG and the “School of Indoctrination,” this is exactly what I’m talking about. One day, I’ll tell you exactly how I got my hands on this book, but not today.

The $199.00 Humidor

Before I give you a little bit of today’s news, I need to make a quick disclaimer: I do not support or advocate tobacco use for our young children. I have six grandchildren, and I want to be crystal clear that I am not promoting tobacco use.

However, you have heard me discuss a cheap cigar from time to time.

I really appreciate all our paid subscribers on Substack, but let’s just say I take donations in other ways, too. I want to show you my Henry Clay humidor. The front is hand-painted, and it is absolutely beautiful. I bought it way back in 1999 during my “past life”—when I had a corporate day job and wore loafers with tassels. Yes, really.

I was at J.R. Cigars up in Concord, North Carolina, just north of Charlotte. I walked into their enormous walk-in humidor, and there was this beautiful Henry Clay box priced at $350. I had a little bit of money back then, so I kept circling it, looking at it, and walking away. Finally, I noticed that the edge of the box was faded. I called the salesman over and said, “Don’t take this the wrong way, but you have this priced at $350, and the edge is clearly faded. Do you have another one?”

The guy looked at me and said, “I’ll give it to you for $199.00, and I will put a whole box of Henry Clay cigars in there just for you.”

I told him to ring it up immediately! And that’s how I got my $350 humidor for $199 bucks. I could do show and tell every day; I’ve lived an interesting, enjoyable life.

The Georgia Governor’s Race: Why I’m Voting for Rick Jackson

Let’s talk about the news and the Georgia Governor’s race for a minute.

Every time the media mentions Rick Jackson, the Republican candidate running against Keisha Lance Bottoms, they always lead with the exact same phrase: “Billionaire, Trump-endorsed Republican.” Okay, no problem. But it makes me wonder why they don’t lead their stories about Keisha Lance Bottoms with “One-term, failed mayor who basically let Atlanta burn.”

Jackson just made an $87 million ad buy, and that kind of money is going to move the needle. While down-ballot Republicans—like Mike Collins running for Senate against Jon Ossoff, Greg Dolezal for Lieutenant Governor, Brian Strickland for Attorney General, and Tim Fleming for Secretary of State—won’t have that kind of cash, Jackson’s massive ad buy helps everyone by putting the Democrats on the defensive.

What I like most about Jackson’s campaign right now is that he has Keisha Lance Bottoms reacting. In politics, if you can get your opponent to react to you, you are on the offense. He recently posted about fighting for every Georgian who has been counted out, supporting small businesses, and making it easier to earn a living in our state. Sure, there will be negative campaigning against Bottoms, but the negative things being said about her record are actually true. Nominating Keisha Lance Bottoms was the ultimate Christmas gift for Georgia Republicans.

Now, I’ve received messages from people who are a little confused by my endorsement. They point out that during the primary, I wrote some pretty harsh articles about Jackson. I’m going to be very candid with you: I don’t really like Rick Jackson, and I’m pretty sure he doesn’t like me either. I’d be open to sitting down with him, but we are not at the point of reciprocating warm feelings.

So, why am I voting for him? Why am I publicly supporting him?

Back in the old days, they used to say, “The freaks come out at night.” Well, I want to keep it that way. You can do what you want to do on your own time, but I do not want a man wearing a woman’s dress teaching my granddaughter’s kindergarten class. Period. It is that simple for me.

If there is anything I feel confirmed and comfortable with, it’s that Rick Jackson won’t allow radical gender ideology in our schools. If we elect Keisha Lance Bottoms, we are going to set the conservative movement back in Georgia by at least ten years. You simply cannot trust her as governor.

Looking Ahead

I don’t have a set schedule for my live streams—sometimes I do them in the morning, sometimes in the afternoon or at night. I always try to put out notifications across Facebook, X, YouTube, and Rumble when I’m about to go live, so make sure you’re following Voice of Rural America.

Please keep checking out our Substack and keep sending me your questions for this guy straight out of the ‘70s. I am currently working on two new articles for you. I can’t tell you exactly when they will drop, but I can give you the titles:

• “This is Not Your Parents’ Democrat Party” (I am doing a lot of research for this one.)

• “The Chicken Nugget Generation”

Stay tuned, folks. I’ll see you soon for another behind-the-scenes with BKP.

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Before we get started today, a quick programming note. I found out that the video we did yesterday on our Substack (VORA BKP Politics) had very weak audio. When I sit down and do a three-hour podcast going into complete detail on data centers, I don’t just string two sentences together for a social media click. I work on these stories in depth and bring the facts. If you couldn’t hear it on Substack, the audio is absolutely perfect on all our other platforms: Voice of Rural America on Rumble, YouTube, X, and Facebook. Go check it out there.

I’m also broadcasting live on all platforms, usually in the evenings, though I did an 8 a.m. show today. I apologize for the moving schedule, but when I get to working on these in-depth Georgia politics stories, the times can shift.

Now, let’s get down to business. I am going to be very candid with you: everything I say in this column is a warning. I am a conservative Republican. I am voting for Rick Jackson for Governor, and I wouldn’t interview Keisha Lance Bottoms in any way whatsoever. But if Republicans do not heed the warnings I am laying out today, the results this November are going to be very interesting—and not in a good way.

If you are a Republican, read this, digest it, and let’s turn our anger into action.

The Trump Endorsement & The Missing Congressman

I actually think Rick Jackson is doing a good job on the trail right now. After church, he stopped by the original Big Daddy’s on Old National Highway. The media tried to put the fear in him when he went to Toast on Lenox, but it didn’t work. He went right back. I like what he’s doing.

Last Wednesday, President Donald Trump was in Marietta and endorsed the entire state Republican ticket. Trump stayed focused, had a little fun, and hit a home run. He told the crowd they had to get out and vote to get rid of John Ossoff, who he called “Pee Wee Herman” (after briefly slipping up and calling him “Pinky Herman” before correcting himself on the teleprompter).

But there was one glaring omission on that stage: Congressman Mike Collins.

Trump was very positive about Mike Collins, but Collins wasn’t there. There were no pictures of him alongside Rick Jackson or the rest of the ticket. We were told Collins had to be in Washington, D.C., for a very important vote. But let’s be real—President Trump knows Speaker of the House Mike Johnson. They could have set the votes up in a way that Collins could have stayed in Atlanta, driven down the street to Dobbins, hopped on a jet, and still made the vote in D.C.

