Finally, a Republican comes through

| 4:30 pm EDT May 8, 2024
Dear Palmer Report readers, we all understand the difficult era we're heading into. Major media outlets are caving to Trump already. Even the internet itself and publishing platforms may be at risk. But Palmer Report is nonetheless going to lead the fight. We're funding our 2025 operating expenses now, so we can keep publishing no matter what happens. I'm asking you to contribute if you can, because the stakes are just so high. You can donate here.

A few nuts in the Republican party believe Trump is all that, but there are many others who won’t give him the time of day. Georgia Republican officials have been lukewarm on him since he tried stealing the Georgia election by asking Brad Raffensperger to “find” 11,780 votes. To get back at them, Trump tried to run his own candidates against Governor Kemp and Raffensperger, but they fell totally flat. David Perdue got trounced by Governor Kemp, and when the primary was said and done, Raffensperger beat Trump candidate Jody Hice 52% to 34%. The only official Trump did not run a candidate against was Lt. Governor Geoff Duncan, who chose not to run for reelection. This also left him free to ignore Donald Trump-until now.

NBC News reported that Duncan has not only come out publicly against Trump, but he intends to vote for President Joe Biden. Duncan said that Trump is not a real Republican (and he’s not). In the op-ed Duncan wrote for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Duncan said: “Unlike Trump, I’ve belonged to the GOP my entire life. This November, I am voting for a decent person with whom I disagree on policy over a criminal defendant without a moral compass.” After leaving office, Duncan remained alongside his Republican colleagues in defending the integrity of Georgia’s voting system. All three felt that Trump was an undemocratic liar.

After deciding not to run again, Duncan wrote a book entitled “GOP 2.0: How the 2020 Election Can Lead to a Better Way Forward for America’s Conservative Party.” This was Duncan’s plan for reinventing the Republican party without Trump. When Duncan was approached by No Labels to run as a third-party candidate, he declined, saying that he felt he would only be a spoiler in the race between President Biden and Trump. In his article, he wrote: “[T]he GOP will never rebuild until we move on from the Trump era, leaving conservative (but not angry) Republicans like me no choice but to pull the lever for Biden.” It’s not that Duncan and others want President Biden to continue to serve, as they don’t agree with his platform; however, they have a clear “he’s better than Trump” attitude much like the Lincoln Project members. Duncan went on to write: “The alternative is another term of Trump, a man who has disqualified himself through his conduct and his character. The headlines are ablaze with his hush-money trial over allegations of improper record-keeping for payments to conceal an affair with an adult-film star.”

President Biden’s campaign spokesperson James Singer has reached out to Duncan. Singer said: “The campaign is actively reaching out to Americans like Geoff Duncan, who put their country and concern for protecting our democracy before blind loyalty to Donald Trump and his self-centered campaign of revenge and retribution.”

There will be Republicans in the world as long as it exists, and we will continue to fight their policies that tend to neglect ordinary people. At the same time, it is helpful to interact with Republicans who put country over party. Geoff Duncan is one of the few good ones because he, like Liz Cheney, dares to speak the truth about Trump.

Dear Palmer Report readers, we all understand the difficult era we're heading into. Major media outlets are caving to Trump already. Even the internet itself and publishing platforms may be at risk. But Palmer Report is nonetheless going to lead the fight. We're funding our 2025 operating expenses now, so we can keep publishing no matter what happens. I'm asking you to contribute if you can, because the stakes are just so high. You can donate here.