Conservative who gave Trump 'a chance' wants to move on after seeing him 'wallow in self-pity' for four years

A columnist whose newspaper in Ohio was one of the few in America to endorse former President Donald Trump in 2016 now says it's time for the GOP to move on in 2024.

Writing in the Washington Post, contributing columnist Gary Abernathy said that he doesn't regret giving Trump "a chance" in the 2016 race because he thought he could provide a much needed shakeup in Washington D.C.

However, he writes that he eventually came to be dismayed by Trump's self-destructive behavior that played right into the hands of his political opponents.

"Instead of ignoring the pettiness and focusing on his agenda, Trump wallowed in self-pity," Abernathy writes. "Instead of trying to expand his base, Trump chose to alienate even more Americans."

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The columnist says that all of this was reinforced by Trump's actions after the 2020 election that culminated in the attacks on the United States Capitol building.

"Worst of all, when most Americans finally decided that Trump was never going to rise to the occasion and rejected him at the ballot box in 2020, he refused to accept the verdict, incited a riot at the Capitol and encouraged endless election challenges in state after state," he writes. "Trump had his chance, and he blew it. He should move on, as should his supporters."