Former Georgia elected official says Trump indictment is a warning for the GOP

Former Georgia Lt. Gov Geoff Duncan says he hopes the Atlanta-based indictment of former President Donald Trump is a “pivot point” for the Republican Party, arguing in an op-ed that Mr. Trump is a political loser and the bill is “coming due” for his GOP loyalists.

Mr. Duncan, writing in The Washington Post, said that under Mr. Trump’s “self-centered stewardship,” the GOP squandered the House in 2018, the White House in 2020 and the Senate in 2021, which included two winnable seats in Georgia.

“Once the bedrock of winning GOP coalitions, suburban voters abandoned our party,” Mr. Duncan, a Republican, wrote two days after a Fulton County grand jury charged Mr. Trump with a sweeping conspiracy to reverse Georgia’s 2020 election results. “Count me skeptical that 91 felony charges are going to win those voters back. Yet Trump enjoys a nearly 40-point lead over the Republican primary field.”

“Republicans face the real possibility of losing another election to President Biden,” Mr. Duncan said.

He said a Trump-led ticket won’t be able to overcome Mr. Biden’s weaknesses, including his advanced age, questions about foreign business deals by his son, Hunter, and the “president’s extended beach vacation while Maui, Hawaii, burned.”

Mr. Trump’s allies snapped back at Mr. Duncan.

“For everyone outside of Georgia, this is our former Lt Governor. We do not consider him relevant. He is not a leader by any means, no one listens to him or cares what he has to say,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Georgia Republican, posted on social media alongside a CNN interview with Mr. Duncan.

Yet Mr. Duncan, who testified before the grand jury that indicted Mr. Trump and his allies, said the Georgia charges could matter more than previous indictments leveled against the ex-president. He said the trial will probably be televised, giving Americans a closer look at the evidence, and the case involves members of Mr. Trump’s inner circle.

“In the aftermath of the 2020 election, I earned Trump’s wrath for refusing to go along with his cockamamie schemes to overturn the election he lost because of his own lack of effort. Most of the GOP in my home state of Georgia went along for Trump’s now potentially felonious ride,” he wrote. “Now, that bill is coming due — not just for Trump and the 18 others who received indictments Monday night, but for Republicans everywhere.”