Trump can't get his Georgia allies to back David Perdue for governor

Donald Trump's endorsed candidates in Georgia are steering clear of his deeply personal vendetta against Gov. Brian Kemp -- the Republican Trump says betrayed him in the 2020 election and whom he has set out to dethrone.

Instead of steamrolling through Georgia, Trump is struggling to get his own allies to back former GOP Sen. David Perdue, the man handpicked by the former President last December to challenge Kemp. Perdue has been slow to gain traction as an insurgent candidate, a task that will become even more difficult in the final weeks before Georgia's May 24 primary. Even Trump called him a "long-shot" candidate earlier this week in an interview with the online right-wing outlet Real America's Voice.

Trump's relatively lonely mission to defeat Kemp reveals how the former President's priorities can often be out of step with those of Republicans who are actually on the ballot in 2022. The series of upcoming GOP primaries in May may be a mixed bag for Trump. And his overall record in the 2022 midterms will depend on an untested premise: Do Republican primary voters remain aligned with Trump?