Is the distancing already starting? Trump has tied his administration around the neck of this ticket. The statewide media is going to make sure every voter knows these are “Trump-endorsed candidates.”

Meanwhile, the media will offer zero grace to Mike Collins. Take the House Ethics probe: Collins fired his former Chief of Staff, Brandon Phillips, in May. Because Phillips is no longer employed there, the committee lost jurisdiction over him. But the media continues to weaponize the investigation against Collins, and that probe won’t officially end until Collins resigns or the new Congress takes place.

The Data Center & EV Dilemma

Let’s talk about data centers and EVs. The public—the Republican base, Independents, and Democrats—do not want these massive data centers in their backyards. They are overwhelming city halls and county commission meetings to protest. Yet, at his meeting, President Trump essentially told voters to “suck it up, buttercup,” warning that if communities don’t accept these centers, they’ll just go somewhere else.

At the same time, Governor Brian Kemp isn’t giving up on making Georgia a major player in the electric vehicle space, even as the state pivots to grow the electric grid by 50% to power this wave of AI data centers.

Lawmakers constantly talk about the massive windfalls these projects will bring. We are told data centers, much like Project Camellia—the $20 billion project—could possibly put Effingham County at a zero millage rate with no property tax at all. But if all of these data centers across the state of Georgia and the ones being built are bringing in, or will bring in, that enormous amount of money, why didn’t the state put some law together to share some of that money with taxpayers all the way across the state in some way to benefit everybody? Why haven’t they talked about possibly ending the state fuel tax? Why didn’t they pass any laws or do something that would maybe alleviate the SPLOST, E-SPLOST, or LOST tax with the data centers having so much money? Why do they talk about alleviating property tax while allowing counties to put in another sales tax? If these data centers are such cash cows, how come no laws were written to make the income of the data centers go to offsetting some of these taxes?

Adding fuel to the fire, the threat of cheap Chinese EVs is becoming a reality through Mexico. The Chinese brand BYD has captured roughly 70% of the local EV market in Mexico, despite a 50% tariff. Chinese tech companies, like Alibaba, have already built data centers in Mexico, establishing their digital infrastructure right next door. BYD is making deals to manufacture electric cars in Mexico so they can cross the U.S. border with zero tariffs, competing directly against our American manufacturers. But what politicians aren’t out there talking about is that it’s been said President Donald Trump is open to Chinese EVs being built right here in America, provided they are built in this country using one of our data center smart factories.

The Democrat Machine vs. The GOP Fractures

Over a year ago, I begged the Georgia Republican Party to build the structure to prepare for the 2026 elections. Instead, Chairman Josh McKoon was re-elected through a rigged convention process, and now the do-less Georgia GOP Chairman Josh McKoon is nowhere to be found.

Compare that to the Democrats. Remember when we used to hear that the Democratic Party of Georgia under Nikema Williams was a total mess? Jon Ossoff changed that. He went in, shut the door, and got everything in line. Today, under paid Chair Charlie Bailey, the Georgia Democrats are opening 30 field offices by early August, deploying 60 full-time field organizers, and hiring over 100 coordinated campaign staffers. It is the biggest operation the party has ever had at this stage.

Meanwhile, Republicans are fragmented. Turning Point USA is actively pounding the pavement for Mike Collins, but they are practically invisible in the governor’s race—a glaring omission given how critical their ground game was for Trump’s national strategy. The Georgia Republican Assembly (GRA) is stuck in the mud, with Alex Johnson and leadership bogged down in internal squabbles rather than fighting the real opponent. Bypassing a broken party apparatus might be necessary when the chairman is sitting on the side of the road with a flat tire, and according to the AJC, McKoon admits he hasn’t spoken to Jackson since the primary. When push comes to shove, Jackson has deep enough pockets to build his own operational engine without leaning on the state party.

But that self-reliance leaves a massive operational void for everyone else. While Jackson can fund his own machine and Collins has outside allies backing his play, where does that leave the down-ballot candidates? The contenders for Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, Attorney General, Agriculture Commissioner, and down to the state legislature rely heavily on a functioning party framework for voter turnout, mailers, and door-knocking. With the GA GOP missing in action, the rest of the ticket is left twisting in the wind without the structural infrastructure they desperately need to win.

Jon Ossoff on a Pedestal

The media has placed Jon Ossoff on a cloud. Will the AJC ever ask him to condemn his alignment with the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA)? In a previous interview, the Democratic Socialists of America casually agreed to abolishing the Senate, restructuring the Supreme Court, abolishing ICE, granting mass amnesty, defunding the Pentagon, abolishing prisons, and supporting government ownership of large corporations. To be clear, it wasn’t Ossoff who said this, but it is the radical platform of the organization he aligns himself with. HBO’s Bill Maher might push back on that, but the Atlanta media never will.

Instead, Ossoff is free to preach from the pulpit. Last Sunday, he spoke for 10 minutes at Berean Christian Church in Gwinnett County. He attacked the Trump administration over the war with Iran, quoting 1 Kings 22:8 about King Ahab, his 400 yes-men court prophets, and the imprisoned prophet Micaiah. Ossoff accused the administration of lying the nation into war, calling out Pete Hegseth and Jay Clayton, and claiming Trump “sent his spies and his agents to seize our ballots.”

How do we counter this? Yes, we want to stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. But on September 27, 2012, Benjamin Netanyahu stood at the UN and drew a red line, telling us Iran would have a nuclear weapon in less than a year. It is now 2026. We are five months into this current conflict. The Strait of Hormuz is basically closed. Russia is reaping massive windfalls from surging global fertilizer, oil, and gas revenues while American farmers suffer. Ukraine gets another infusion of cash, and the American people get nothing.

And how do Republicans fight Ossoff when he is actively campaigning on how “corrupt insurance companies deny life-saving care, big tech exploits our privacy, and the ultra-rich get tax breaks”? That message resonates. It resonates so much that even Shelley Wynter, a conservative radio host in Atlanta, is downtown saying he will do anything to get John Ossoff elected!

The Affordability Crisis

President Trump doesn’t like the word “affordability” because the Democrats coined it, but Republicans need to face reality. The Associated Press recently reported that Americans are rewiring their grocery shopping routines to survive the biggest price jump in 50 years. From 2019 to June 2026, the price of food for home use rose 33%.

