{"id":381,"date":"2026-06-19T17:09:40","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T17:09:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/atlaslivingmedia.com\/?p=381"},"modified":"2026-06-19T17:09:40","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T17:09:40","slug":"i-hope-iran-wins-at-the-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/atlaslivingmedia.com\/?p=381","title":{"rendered":"I Hope Iran Wins at the World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Billionaire healthcare executive Rick Jackson won a GOP runoff for the governor\u2019s race in Georgia, beating Georgia\u2019s current lieutenant governor, Burt Jones. Jackson will now take on former Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms in the general election.<\/p>\n

Read more How a New York Primary Wound Up at the Center of the AI Storm<\/a><\/p>\n

Jones, who famously tried to help Donald Trump overturn Georgia\u2019s 2020 election results, earned a thank-you endorsement from Trump nearly a year ago. His loss is one of the only times during this primary cycle that the Trump-endorsed Republican didn\u2019t win.<\/p>\n

For his part, Jackson, despite failing to secure an endorsement, did dutifully kiss Trump\u2019s ring in the only way that matters: He donated $1 million to Trump in December. Jackson also reportedly spent $100 million of his own money on his campaign. He claims that being self-funded means that he\u2019s not beholden to special interests but he\u2019s a billionaire healthcare executive, which means he\u2019s basically a walking special interest.<\/p>\n

The most interesting thing about this gubernatorial primary is its immediate effect on the midterm elections. In the wake of the Supreme Court\u2019s decision in Louisiana v. Callais<\/em>, the Georgia state legislature was one among a number of former Confederate states looking to re-gerrymander their congressional maps to give Republicans even more of an advantage. Georgia\u2019s legislature is already dominated by Republicans, but there had been some pushback within the party against even more aggressively gerrymandering the state. Jones, as lieutenant governor (and therefore president of the Georgia state Senate), was expected to try to push through the new maps.<\/p>\n

But now that he has lost, reports indicate that the new maps are \u201cdead on arrival.\u201d This is not because Jones has had a change of heart. He still wants the racist gerrymander. It\u2019s just that, since Jones is a lame duck, other Republicans who oppose the new map no longer fear his retribution should they vote against it.<\/p>\n

That is fascinating<\/em> to me. Republicans will go for maximal racism to keep their jobs, but won\u2019t necessarily if they\u2019re not threatened. And we\u2019re all used to it. Pro-racism is just kind of accepted as a necessary<\/em> position for Republicans who are still running for office.<\/p>\n

The fact is, Republicans think racism helps them win. That\u2019s probably the biggest difference between modern Republicans and the still-super-racist Republicans I grew up with. The Republican antipathy for equal rights has always run deep, but back in the day, active racism wasn\u2019t the unyielding requirement for membership in the Republican party. Now, it pretty much is. And their voters love it.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not looking forward to all the ways the healthcare executive will try to pick up the mantle of racist dog-whistling as he runs against a Black woman this fall. I\u2019m sure it\u2019ll be ugly.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Bad and the Ugly<\/strong><\/p>\n