Unlike former attorney general Bill Barr, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and other Republicans who have criticized Donald Trump only to end up endorsing him, former Georgia Lieutenant Governor Geoff Duncan has thrown his support behind Joe Biden.
Duncan, now a CNN political commentator, appeared on Laura Coates Live Monday night following the publication of his opinion piece in the Atlanta Journal Constitution, in which he describes Biden as a “decent person I disagree with on policy,” while Trump is “a criminal defendant without a moral compass.”
Duncan told Coates that Republicans are kidding themselves if they think Trump is a Republican, saying “we’ve been faking this long enough.”
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“He doesn’t represent our brand. He doesn’t represent our future. He’s a horrible human being at this point. We’re watching that play out hour-by-hour in the courtroom and we’ve been jamming this square peg through a round hole long enough, and it’s time to turn the page. It’s time to move on,” Duncan said.
“If we’re going to heal as a party and truly get back to doing the things that we should do—and that’s be conservative, but not angry or crazy, or liars—we should turn the page immediately from Donald Trump.”
Duncan, who declined to go along with Trump’s false claims about fraud in the 2020 election, opted against running for re-election in 2022. Since then, he has called out the likes of McConnell, Barr and New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu—who once called Trump “fucking crazy”—for endorsing the indicted former president, including in his opinion piece Tuesday.
At the same time, Duncan wrote that voters should opt for Republican candidates in down-ballot races in order to help prevent Biden’s legislative agenda. When Coates asked if that would just lead to gridlock, Duncan replied by saying that that would still be better than a second Trump term.
“Does anybody think anything‘s going to get done if Donald Trump’s the president? I mean, all he’s going to do is go on this vendetta tour around the world. There’s nothing that‘s going to be done. In fact, I would argue that there would be more damage done,” said Duncan, reiterating his call for a Republican congressional majority in order to have “meaningful checks and balances” during a Democratic administration. “I‘m voting for a decent person that I disagree with on policies over a criminal defendant who has no moral compass.”
Duncan also rejected the notion of voting for a third-party candidate.
“Sometimes the best way to learn your lesson is to get beat, and Donald Trump needs to get beat. We need to move on as a party. We need to move on as a country,” he said.
Plus, he added, “to think Donald Trump is wholeheartedly a conservative is just fake news at its finest.”
“Donald Trump’s not a conservative. He rationed $8 trillion worth of debt during his presidency. He told us he was going to build a wall. He built a photo station down at the border. This guy is a fake Republican. We have to move on as Republicans. We have to. And this is our first step.”
Duncan’s support for Biden may put more of a spotlight on the voting intentions of high profile Republicans like Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT), who appears to be more inclined to support Biden over Trump, based on comments he made last fall. Former Wyoming congresswoman Liz Cheney, while stridently opposing Trump’s campaign, hasn’t endorsed Biden either.