Ground beef hit $6.82 a pound in June, which is 79% higher than it was in 2019. I remember when a box of Hamburger Helper and some cornbread, or a cheap taco night, was an easy meal for kids. Not anymore. A simple bag of potato chips is $7.00. Diesel for farm equipment and generators is sitting at $5 and $6 a gallon. People cannot afford their rent, car payments, health insurance, or air conditioning bills.

What is our plan? We are campaigning on the SAVE Act, Trump Rx, and Trump accounts (which won’t mature for 18 years). This midterm campaign should be about highlighting the accomplishments of our campaign promises. We should have all kinds of people out on the trail showcasing our successes. RFK Jr. should be out there traveling the country campaigning on the promises we made with MAHA and eradicating autism. But he isn’t, because those promises were not kept. Autism wasn’t eradicated, and costs weren’t lowered. That is just one of many examples of promises made on the campaign trail that haven’t materialized. You cannot go out and campaign in the midterms on promises you made to get elected but did not deliver. You can’t just yell “communist!” Don’t get me wrong, it is true—the Democrats are very scary right now, and socialism is really communism. But yelling that doesn’t work when you haven’t delivered on your own agenda.

Now, I am not trying to sound completely negative concerning this administration. There are many things that have been accomplished when it comes to uncovering fraud, waste, abuse, and corruption. But at the same time, uncovering corruption does not buy groceries on Election Day. People have to buy diapers. They’ve got to buy gas. They’ve got to pay rent. Buying gas is now. The rent is now.

Instead of addressing this, President Trump was up all night on Truth Social posting graphics about “Panic in D.C.” and “Goodbye engine room, Iran.” He’s busy trying to sell me “Trump Social TV” for $9.99 a month. Stop trying to sell me TV! I want $2.18 gas! He’s even posting pictures of himself wearing a “Trump 2028” hat. Mr. President, we are fighting to save the country in 2026. If we lose the House of Representatives this year, the conservative movement will be set back a decade.

Even Patricia Murphy at the AJC recently noted that we’ve reached the part of the movie where Marjorie Taylor Greene is the voice of reason. MTG posted that people can’t afford gas, groceries, rent, and healthcare, and called out the White House for putting out “weird, embarrassing crap.” While I usually do not agree with MTG, I have to agree with her on this one.

The Polling Reality

If you want to know why we are in trouble, look at the recent AARP polling data. Yes, 2024 was a presidential year, and turnout dynamics will be different, but Ossoff is currently showing a +9 lead over Mike Collins (52-43).

The truly terrifying metrics are in the age breakdowns. Among voters aged 18 to 49, Ossoff is up by a staggering 30 points. In the 18 to 34 bracket, Ossoff is up by 33 points. In the 35 to 49 bracket, he is up 29 points. Collins is only winning the 65 and older crowd (+24). Ossoff is leading with Black voters (+73) and women (+23), while Collins leads with white voters (+25).

The Governor’s race is a statistical tie, with Keisha Lance Bottoms at 48% and Rick Jackson at 46%. But again, Bottoms holds a +23 advantage with the 18-49 crowd. Jackson relies heavily on voters over 50 (+13) and voters over 65 (+27).

Rick Jackson is making an $87 million ad blitz against Keisha Lance Bottoms—the largest so far in the general election. But his main campaign issue right now is freezing property taxes. That’s a great message for older homeowners, but it means absolutely nothing to young families who can’t even afford to buy their first home! If John Ossoff turns out the youth vote (a demographic that, combined with the under-30 vote, made up 36% to 38% of the final electorate in 2024), his coattails are going to sink the Republican ticket.

Look at how the media continues to run interference. Mike Collins posted on X that John Ossoff voted against the Laken Riley Act. Politicos and fact-checkers quickly pounced, eager to set the record straight that Ossoff voted for the bill in January 2025. They are not going to give Mike Collins a break on anything.

The Threat in North Georgia

This coattail effect is especially dangerous for the Georgia State House. The margins are razor-thin. As a young political researcher named Cooper Jacks pointed out, in the 2024 election results, five State House seats had a margin of victory of less than 5%. Nine were within 10 points, and sixteen were within 15 points. In the Senate, one seat was within 10 points, and three were within 15. To hold the General Assembly in districts like 105, 99, and 53, Republicans have to vote all the way down the ballot.

But Democrats have a quiet, insidious strategy in North Georgia’s 9th and 14th Congressional Districts—the two most populous Republican voting blocs in the state. The 9th District is a +17 Republican stronghold, and the 14th is a +19. Yet, Democrats are heavily infiltrating “nonpartisan” Board of Education and City Council elections. By removing party labels, they are sneaking into deep red counties that normally vote 82% Republican.

We are seeing blue dots pop up in city councils across Cherokee County, Ball Ground, Canton, Holly Springs, Jasper (Pickens County), Ellijay and East Ellijay (Gilmer County), Blue Ridge and McCaysville, Blairsville (Union County), Hiawassee (Towns County), and Dahlonega (Lumpkin County)—and that is just to name a few in some areas of the 9th District alone. That is just one example of the broader strategy unfolding. The Democrats know they only need to bump turnout by 1% or 2% in these areas to swing the state. Just look at Cherokee County, where State Senator Dickerson had to spend a million dollars to win a seat where the Democrat previously never even challenged former State Senator Brandon Beach.

Democrats are also spending money in these districts that they have not spent in the past. They have intentionally placed several candidates on the ballot for State House, State Senate, and other local races specifically to drive voter turnout and engage with Democrat voters right here in our backyards. Look at the contrast: while Rick Jackson is campaigning in downtown Atlanta, Keisha Lance Bottoms and John Ossoff are campaigning right through these very red areas in North Georgia. They are doing this because they know the overall plan. In past elections, Republicans have relied on the 9th and 14th Districts coming in with record numbers to overwhelm the blue Metro Atlanta area to win statewide elections. The Democrats know this, and they have been working this back-channel plan for a long time to pull just enough votes away from these strongholds to flip the state.

Turn Anger Into Action

We are 98 days until the November election. Early voting starts in October. Republicans have the month of August to right the ship before a six-week run in September.

No matter how angry you might be reading this, remember: I am not a Democrat, and I am not voting for Democrats. I am a Republican, and I want conservative victories. But we cannot afford to walk blindly into November pretending everything is fine.

If anyone out there has a serious plan to get the vote out, let’s hear it. Because right now, the Democrats are building a juggernaut, the media is providing their cover, and our leadership is distracted. Let’s translate this anger and frustration into action. The clock is ticking.

