Trump flip-flopped over Georgia's decision to reopen the state, but the president's supporters there don't seem to mind

• On Monday, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp announced he would be reopening the state after an 18-day shelter-in-place order.
• President Trump and Vice President Pence initially supported Kemp's decision.
• But a day later, Trump said in a news conference that he felt the governor was moving too quickly.
• Members of Facebook groups encouraging the end of quarantine measures and the reopening of Georgia say they're willing to take a risk to help the economy.
• And they also say they get why Trump is flip-flopping on the move.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Tomorrow, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp will begin re-opening the state. He'll start by allowing gyms, fitness centers, bowling alleys, tattoo parlors, barbers, cosmetologists, hair designers, and aestheticians to go back to work. Early next week, according to Kemp's order, restaurants, movie theaters, and social clubs will be able to bring customers in.

The first thing Pete Richey says he's going to do once Kemp's order kicks in? Take his family of four out to dinner. Richey, 45, lives in Austell, Georgia, and works in business development. On the side, he runs the Facebook group Reopen Georgia, which has been pushing for the state to drop its shelter-in-place order. Reopen Georgia was created just ten days ago, and already has nearly 1,800 members. Another group, Reopen GA, has more than 24,000 members.

The issue of state self-determination amid the coronavirus has become a prickly one. In the last several weeks, dozens of Facebook groups advocating that states reopen non-essential businesses have popped up — many created by a trio of gun-rights activist brothers — in states like Wisconsin, New York, Kentucky, and Ohio. Despite warnings from experts like the National Institute of Health's Dr. Anthony Fauci that protests would "backfire" and actually hurt economic growth, online organizing resulted in public protests at state capitols across the country.

Reopen Georgia never got the chance to stage its public protest — in part because Gov. Kemp acquiesced to their demands relatively early. Georgia issued its shelter-in-place order on April 2 — much later than many other states — and Kemp initially said it would continue through the end of the month.

But by April 20, Kemp, who admitted he only realized the virus could be transmitted by asymptomatic people a few weeks before, had already announced his shelter-in-place order would end. Since the beginning of the pandemic, Georgia has registered more than 21,000 cases of COVID-19 and nearly 850 deaths from the disease.

On Tuesday, President Trump and Vice President Pence called Kemp to praise his decision to reopen the state. But just 24 hours later, Trump reversed course. At his Wednesday night coronavirus press conference, he said he thought Kemp was moving too quickly.

"I told the governor of Georgia, Brian Kemp, that I disagree strongly with his decision to open certain facilities which are in violation of the phase one guidelines for the incredible people of Georgia," Trump said.

That flip-flop failed to rock his Georgia supporters, though some, like the Reopen Georgia member below, expressed exasperation.

But for the most part, it seems people involved with the effort to reopen Georgia are just fine with the president's change of heart.

Steve Smith, a moderator for the Facebook group Georgians Against Unconstitutional Quarantine, which has more than 550 members, says he respects the president's need to play both sides.

Smith, 69, lives on the idyllic Saint Simons Island. Glynn County, where Saint Simons is located, has had 49 cases of coronavirus but no deaths. He's worried that extending the quarantine any longer will cause many businesses to cease to exist.

"This stagnation can't continue," he told Business Insider, adding, "I understand those that fear the openings. Personal responsibility is the key. Since those early months, we have become a lot more aware of our surroundings and are a lot better at social distancing"

Trump, said Smith, "is trying to be supportive but is also protecting himself if it goes badly. He feels that Kemp has a better sense of his own state's needs."

Smith concedes that Trump has stepped back from employing a connective, overarching policy, and instead is "leaving it up to the individual governors to make those decisions, which I think is the right call."

Pete Richey — who refers to himself as a Reagan conservative — agrees that Trump has what's best for the country in mind

"Having watched Trump the last thirty years, I know nobody is more concerned about what's going to happen to the economy than he is. He's been mad about monetary policy for 30 years. He's failed a lot in his life, but his successes mean a lot to him and I know that he'll fight as hard as anyone to get it back," he told Business Insider.

But he also thinks Trump's last-minute reversal on reopening is a savvy political move. "Trump is actually very happy to see the state opening up," he continued. "He needs a catalyst to get other states open."

Richey believes that Trump's reversal has more to do with old political wounds than what Trump actually thinks is the right move for the country. There is an undercurrent between Kemp and Trump, he said, deriving from Kemp's decision to support Kelly Loeffler over Trump's pick, Doug Collins, to fill the seat of Sen. Johnny Isakson, who retired in December.

That's allowed Trump to put "Kemp's back against the wall," Richey said. Wednesday's comments, Richey believes, were meant to "scold" Kemp. "Trump warned him, and now he can beat up on Kemp and he has to take it."

It also enabled the president to play both sides of the aisle — a move most obviously illustrated by his tweets last week calling on citizens to "liberate" Michigan, Virginia, and Minnesota, and followed by yesterday's press conference where he voiced concern over reopening states too soon.

Yesterday's scolding of Kemp, Richey said, "gave Trump an opportunity to make it look like he's taking the guidelines seriously."

Richey feels like the reopen order can't come soon enough and he's sympathetic to the difficult position Trump is in when it comes to opening the country. He has had two friends get sick with COVID-19, one of whom was on a ventilator, but still feels like the government's response was a dangerous overreaction.

"A lot of what the public is being asked to do makes sense, but that doesn't mean it also doesn't infringe on your civil liberties," he said.

Richey says he and a lot of his fellow Facebook group members are ready to go back to work.

"I have no problem living my daily life with that level of contagion — people are willing to take the risk."

Still, he concedes that life has irrevocably shifted in the pandemic.

"The way the society is working is changing," he said. "I have two kids, I thought I knew what their future looked like. Now I'm like, I don't know, man."

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