President Joe Biden's suggestion that the Major League Baseball All-Star Game should be pulled out of Georgia over the state's new voting law a "ridiculous" distraction from his handling of the crisis at the nation's southern border, Gov. Brian Kemp said Thursday.
"What Joe Biden needs to do is look at the side-by-side of Georgia and Delaware," the Republican governor said on Fox News' "America's Newsroom." "He's focused on trying to get Major League Baseball to pull the game out of Georgia, which is ridiculous."
Biden told ESPN that he would "strongly support" moving the game out of Atlanta, commenting after MLB Players Association Executive Director Tony Clark said he hopes to discuss moving the game away from Truist Park, the home of the Atlanta Braves, in response to the law.
"I think today’s professional athletes are acting incredibly responsibly. I would strongly support them doing that," Biden told ESPN. "The very people who are victimized the most are the people who are the leaders in these various sports. And it’s just not right. This is Jim Crow on steroids ... what they’re doing in Georgia."
Kemp pointed out that when the president says something, "a lot of people pay attention," but Biden needs to compare what's happening in Georgia with what is going on in his home state of Delaware.
"The state of Delaware has no in-person early voting," said Kemp. "We have 17 days in Georgia. You don't have to have an excuse to get an absentee ballot by mail. In Delaware, you do."
Further, Georgia has drop boxes, but Delaware doesn't, "and if you want to get a bottle of water while you're standing in line in Georgia, you can absolutely do that," said Kemp." "The elections officials can help you with that. But you can't do that in Delaware because they don't have early voting."
Kemp said that instead of focusing on Georgia, Biden should focus on what he can control, like the border, and accused him of attacking Georgia's new voting law to create a "political narrative" while trying to push through HR 1, the House Democrats' voting reform bill.
"It’s all part of a political narrative that they’re pushing and we’re going to continue to fight that," said Kemp.
The governor also fired back at companies in his state that initially supported the new voting regulations now opposing the law, after they were threatened with boycotts.
Executives at Coca-Cola and Delta Airlines, along with JPMorgan Chase, have issued public statements calling the legislation "wrong" and saying it is "based on a lie" while promising to help change the law, reports CBS News.
"They're not going to get back on board because they have been pressured by the board of directors who have been pressured by activists," said Kemp. "There is nothing I can do about that. I've been my own CEO for over 35 years and signing my own paychecks and those of many others for a long time. I won't be bullied by these people. I'm also not running a public corporation. They will have to answer to their shareholders."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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