Just another Nugget of Truth with BKP

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While you were organizing at city hall to stop the bulldozers, the fix was already in. Discover how foreign dark money, federal mandates, and local politicians sold out your town years in advance.

Eminent Domain and AI: Why Big Tech is Quietly Becoming Your Next Utility Company

By BKP

Host of BKP Politics on Voice of Rural America

“In the future, when they say this will result in X... remember what X equals to Y (which is you) in all these tax deals from the past: jack squat zero. X = Y = 0 for you. So be careful when they put that mathematical formula in front of you for the future.”

Anytime a politician tells you, “This will be good for you,” remember one fundamental rule first: It was good for them first.

Politicians do not step up to a podium and claim a project will benefit your community or be best for your future until it has already served their interests. Welcome to 2026—the age of self-politicians.

Right now, across Georgia and the entire country, citizens are packing town halls, swarming county commission meetings, and confronting city councils in an absolute outrage over AI data centers taking over their communities. Looking at that outrage, I bet you wish now—deep down—that you had paid closer attention to who was running for city council and county commission several years ago.

Because everywhere you are fighting a data center today, that battle is already old news. The big players—whether it’s OpenAI, Google, Meta, or Elon Musk—didn’t just show up yesterday. They found your local council members and commissioners years ago. In some cases, forces behind these megaprojects may have quietly supported candidates for office years in advance, knowing that a crucial vote on a neighborhood data center was coming down the line.

You can fight for local moratoriums, pass 30-day pauses, and carry picket signs to city hall, and I support your fight 100%. But you need to understand the stark reality of what you are up against. This isn’t just a local zoning dispute—this drive is coming directly from the absolute top of the United States government, President Donald J. Trump.

Day One: Trump and the Tech Barons

Whether you wear a MAGA hat or not, if you voted for Donald J. Trump in 2024, you voted to clear the red tape for data centers. He has never made it a secret.

Look back to Inauguration Day on January 20, 2025. Seated prominently directly behind President Trump inside the Capitol were tech titans: Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Apple’s Tim Cook, and TikTok’s CEO.

On January 21, 2025—his very first full day back in the Oval Office—President Trump held his first official meeting with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, and SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son. They announced “Stargate,” a massive joint venture aiming to invest up to $500 billion in U.S. artificial intelligence infrastructure over four years.

Trump’s first major international trip of his second term in May 2025 to Saudi Arabia included a massive delegation of tech executives—including Altman, Cook, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang, and Palantir CEO Alex Karp—to secure global capital for this buildout. By July 23, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14318 (Accelerating Federal Permitting for Data Center Infrastructure), fast-tracking environmental reviews through the EPA, unlocking federal lands for data center leases, and streamlining high-voltage transmission power lines straight to these sites.

When a megaproject is announced in your county, it is not an accident. The deal was struck at the highest levels long before it ever hit your local meeting agenda.

The Brains for the Brawn: Data Centers and Smart Manufacturing

People mistakenly assume these gigawatt AI facilities are being built so everyday users can upload photos faster or watch TikTok videos without lagging. That is completely false. Storage servers handle your photos; AI data centers train intelligence.

These data centers are being positioned as the “brains” for the “brawn” of the next generation of American manufacturing. President Trump frequently highlights bringing trillions of dollars in manufacturing back to the United States. However, modern manufacturing is not returning to hire thousands of workers to run sewing machines or operate manual assembly lines. To offset higher U.S. labor costs, these factories must be heavily automated.

You cannot run smart factories without massive AI data centers powering them. Tech giants utilize these facilities to create “digital twins”—exact virtual replicas of entire factories. Using platforms like NVIDIA’s Omniverse, engineers run millions of virtual simulations inside data centers to stress-test factory layouts, optimize robotic workforces, predict equipment wear and tear, and solve engineering flaws before a single physical brick is laid or machine purchased.

Where factories of the past sustained entire towns with 15,000 human jobs, automated smart factories of the future may operate on a fraction of that workforce, with robotics operating at 100% productivity. Data centers provide the computational foundation required to make that shift possible.

The Geopolitical Race: Compute Capacity, Chips, and Quantum Computing

This rapid push is fueled by an intense global competition with China. The assumption that China is far behind in AI technology is outdated. According to Stanford’s 2026 AI Index, the software performance gap between top U.S. and Chinese AI models has virtually closed. China leads the world in AI publication volume, holds roughly 70% of global AI patent grants, and leads in industrial robot installations.

America’s primary remaining advantage lies in raw compute capacity and hardware infrastructure. The U.S. currently hosts over 5,400 data centers—more than ten times any other nation—and American tech giants are projected to spend over $400 billion in AI capital expenditures. The U.S. also maintains an edge in physical quantum computers (an estimated 39 to 75 operational systems compared to China’s 15 to 18), while China has prioritized quantum networking, deploying over 1,200 kilometers of carrier-grade quantum fiber across 80 cities.

To bridge the hardware gap, Chinese entities previously circumvented U.S. export bans on NVIDIA A100 and H100 chips by establishing shell companies in Southeast Asian nations to order hardware and quietly divert it to mainland China. Following major crackdowns by U.S., Taiwanese, and Malaysian authorities in early 2026, black market prices spiked dramatically. Pointing to these leaks in export controls, the Trump administration authorized the legal export of NVIDIA H200 chips to China in early 2026 to regulate supply while rushing to build domestic data centers fast enough to keep American infrastructure ahead.

Foreign Influence Operations and Domestic Astroturfing

Because stalling U.S. physical infrastructure provides foreign competitors time to catch up, covert operations have sought to capitalize on local friction surrounding data centers.

In June 2026, cybersecurity researchers exposed a Chinese-linked influence operation dubbed the “Data Center Bandwagon Campaign.” The network utilized AI systems to generate automated social media accounts across platforms, posing as local American residents to amplify organic community concerns regarding water usage, background noise, and rising electricity costs.

Simultaneously, financial tracking reports—including a May 2026 study by the Bitcoin Policy Institute—documented foreign dark money routing into domestic advocacy networks. The research identified non-profit entities connected to Shanghai-based expatriate Neville Roy Singham funding U.S. activist networks to organize local opposition and push for municipal moratoriums on data center construction.

