SLOWLY but surely the sensible people within the Republican Party are turning against President Donald Trump over his refusal to accept the result of the US presidential election.

The most devastating intervention came yesterday from former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, who criticised Trump’s efforts to overturn president-elect Joe Biden’s win, and said Trump’s legal team was “a national embarrassment”.

Such statements matter because Christie is a Republican who was an adviser to Trump during the election campaign. Speaking on ABC’s This Week, he tore into the current president for his claims of widespread voter fraud without presenting any evidence, and he added that it is time for Trump to concede the election to Biden.

Now a political analyst for ABC, Christie said: “The conduct of the president’s legal team has been a national embarrassment.”

He added: “Listen, I have been a supporter of the president’s, I voted for him twice. But elections have consequences, and we cannot continue to act as if something happened here that didn’t happen.”

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“You have an obligation to present the evidence. The evidence has not been presented and you must conclude that if you are unwilling to come forward and present the evidence, it must mean the evidence doesn’t exist.

“That’s what I was concerned about on election night, and I remain concerned today. I think it’s wrong. I think you’ve heard lots of Republicans starting to say this ... and I hope more say it going forward because the country is what has to matter the most.

“As much as I’m a strong Republican and I love my party, it’s the country that has to come first.”

The Trump team also do not produce any evidence of fraudulent elections, far less the substantial fraud that would be required to win back those states such as Georgia and Michigan which have already declared for Biden.

Another prominent Republican, Maryland governor Larry Hogan, said Trump was turning the USA into a “banana republic”.

Hogan told CNN: “Quite frankly, we used to supervise elections around the world and we were the most respected country with respect to elections. Now we are beginning to look like we are a banana republic.”

He added: “Now it’s time for them to stop the nonsense. It is more bizarre every single day and, frankly, I’m embarrassed that more people in the Republican Party aren’t speaking up.”