Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan of Georgia is a proud Republican, but he’s warning that if the GOP continues to follow and support former President Donald Trump, it could be catastrophic for the party and country.

With Trump headed to the Peach State on Saturday evening for one of his rallies, Duncan penned an op-ed for CNN in which he compared the ex-president to the devil and warned that if Republicans continue to tie their fortunes to Trump, they’ll continue to lose elections:

This weekend, former President Trump is hosting a rally in my neck of the woods. If the legendary Southern rocker Charlie Daniels were still with us today, his hit song could be re-written as, “A president went down to Georgia, he was looking for a party’s soul to steal.”
Nearly a year after the election, Georgia is still very much on the former President’s mind. He continues to be painfully comfortable peddling his baseless conspiracy theories of widespread election fraud. Last week, he fired off a disjointed and juvenile letter to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger asking him to “decertify” the results of the election.

Following and listening to Trump will cost the GOP the 2022 midterm election, Duncan continues, noting that the former president’s bizarre conspiracy theories and endless calls for audits of the 2020 presidential race (some in states that Trump won, such as Texas) will prove harmful to conservatives, Duncan predicts:

The upcoming elections cannot be a discussion about the past, unless we want to continue losing. Republican candidates cannot win general elections around the country if they exert all of their energy in the primary on a litmus test around unfounded election conspiracy theories.
When Trump comes to Georgia this weekend, expect him to re-package his “greatest hits” and once again hijack our great state for his own selfish agenda. It might make for good theater, but it is setting back the conservative movement. If we keep it up, we are looking at another four years of President Biden calling the shots.
Duncan’s op-ed was echoed by Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffesnperger, who also happens to be a Republican and told The Guardian:
“He’s going to come, and he’s going to say what he’s going to say, but he knows in his heart that he lost. He’s continued to promote the big lie, and then he’s also fundraising off this issue, just like Stacey Abrams has.”
That’s what sore losers do: They whine and complain instead of taking a long look at themselves and trying to determine what they can do to make things better.
Featured Image Via NBC News