But here is how the dark money game is truly played online. This foreign funding doesn’t go straight from Beijing to an American’s bank account. It is intentionally routed through layers of shell organizations and domestic non-profits. These U.S.-based groups then turn around and offer lucrative sponsorships to popular American social media influencers to create videos opposing local data centers. The influencers themselves often have absolutely no idea where the money originally came from. They think they are just cashing a check from a grassroots environmental or community advocacy group, completely unaware they are being compensated with Chinese dark money. Unbeknownst to them, these everyday American influencers inadvertently turn into paid propaganda mouthpieces, repeating Chinese talking points designed to halt U.S. infrastructure.

(On the opposite side of the issue, domestic dark money campaigns have surfaced as well. In May 2026, reports revealed a U.S. group titled “Build America AI,” backed by tech investors, paying social media influencers $5,000 per video to generate content emphasizing the Chinese AI threat.)

Local Impact: Project Camellia and Effingham County, Georgia

To understand how national policy, local politics, and corporate capital converge, look at Effingham County, Georgia.

On July 22, 2026, OpenAI officially announced “Project Camellia”—a $20 billion, 1,400-acre AI data center campus located at the Savannah Gateway Industrial Hub. It represents the single largest campus OpenAI has ever planned. The facility is projected to demand up to 3.2 gigawatts of electricity by 2032—equivalent to roughly 66% of the total generating capacity of Georgia’s Plant Vogtle nuclear facility. Georgia Power subsequently signed a 25-year agreement to provide electric service to the site.

The project sits squarely within the legislative district of Georgia Speaker of the House Jon Burns, who was born, raised, and resides in Effingham County. In 2021, Speaker Burns worked to secure $56 million in state infrastructure funding to construct the Effingham Parkway, which directly improved transportation access to the Savannah Gateway Industrial Hub.

Additionally, Burns and his family operate Georgia Export Company (GEC), a major regional land-clearing, logging, and timber exporting business. Now, I want to be crystal clear: I do not know if his family’s company specifically cleared this exact 1,400-acre site. However, they are the largest operators in the region, and this heavily forested land required massive logging and site preparation—the primary function of his family’s business.

At the state level, Burns recently used his power as Speaker to create the House Special Committee on Resource Management, tapping his ally, Representative Brad Thomas, to lead it. This committee directly controls the legislative future of the state’s resources and the industrial tax incentives that companies like OpenAI rely on.

There is absolutely no way Project Camellia was unbeknownst to Jon Burns and state lawmakers at any time during the legislative session when they were discussing property tax relief for Georgians. While they were proposing a new one-penny sales tax to offset your property taxes, they conveniently neglected to mention that this massive data center was coming. Now, this single project may not have wiped out property taxes for the entire state, but this project along with other data centers coming to Georgia could very well have been able to wipe out property taxes completely—and yet, that possibility was never discussed or brought up.

Bonds for Title, “Project Zero,” and Ratepayer Pledges

To grant tax incentives without violating the Georgia State Constitution’s Gratuities Clause—which prohibits local governments from directly donating public funds or arbitrarily forgiving taxes—the deal utilizes a standard “bonds for title” structure:

1. Title Transfer: The Effingham County Industrial Development Authority (ECIDA), a tax-exempt governmental entity, holds the legal title to the real estate.

2. Leaseback & Abatement: ECIDA leases the property back to OpenAI (operating under Octanes Georgia LLC). Because the authority owns the land, standard property taxes do not apply. Instead, OpenAI pays a structured leasehold valuation equivalent to a 50% property tax abatement for 15 years.

3. The $1 Buyout: At the end of the 15-year lease period, once the industrial development bonds are retired, OpenAI holds the option to purchase the title back outright for a nominal fee (typically $1 to $10), at which point the property enters the county tax digest at 100% assessed value.

Local officials have referred to “Project Zero,” suggesting that revenues from the project could eventually eliminate county homestead property taxes for residents. However, the agreement contains a specific provision: ECIDA locked OpenAI into the 2026 county millage rate for the entire 15-year term. If the county reduces local millage rates for residents in future years, OpenAI remains contractually bound to pay its abated share based on the 2026 rate.

The EPA Roundtable: Tech Giants as Utilities?

Meanwhile, following public discussions regarding power grid strain, President Trump and Governor Brian Kemp participated in an EPA roundtable this past week in Washington to highlight an expanded “Ratepayer Protection Pledge.” Signed by major technology companies and utility providers, the pledge states that AI developers will fund their own dedicated power infrastructure to prevent rate increases for residential consumers.

If there was ever any doubt that this push is coming straight from the top, you only needed to watch this meeting. Let’s look at the transcript. President Trump didn’t mince words. He looked right at the leaders in that room and told them that when it comes to AI data centers, “you have no choice.” He made it crystal clear that politicians have to get their communities to accept these megaprojects because America has to win the AI arms race. His statements validate that he is 100% behind these facilities. If you think the federal government is going to swoop in and save your county from a data center, you are sadly mistaken. The federal government is the one driving the bulldozer.

But out of everything discussed at that EPA meeting, there is one specific part that scares me the most.

To prevent these data centers from blacking out the local grid, the administration is encouraging tech giants to build their own dedicated power stations. On the surface, that sounds like it protects the consumer. But think about what actually happens when we allow a tech monopoly to generate its own power: they effectively turn into utilities.

When a tech company becomes a utility, they fall under entirely different government regulations and gain entirely different statutory powers. Utilities hold immense authority—including the terrifying power of eminent domain. If a tech titan’s private power plant needs a high-voltage transmission line cut right through your family farm, and they are classified as a utility provider, your ability to stop them vanishes. That is the mathematical formula they aren’t explaining to the public.

And remember: The Ratepayer Protection Pledge is a voluntary agreement, not a statutory law. It was not passed as legislation by Congress or the Georgia General Assembly. Public service commissions and these new tech-utilities will retain full legal authority to adjust rates, seize land, and rewrite the rules over time.

Summary

Data center expansion is driven by a combination of federal executive orders, international economic competition, state infrastructure funding, and local development authority agreements.

Protests, town halls, and local moratoriums reflect genuine community anxiety over land use, natural resources, and long-term economic shifts. However, the structural decisions paving the way for physical AI infrastructure were set in motion years ago through executive actions, state budget allocations, and local development authorities.

When evaluating claims that major industrial projects will transform local tax structures or bring widespread community benefits, citizens should look past political speeches and inspect the binding legal contracts, statutory laws, and millage terms that actually govern the deals.

Just another Nugget of Truth from BKP.

Before delving into the intricate webs of local politics and national agendas, there is a golden rule every voter must remember: Anytime a politician says, “This will be good for you,” remember that first, it was good for them.

