This far-right Georgia gubernatorial candidate is even more extreme than David Perdue

In Georgia’s 2022 GOP gubernatorial primary, former Sen. David Perdue isn’t the only far-right MAGA extremist who is hoping to unseat Gov. Brian Kemp. Conspiracy theorist Kandiss Taylor is going after Kemp as well, and she is even more extreme and radical than Perdue.

Former President Donald Trump has endorsed Perdue, who is campaigning on the Big Lie and has been making the false claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Trump. And Trump is still furious with Kemp and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger for acknowledging that now-President Joe Biden won Georgia fairly.

But as much of a conspiracy theorist as Perdue is, Taylor is even further to the right — and MAGA Republicans who have endorsed her include attorney Lin Wood and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell. Taylor, journalist Will Sommer reports in the Daily Beast, has been campaigning on abolishing the Georgia Guidestones, which she believes are a symbol of Satanism and Devil worship. The Georgia Guidestones are a granite monument erected in 1979 in Elbert County, Georgia.

“Georgia’s Republican primary for governor has revolved around Donald Trump’s attempts to oust Gov. Brian Kemp (R) over Kemp’s refusal to break election laws in the aftermath of the 2020 election,” Sommer notes. “But last week, third-place candidate Kandiss Taylor tried to inject an issue of her own into the race, introducing a plan to blow up four giant granite tablets in Northeast Georgia she sees as symbols of Satan worship. On May 2, Taylor unveiled a draft executive order related to the Georgia Guidestones, a set of enormous rocks in the city of Elberton. Taylor’s proposed order is simple: ‘Demolish the Georgia Guidestones.’”

Making her case for demolishing the Georgia Guidestones, Taylor declared, “The New World Order is here, and they told us it was coming. This is a battle.”

Taylor, who describes herself as "the only candidate bold enough to stand up to the Luciferian Cabal," is unlikely to receive her party’s gubernatorial nomination. An Insider Advantage/Fox 5 Atlanta poll released in early May found Kemp leading Perdue by 16% and Taylor by 50%. In that poll, a mere 4% of Georgia Republicans favor Taylor.

Nonetheless, Taylor isn’t the only Georgia Republican who has claimed that the Georgia Guidestones are part of a Satanic plot. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who is seeking reelection in the 2022 midterms, railed against the Guidestones in a Facebook post in 2018.

Economically, the Georgia Guidestones have been great for Elbert County. They are a major tourist attraction, and isn’t uncommon for tourists visiting Atlanta to drive out to Elbert County to see them. But in MAGA World, economic concerns can easily take a back seat to wacky conspiracy theories.

Sommer explains, “Guidestone conspiracy theories began to take off online in 2008, when right-wing conspiracy theorist Mark Dice began to demand the ‘Satanic’ Guidestones be taken down and ‘smashed into a million pieces.’ Since then, the Guidestones have reliably appeared on conspiracy theory websites…. In 2020, Infowars chief Alex Jones visited the Guidestones and declared them a ‘temple to the post-human era.’ Those conspiracy theories have also turned the Guidestones into regular targets for vandalism.”

Wanting to destroy the Guidestones is by no means the only way in which Taylor promotes authoritarianism. Taylor has expressed extreme Christianist views, calling for a total Christian fundamentalist theocracy in the United States. Her slogan has been “Jesus, guns and babies,” and during an April speech, Taylor declared, “Don't talk to me about separation of church and state…. We are the church, and we run the state.”