Time to Confront Dangerous Rhetoric in Georgia’s Republican Party

Time to Confront Dangerous Rhetoric in Georgia’s Republican Party
By Jeremy McKeown, Editor of CobbProb
September 2025

On Sept. 10, 2025, conservative activist Charlie Kirk was fatally shot while speaking at Utah Valley University. His killing is a tragedy. It is also a warning. None of us controls the mind of a murderer, but all of us control the temperature of our words. When public speech paints whole communities as a threat, it hardens hearts, shortens fuses, and makes intimidation feel acceptable. Free speech is foundational. Reckless speech endangers neighbors.

I write as a Christian who confesses Jesus Christ as my Messiah, Lord, and Savior, a constitutional conservative, and someone who believes that without both liberty and integrity, we lose our country. I am writing this to bear witness.

In Cobb County, we have seen our share of reckless speech. On Aug. 25, at a public forum at Marietta Fish Market, a presentation by Holly Kesler framed Islam as incompatible with the Constitution, alleged so-called "Sharia law" communities, and treated ordinary Muslims as suspects-in-waiting. Printed packets were passed around. Heads nodded. I sat in the room and reviewed the slides, handouts, and transcript, and I left with a knot in my stomach at how easily rumor can masquerade as research and how quickly a crowd can turn a faith community into a problem to be solved.

One target of that climate is my neighbor and friend, Sophia Farooq, a longtime Republican volunteer who ran for Cobb Republican Party chairman this past cycle (election held March 22, 2025). Disclosure: I ran for vice chairman of communications on Sophia’s slate and was responsible for the campaign website and the campaign email communications. From the outset, much of the pushback we encountered centered on her being Muslim, often by insinuating she was anti-Israel.

That narrative crested at the Cobb Republican Party March Breakfast on March 1, 2025. A Jewish family contributed several hundred dollars to secure her speaking slot so she could address it directly. She opened by condemning terrorism without qualification and affirming the safety of Jewish neighbors and Israel.

After the breakfast, Sophia and I walked to the restaurant next door for lunch before heading to the scheduled meeting at Cobb Republican Party headquarters. Before we ordered, I told her what I had just witnessed: you gave up a piece of yourself for these people - meaning she had made a real sacrifice to address attacks she didn't provoke. She didn't answer. She sat silently, almost searching herself for a response. After a moment, a single tear rolled down her face. It's a moment I will never forget. Whatever you think about intraparty fights, remember there is a person on the other side of the rumor - a neighbor who shows up, works hard, and bleeds a little when we turn her faith into a talking point.

That same day, we had a closed-door meeting at Cobb Republican Party headquarters with a senior parliamentarian. As I recall, it began with "you are all political neophytes" and "I am now going to be your campaign strategist." Calendar items came up, but the focus returned to the anti-Muslim rhetoric around the race and an insistence that Sophia "get control" of the Israel topic. We were also told a 'powerful rabbi' in District 35 would 'get involved.' To this day I have no idea what that actually meant and what, if anything was planned, but my interpretation was that it would come with consequences.

During the campaign, Sophia faced a dossier-style document - Holly Kesler, often associated with 'election integrity' advocacy, has publicly said she authored it - along with attempts to expose personal information and in-person confrontations. During a live X Space broadcast, a password associated with her account was read aloud to a large live audience - a reckless disclosure that, in my view, invited unauthorized access and served to intimidate.

I have a copy of that dossier - it is 43 pages. The online outlet GEORGE NEWS posted and amplified this material and Kesler's claims to an audience that reaches hundreds of thousands across platforms. In that same X Space broadcast, participants announced the document's release and claimed team authorship. I have retained a recording of that broadcast.

One commenter on a GEORGE NEWS post was an Arizona real estate company. I called their public phone number to ask about their remarks. They told me Sophia was dangerous and that I needed to 'become educated'. After a two-hour conversation grounded in our shared Christian faith, they agreed to take a second look with more grace. What worried me was that the rhetoric had already spread across state lines.

We should also keep perspective on the office Sophia ran for. This is a county-level grassroots party role. It is meant for neighbors who want to improve their communities - plant flowers, host voter drives, help at precincts - not for candidates who need a cyber team and out-of-state public relations to defend against dossiers and password exposure. Whatever our differences, this is not how a serious party behaves. It is how a faction tells decent people: “you are not welcome here.”

During and after the election, we repeatedly asked both the previous Cobb Republican Party chairman and the current chairman to denounce this rhetoric. Nearly six months after Sophia lost the race for Cobb Republican Party chairman (March 22, 2025), it persists. Just this week at a Republican Assembly event, an attendee pressed Sophia about "Sharia law" and, later in the same exchange, claimed that Islamic doctrine permits lying to non-Muslims - often labeled "taqiyyah" - and questioned whether trust was possible. That framing mirrors what was used at the Aug. 25 Marietta Fish Market forum. Salleigh Grubbs was also in attendance at the Republican Assembly meeting and spoke on procedural matters; she did not publicly denounce the anti-Muslim framing. As of this writing, neither Grubbs - now the first vice chairman of the Georgia Republican Party - nor the current Cobb Republican Party chairman has publicly condemned this rhetoric.

The killing in Utah has already produced a storm of online reaction - grief, rage, and the worst kind of ghoulish celebration. None of that brings a father and husband back. But it reminds us that words are accelerants. Leaders set a tone, and tone sets a permission structure. When public figures say some religions are inherently disloyal or when local organizers pass around packets portraying a faith as incompatible with the Constitution, it gives the green light for harassment - and it makes people with worse intentions feel validated. I doubt many would have imagined what happened in Utah, and I am not drawing a straight line to it, What is this telling the worst actors in Georgia? That kind of dehumanizing rhetoric signals to the worst actors that some people are fair game.

For readers who care about the Republican Party’s future, my request is simple. Look closely at what is happening inside the county party and the state party. Compare words to written standards, and process to practice. Take a deep dive into the fundamentals - leadership, finances, membership. If what you see matches your values, strengthen it. If it does not, say so plainly and in public. We can still be the party that wins by persuasion, not fear.

I do not have a final plan to hand down. This is bigger than any one person. I am asking our community to think about it and talk with each other, in the open. I will try to spark the conversation with three fundamentals, two drawn from our Constitution and one about leadership.

• Free exercise of religion. Government and parties must not target or burden people because of faith. Protect equal dignity for all worshipers.

• Equal protection and due process. Judge conduct, not identity. Set clear standards, apply them consistently, and give people a fair way to respond.

• Leaders go first. When misinformation or harassment surfaces, leaders correct it publicly and early. Stand up for Republicans who are targeted for their faith.

And as a reminder for my Christian brothers and sisters: Fear is a lack of faith.

Matthew 8:23-26

²³ And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him. ²⁴ And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but he was asleep. ²⁵ And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish.

²⁶ And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.

Correction (Sept. 22, 2025): An earlier version misspelled Holly Kesler’s surname as “Kessler.” It has been corrected.

Editor’s note and legal disclaimer: This article is opinion and commentary by Jeremy McKeown. Factual claims are based on first-hand observations, contemporaneous notes, recordings, and documents retained by the author. Statements about the intent or motives of others are expressions of opinion. Quotations presented from memory are introduced with context such as "as I recall." This piece does not allege criminal conduct. Where alleged conduct is described - such as password exposure during a live X Space - it is reported as observed behavior and is not a legal conclusion. Named individuals and organizations are invited to provide a response or correction. TheProb’s policy is to promptly review and publish corrections with supporting documentation. Nothing in this article is legal advice.