As we approach the critical weeks of late July and August 2026, the political landscape in Georgia is teetering on a knife’s edge. Once Labor Day passes, the airwaves will be flooded with millions of dollars in political ads. For Georgia Republicans, the window to shift the narrative is closing fast. They have until August to right the ship, because the current trajectory spells down-ballot disaster.

The Ossoff “Cloud” and Media Complicity

Recent polling data should serve as a massive wake-up call for the GOP. Current polls have Democrat Senator Jon Ossoff leading Republican challenger Mike Collins well outside the margin of error. In fact, the media and the political establishment currently have Ossoff floating on a cloud. He is being floated in 2028 presidential polls (like the recent Emerson College poll), and his campaign is operating with virtually zero media pushback.

When Democrats embrace radical platforms—such as the Democrat Socialists of America (DSA) agenda that openly advocates for abolishing the Senate, defunding the Pentagon, abolishing ICE, and replacing the Supreme Court—the mainstream media looks the other way. You will not see the Atlanta Journal-Constitution or local anchors pressuring Ossoff to condemn these radical factions. Instead, the media happily carries the narrative for him, allowing him to attack Republicans with baseless smears of extremism while shielding his own party from scrutiny.

Ossoff is successfully campaigning on populist talking points: insurance companies denying life-saving care, Big Tech exploiting privacy, and the ultra-rich getting tax breaks while average Americans pay more for everything. Republicans cannot afford to ignore this strategy. They must start taking on these exact same issues, but with a distinctly conservative plan.

Down-Ballot Danger in the Georgia State House

The danger of Ossoff’s current polling lead isn’t just about the U.S. Senate seat; it is about his coattails. In the upcoming gubernatorial showdown featuring Republican Rick Jackson and Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms, a strong top of the ticket is vital.

If Ossoff maintains this unchecked momentum, those coattails will drag down local races. Research from Cooper Jacks highlights exactly what is at stake for the Georgia State House: nine seats are currently within a 10-point margin, and five crucial State House seats are sitting at less than a 5% margin. If Republicans do not change course, the top-of-the-ticket wave could easily flip those vulnerable State House districts blue

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Trump’s Marietta Rally: A Missed Connection on Everyday Struggles

Last week, President Donald Trump visited Marietta, Georgia, to rally the Republican base and formally endorse the state GOP ticket: Rick Jackson for Governor, Greg Dolezal for Lieutenant Governor, Brian Strickland for Attorney General, and Tim Fleming for Secretary of State.

Visually, the rally was a home run. The optics of the president standing alongside everyday Georgian families—holding a young child’s hand on stage—were incredibly powerful. However, optically hitting a home run in the sixth inning when you are already down 7-2 only brings the score to 7-3. It isn’t enough to win the game.

During the rally, Rick Jackson made headlines by pledging to ask the State Legislature to match the proposed federal “Trump Accounts” (a $1,000 investment for children) or to fund it himself. While setting up future generations for financial success is a noble idea, it completely misses the immediate crisis facing the working class.

If you look at young families today—raising kids from one to ten years old—they are not going to the ballot box in November thinking about a savings account that matures in a decade. They are waking up on Monday morning trying to figure out how to pay $4 for a gallon of gas. They are struggling to pay skyrocketing auto and health insurance premiums. They are trying to afford basic clothing, diapers, and formula for their children.

The Bottom Line for November

You can tout the fact that America exports more oil than major Middle Eastern countries, but when an average American is paying $4 at pump number 12, those macroeconomic talking points fall on deaf ears.

A future savings account for a toddler does not pay today’s bills. The everyday American family is drowning in the present. If the Republican party wants to win in November, they must stop focusing exclusively on long-term generational promises and start addressing the immediate, crushing financial realities of today.

They have until August to right this ship. Let’s see if they take the wheel.

Just another Nugget of Truth from BKP.

A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Studio & What’s on Deck for Tomorrow

Hey folks, it’s your host BKP.

I’ve been loving the Substack platform over here at Voice of Rural America (VORA), and I thought it was time to turn on the integrated camera and give you a little behind-the-scenes look at the studio and how I do things.

Welcome to the Studio

If you take a look behind me on the video, you’ll see my John Deere blanket. I just realized it’s upside down, but I hung it up there God knows how long ago to cover a window and block the glare. It works!

A few things you should know about me: I’m a number two pencil guy. I’ve probably got 50 legal pads scattered around and enough pencils in my desk to last a lifetime. I’ve always got my Georgia coffee cup handy, and to keep the music playing and the walls rattling, I run two Bose speakers through a Pioneer stereo receiver I bought at Circuit City back in 1984. It was top-of-the-line in America back then, and it still works perfectly today.

My Process (Why the Podcasts Are So Long)

People always ask me, “BKP, why are the podcasts so long?”

Here’s the truth: I love to read—no fiction, just non-fiction—and I love to study and research. I can come into this office at 5:00 a.m., shut the door, and spend 12 hours building folders, reading articles, and putting things together.

I know I can be a grammatical nightmare when I get to talking (and I can end a sentence in a preposition better than anybody!), but I want to make sure the information I give you is thorough. There are a lot of paid agitators, Chinese dark-money influencers, and bots out there on social media pushing narratives. When I turn on that camera, I want to bring you the detailed, researched truth to counter all of that.

That’s why I ended my day-to-day 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. broadcasts. I wanted to laser-focus on Georgia elections through November. Keep an eye out, though—I am keeping tabs on national events and have a different direction I’ll be going with some new work after the election.

What’s on Deck for Tomorrow

I’m really enjoying our interactions here on Substack. I love the messages, and I even love it when you have an opposing view—as long as we avoid the “uglies.” Tomorrow morning, I’ve got a packed show lined up, backed by hours of research:

• The Secret Dragnet: We’re going to talk about Flock cameras. I’ve got a deep-dive ready on why they are in use and how you actually have a personal risk assessment score.

• Data Centers & Trump’s Endorsement: We’re looking into the Savannah Gateway Hub (Project Camilla). It’s a $20 billion data center in Effingham County—which happens to be Speaker John Burns’ territory. Yesterday, President Trump basically gave his full endorsement to cut the red tape for data centers, and we are going to look at the massive public backlash that followed.

