Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp at Davos: ‘Secure the Dang Border’

From left: US Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia, attends a panel at the World Economic Forum in D
AP Photo/Markus Schreiber

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) attended the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, this week and used the opportunity to draw attention to the ongoing fentanyl crisis in the United States and urged Congress to secure the southern border.

Kemp spoke at a WEF panel moderated by Norwegian diplomat Børge Brende on Tuesday alongside other American politicians, including Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) and Sens. Chris Coons (D-DE), Joe Manchin (D-WV), and Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ).

Although many of Kemp’s supporters criticized him for attending the globalist event, Kemp focused on pushing a pro-Georgia economic agenda and described himself as a “Georgia redneck going to Davos” before he left for Switzerland.

Speaking about his recent win over failed gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, Kemp cited Georgia’s pro-worker economy as one of the reasons for his victory. Kemp criticized politicians who advocated for a complete shutdown of the economy during the early days of the coronavirus pandemic.

Kemp said:

The question to the voters, you know, look at the candidates and ask who’s been fighting for you? Who was fighting to keep your business open when all the pressure from both political parties, from people in high places, from a lot of other people that were sitting in their basement on a computer, was not to stay up and who was not to reopen our economy, who was pushing to get our kids back in the classroom? Well, we did all of those things. And you know, we proved that we were fighting for people. We were fighting for election security. We were fighting for people to have a good paying job, And to survive, to live life to fight another day economically, in our state. We’ve fought for our people by giving them a billion dollars of their tax money back to help them fight through 40 year high inflation because in my opinion of a lot of bad policies in Washington, DC, and the voters of my state, the great state of Georgia, certainly responded to that.

Kemp went on to speak about the partisan gridlock in D.C. after Brende asked him about the increasing partisan divide within the U.S.

“You know, there’s frustrations, quite honestly. Look, if there’s gridlock in Washington, DC, one thing you can count on is the stability and a great economy, a great business environment in the state of Georgia,” Kemp said.

He then discussed how “frustrating” it is to deal with the fentanyl crisis in Georgia due to President Joe Biden’s lax enforcement of federal immigration law.

“And we’re going to keep rocking and rolling but it is frustrating to have to deal with the Fentanyl crisis because we simply cannot see or secure our border in this country,” Kemp said. “And I’m hopeful that something gets done. But you know, my advice, take it for what it’s worth while we’re waiting on that, just secure the border.”

Kemp added that he is not the only governor impacted by the fentanyl crisis after calling on Congress to secure the border.

Migrants wait to cross the US-Mexico border from Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, next to U.S. Border Patrol vehicles in El Paso, Texas, Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2022. (AP Photo/Christian Chavez)

Migrants wait to cross the U.S.-Mexico border from Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, next to U.S. Border Patrol vehicles in El Paso, Texas, Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2022. (AP Photo/Christian Chavez)

“I mean, literally every governor in the country is dealing with the Fentanyl crisis. We’re dealing with street gang crisis. We’re dealing with human trafficking crisis. And those are the issues that we’re trying to tackle at the state level,” Kemp said. “But I believe much could be solved and I think there will be broad bipartisan support for simply in the meantime, while you’re working on these things to secure the dang border.”

Jordan Dixon-Hamilton is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at jdixonhamilton@breitbart.com or follow him on Twitter. 

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