Meet the brash Atlanta consultant battling ‘racist pig’ backlash – MyAJC

Seth Weathers loves The Duke.

In John Waynes movies, the political consultant said he finds a do-whatevers-gotta-be-done attitude thats easy to embrace.

Wayne was always the one going to the town, the little sheriffs given up, cant fight, criminals are gonna overrun the town, and no ones gonna fight. All the other guys are a bunch of [wimps], Weathers says. And Waynes like no, were gonna stand up and fight to the death and kill them all.

To his clients, the brash 32-year-old Republican strategist wears the white hat. Others would rather see him ride out of town.

Weathers, the former director of Donald Trumps Georgia campaign, has been in the national spotlight recently after Gwinnett County Commissioner Tommy Hunter, a longtime client,called civil rights leader and U.S. Rep. John Lewis a racist pig on Facebook. He has stood by Hunter since the day the commissioners Jan. 14 Facebook post went viral, and hes made plenty ofnew enemies along the way.

Weathers has publicly sparred withvarious Democratic officials, the attorneys whofiled an ethics complaint against Hunter, andAtlanta Mayor Kasim Reed. Hes become a second target for those protesting the commissioner, too.

Mr. Weathers is certainly the moral equivalence of Commissioner Hunter, Gwinnett County Democratic Party Chairman Gabe Okoye said. They are birds of the same feather, but [Weathers] may be worse, because he is more calculating.

During a recent interview at an Atlanta-area steakhouse, Weathers dismissed that assessment with a hearty laugh.

I dont give a [expletive] what people think about me, he said. I know people say that. But I really dont [care].

A brass-knuckle fighter

Weathers childhood was spent playing along the train tracks in downtown Norcross. Home-schooled, he jokes that hes had basically no education. He said he read Ronald Reagans autobiography when he was about 14 years old and listened to talk radio.

I dont know, Weathers said. I just always liked politics.

Weathers did not go to college and started a web design business fresh out of high school. With a second job working the night shift at OfficeMax helping make ends meet, he began to make his way into the political world, too.

Id be stocking [stuff] at night, and then go throw my suit on and go to a luncheon at the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce that day, he said.

By 2010, Weathers had served as an e-consultant for several campaigns. He made the leap to full-service consulting less than two years later.

One of his first clients was Tommy Hunter, who reached out before Hunters 2012 county commission run.

Weathers also handled the 2014 campaign of State Sen. Michael Williams (R-Cumming), who in Oct. 2015became the first member of Georgias General Assembly to offer public support for Trump. By then, Weathers wasalready the director of Trumps Georgia campaign.

I read The Art of the Deal at 18, and Ive followed Trump since then, Weathers said. Hes a brass-knuckle fighter. Id wanted him to run for years.

Weathers official time with the Trump campaign lasted only about two months, though. Its unclear why Weathers left the campaign, and he calls rumors hinting at a reason for his departure fake news.

The official line is that Weathers transitioned out of his position to devote his time to pursuing work with outside organizations and down-ballot races through his firm.

Its personal

Weathers now lives in Johns Creek with his wife and two sons, one thats 4 1/2 and another thats less than two weeks old. The latter is named Rearden Wayne Rearden coming from a character in Ayn Rands Atlas Shrugged, Wayne being an homage to the movie cowboy.

On the same day his youngest was born, Weathers did a TV interview on the Hunter situation in the hospital parking lot.

For most consultants that I interviewed and talked to, it was a job, Williams, the state senator, said. To Seth, its personal.

Weathers has plenty of detractors. Reed, Atlantas mayor, recently suggested that he lacks a moral compass. But clients love that hes so willing to go to war for them, either in the press or in person. On Valentines Day, he quicklyushered Hunter out of a tumultuous meeting with the Gwinnett NAACP.

And Weathers likes defending his clients, and the political gamesmanship involved, perhaps more than any other part of his job.

He said he has no regrets about his handling of Hunter who, in his eyes, has been railroaded after saying something dumb that had nothing to do with racism.

I like fighting for the person thats just gonna get run the [expletive] over if someone else doesnt fight for them, he said.

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Meet the brash Atlanta consultant battling 'racist pig' backlash - MyAJC