• Georgia Governor’s Race Polling: President Trump gave his complete endorsement to the Republican ticket here last Wednesday. Right now, a recent poll shows Keisha Lance Bottoms up two points over Rick Jackson. But the demographic split is wild: Bottoms is +23 with voters aged 18-49, while Jackson is +13 with the 50+ crowd. I’ll break down what I think that means.

• U.S. Senate Race Polling: The corporate media (CNN, MSNBC, ABC) is elevating John Ossoff to superstar status like he’s the next JFK. A recent poll has him up 9 points over Mike Collins. Again, the age divide is huge: Ossoff is +30 with the 18-49 demographic (and +33 with 18-34), while Mike Collins is only +8 with voters 50 and up.

I’m looking forward to breaking all this down for you. Send me your messages, and let me know if you enjoy these little behind-the-scenes show-and-tells. It might be boring, but hey, that’s just me.

BKP

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The 30-Day Deletion Lie: How Government Agencies Permanently Wash Your Private Data

Why Georgia’s top cop secretly fought in court to protect AI cameras on your street corner.

What happens when an AI algorithm decides your daily commute makes you a "suspicious risk"?

YOU ARE DATA: The Surveillance Sellout and the Rise of the AI State

Welcome to BKP Politics. Today, President Donald Trump is in Cobb County, alongside Rick Jackson, the Republican nominee for governor here in Georgia. Noticeably absent? Mike Collins, who claims he has “business to attend to” in Washington, D.C. I think we all know the real reason why, but we will save that discussion for tomorrow.

Today, we have a much more pressing issue. If you have been on social media lately, you have seen the outrage, the misinformation, and the endless arguments over the Flock camera systems popping up on every street corner. Law enforcement defends them. Skeptics are told they are upset over nothing. “There are cameras everywhere,” they say. “Why are you so upset?”

I’ll tell you why. Because you are data.

We are going to conduct the most in-depth dive into Flock surveillance cameras, predictive policing, and the AI state that you have ever seen. What is really happening out there? Who has your data? And what are they doing with it?

The Call for a Full Investigation into Attorney General Chris Carr

I am officially calling for a full, comprehensive investigation into Georgia State Attorney General Chris Carr. If you remember back when he was running for governor, he was up there on the debate stage and was asked by an opponent, Rick Jackson, about Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones. Jackson brought up allegations that Jones was using the power of his office to stop lawmakers from getting legislation through. Carr’s response? He said that if he wasn’t running for governor, he would probably see enough reason to open an investigation into those allegations against Burt Jones. He punted the question publicly. Yet, behind the scenes, you know he has this whole thing going on with Flock. Explosive open records requests reveal that Carr and his office have been operating in lockstep with Flock Safety executives—acting almost as a taxpayer-funded legal and political shield for a multi-billion dollar private corporation.

Here is what the internal communications reveal:

• Direct Legal Coordination: In February, a Flock Vice President directly texted Carr’s Chief of Staff asking if the Attorney General would file a federal court brief defending license plate readers in the 11th Circuit Court case, United States v. Slaybaugh. A ruling against the cameras would have devastated Flock’s business model. Just nine days later, Carr filed an amicus brief defending the technology and rallied 18 other Republican Attorneys General to join him. He never listed Flock Safety as an interested party, despite taking direct requests and providing private updates to their executives.

• Backroom Political Pressure: When the Dunwoody City Council was debating whether to extend its Flock contract, executives texted Carr’s office asking him to lean on local officials. The texts confirm Carr was working behind the scenes to push the council. Shortly after, the council voted unanimously to extend the contract.

  

• Financial Access: In July, right after Flock opened its massive $10 million facility in Atlanta (with Governor Brian Kemp and First Lady Marty Kemp at the ribbon cutting), Flock donated $25,000 to the Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA). This is the exact entry-level threshold required to grant corporate donors private access to Republican AGs. Carr, deeply connected to RAGA and a former chairman, later met privately with Flock executives in D.C. and allowed them to give exclusive AI product demos to his prosecutors.

Carr has aggressively championed this technology, arguing in op-eds that you have no constitutional expectation of privacy on public roads. He has leveraged the legal and political weight of the state of Georgia to protect a private surveillance network. This should be plenty to start an investigation against Attorney General Chris Carr, something that may or should end up in front of a grand jury.

How Did We Get Here So Fast? The Public Grant Trap

At last count, there are roughly 80,000 of these cameras on America’s streets. You might be asking yourself, “Did I miss a city council meeting? Did I miss a vote? How did my local police get the money for this?”

You didn’t miss a vote. They bypassed you entirely by exploiting the public grant system.

Flock pitches its cameras as a “free” or fully subsidized technology to bypass the heavy scrutiny of municipal budgets. They even partner with companies like Lexipol to provide free grant writers to your local police chiefs and sheriffs. Here is how the money flows:

1. Federal Grants: Billions of dollars are distributed to states through the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (Byrne JAG) and the DHS State Homeland Security Program. Money meant for “counterterrorism” is routinely used to purchase integrated video surveillance.

2. State Grants: Governor Brian Kemp’s office distributed $83.5 million in community public safety grants. Local agencies aggressively used this money to build Flock networks. Monroe County used a $118,000 grant for 21 cameras. The City of Perry secured $1.5 million to expand and integrate their system.

3. The Sheriff Loophole: While city police departments need a mayor or council’s permission to accept a grant, a County Sheriff is a Constitutional Officer. Under Georgia law, county commissioners control the bottom-line budget, but they cannot dictate how a sheriff spends grant money or civil asset forfeiture funds. Sheriffs can deploy these cameras without ever asking for a public vote.

The Financial Trap: The grant only covers the upfront costs and the first year or two of operation. Because Flock is a subscription model, once the grant dries up, your city council or county commissioners are permanently on the hook for tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars in recurring software fees to keep the system turned on.

Predictive Policing: The Brain Behind the Cameras

Law enforcement claims this is all about solving crime. But this isn’t just about finding stolen cars. This is about predictive policing—using AI to assign you a risk assessment score.

If Flock cameras are the “eyes” of this operation, a company called Palantir is the “brain.” Palantir’s flagship software, Gotham, is an AI-enabled enterprise data platform designed for global defense, intelligence agencies, and law enforcement.

Gotham ingests massive volumes of disparate information to build actionable profiles on citizens. This includes:

• Flock license plate location data

• Social media posts

• DMV and vehicle registrations

• Phone records and cell tower pings (who you call, and where you are when you call them)

• Field interview cards and body cam footage data

• Toll booth cameras (Peach Pass)

The software maps out connections. It tracks your historical movements to establish daily driving habits. If you innocently drive past a school three times a day, or if an algorithm determines you have associated with the “wrong” people, your risk score goes up. You can be flagged as a potential suspect for a future crime without ever having a criminal record.

