As a native Georgian, I felt compelled to address the “rift” between President Trump and Georgia Governor Brian Kemp over the latter’s decision to jump to the head of the line and go ahead and allow some businesses in the state to open today instead of making them wait pursuant to the federal reopening strategy.

In summation: I believe the bad blood was a bit overblown in the media and that Trump was perfectly comfortable letting Kemp make that decision for his state. There’s no doubt the president let his opinion be known to the governor — he told the rest of the country he was not happy with it — but I think men of action respect other men of action in the long run, political differences nothwithstanding.

The more interesting question is why Kemp did it, and if we’re likely to see a spike in cases in Georgia as a result. On the latter question, I have no informed opinion to offer. I simply don’t know.

But on the former, I can say that Kemp has eyes on the ground in his state, is very probably consulting with the Centers for Disease Control (located in Atlanta), and has heard from small business leaders and resident of Georgia that they were eager to get moving again. And Southerners, as I’ve said ad nauseam, have a natural streak of independence when it comes to getting things done. A healthy distrust of the status quo, if you will.

So, Kemp made his move and Trump expressed his thoughts. This is how a good federalized system should work between central government and state government. And for anyone worried that Georgia is endangering the nation, take comfort in Trump’s statements indicating that the state and her numbers will be monitored closely. Because the feds aren’t powerless here.

But sometimes you need people willing to take a risk. So we’ll see how it goes.

Check the show today for a discussion of this, a review of the delightful “Good Boys” (trailer below), and a brief deconstruction of Christian tot’s latest at Just The News, “Pandemic Threatens Ties Between Hollywood and China’s Film Industry.”

And stay sane!

The show lives below on Spotify and you can also find me at iHeart radio, Apple Podcasts, FCB Radio’s Spreaker, and Deezer.