The “Public Safety” Illusion: Trading Freedom for Security

Now, law enforcement and public officials don’t sell these systems by coming out and telling you they are going to track your every move. They sell them using fear, tragedy, and the promise of absolute safety. When defending these Flock cameras and massive data-scraping operations, they point to the most horrific crimes imaginable. They tell you this is how we stop the next school shooting, bust a child sex trafficking ring, catch a murderer fleeing the scene, or stop businesses from being robbed.

They argue that if they can just scrub your social media, map out your acquaintances, see who you talk to, and track exactly where your car goes every single day, they can anticipate violence before it happens. They point to the ongoing mental health crisis in this country and say, “Look at all these tragedies. We need these predictive systems to identify unstable individuals before they snap.” And let’s be honest—nobody wants to see another school shooting or a child abducted. We all want safe communities.

But I am telling you, we have seen this exact playbook before. Think back to the days right after 9/11. Following the horrific attack on the World Trade Center, the government told us that to keep America safe from terrorism, we had to allow mass surveillance. They passed the Patriot Act. They created the Department of Homeland Security, and suddenly, the federal government was surveilling everybody.

Remember George W. Bush’s color-coded Homeland Security Advisory System? We had those green, blue, yellow, orange, and red threat levels blasted on our television screens. We were trained to look at a color code to see how high our risk of a terrorist attack was on any given day. It was designed to keep the public in a constant state of low-level fear. And because we were terrified, we allowed the government to strip away our privacy.

They are using the exact same logic today with these AI systems and individual risk assessment scores. They highlight extreme, horrifying crimes to give you a false sense of security, all while slowly and permanently removing your freedom.

Not an Attack on Law Enforcement: A Defense of the Fourth Amendment

Let me make something crystal clear before we go any further: this article is by no means a direct attack on law enforcement. That is not our interest here. Many of us like our local sheriff, we respect our local police department, and we trust our chief of police. For the most part, these are good people doing a very difficult job to keep our communities safe.

But there are two massive issues we have to face here.

First, not everyone is going to use this system in a proper, ethical way. Even if your current sheriff is a saint, this technology outlasts elected terms. Power invites abuse, and eventually, this mass surveillance dragnet will fall into the hands of someone who will misuse it.

Second, and more importantly, no matter how much you like your sheriff or the chief of police, that does not mean you have to surrender your constitutional rights. The Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution guarantees your right to be secure in your person, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures. Mass surveillance that tracks your every movement and maps out your private life is a direct violation of that right to privacy.

I will not give up my constitutional rights to freedom and privacy just because I like the sheriff. Our rights are non-negotiable.

The 30-Day Deletion Lie and the Extraction Loophole

Flock tells the public, “We don’t share your data, and we delete it within 30 days.” You see this defense all over social media.

Here is the truth they are hiding: The Extraction Loophole.

The 30-day deletion policy only applies to data resting on Flock’s own cloud servers. However, when police departments, fusion centers, or federal agencies like ICE plug Flock into a broader management platform like Palantir’s Gotham or the ELITE system (Enhanced Leads Identification and Targeting for Enforcement), the rules change entirely.

Authorized officers can simply click a button and download the data. Once the location data or target alert is extracted, it becomes the property of that government agency. It undergoes a fundamental shift and is re-categorized as “intelligence” or “investigatory evidence.” Under federal and state guidelines, that data can now be retained for years, decades, or indefinitely.

Privacy advocates call this “data washing.” A hardware company gets to claim they protect your privacy, while the government permanently stores your daily movements in a massive dragnet.

The Dragnet: ICE, Peter Thiel, and the Political Machine

Palantir built the ELITE system specifically for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to track and deport illegal aliens. But hardware cannot filter by citizenship. To find a targeted individual, ICE and Palantir must continuously ingest a constant stream of ambient data belonging to millions of innocent U.S. citizens going about their daily lives.

And who is profiting from this surveillance state? Peter Thiel.

Thiel, the billionaire venture capitalist, is the co-founder and chairman of Palantir. Through a unique multi-class share structure, Thiel and his co-founders hold a guaranteed 49.99% of the voting power, giving them total functional control over the company.

But Thiel’s reach doesn’t stop at the software. In the spring of 2025, his venture capital firm, Founders Fund, participated as a major investor in Flock Safety’s massive Series F funding round, pushing the camera company’s valuation to $7.5 billion. Thiel has created a direct, multi-billion dollar financial bridge between the hardware collecting your data (Flock) and the software analyzing it (Palantir).

He has also used this immense wealth to shape the future of the country. Thiel has been the primary financial patron of Vice President J.D. Vance since they met at Yale Law School. Thiel bankrolled Vance’s venture firm, brought him to Mar-a-Lago to secure Trump’s endorsement, and poured a staggering $15 million into a Super PAC to win Vance his Senate seat.

What Will You Do When They Come Looking for You?

The scandals are piling up. We have seen police stalking epidemics using this data. We’ve seen innocent people harassed due to high false-positive rates. The LAPD recently canceled their Flock contract over severe civil liberties concerns, specifically citing that predictive policing washes bias into the system. Grassroots organizations like Deflock America are packing city council meetings, and citizens in Ohio and Virginia have resorted to covering cameras with trash bags or cutting them down with saws.

We are living in an integrated surveillance hub. When you drive down the road, your location, your associations, your social media, and your toll booth records are being fed into a central brain.

Remember that old movie Spaceballs? Remember Pizza the Hut? Lone Starr is warned, “What are you gonna do when Pizza sends out for you?” It sounds silly, but the question is deadly serious today. Under the guise of public safety, eliminating crime, and counterterrorism, the masses are marching forward to surrender their freedom.

What are you going to do when you meet the threshold on your risk assessment score? What are you going to do when a federal agency knocks on your door because the AI flagged your driving pattern as suspicious?

We have to unify. We have to push back. Speaking of unifying, I want to remind everyone about the Houston, Peach, and Bibb County GOP Fish Fry coming up on Saturday, August 22, 2026. This is our chance as Republicans to come together right before September and push back against the socialists that have infiltrated our system.

Take a look around your neighborhood. You are data. Let me know what you think—text me, email me. I’ll see you soon.

Just another Nugget of Truth with BKP.