John Bolton
John BoltonReuters

John Bolton, former National Security Adviser to US President Donald Trump, on Sunday warned members of the Republican Party that time is running out for them maintain the party’s credibility in the wake of President Donald Trump’s challenges of the results of the presidential election.

In an op-ed for The Washington Post, Bolton wrote, “As of this writing, the Republican Party has not suffered permanent damage to its integrity and reputation because of President Trump’s post-election rampaging. This will not be true much longer.”

He pointed out that so far, Trump has failed to produce valid legal arguments and persuasive evidence for his claims of election fraud and added, “If he can’t, his ‘right’ to contest the election is beside the point. The real issue is the grievous harm he is causing to public trust in America’s constitutional system. Trump’s time is running out, even as his rhetoric continues escalating…Here is the cold political reality: Trump is enhancing his own brand (in his mind) while harming the Republican brand. The party needs a long internal conversation about the post-Trump era, but first it needs to get there honorably.”

Bolton notes that “The near-term Republican interest is winning the Georgia runoffs. The long-term Republican interest emphatically involves winning those Senate seats, but it also involves rejecting Trump’s personalized, erratic, uncivil, unpresidential and ultimately less-than-effective politics and governance.”

He urged Republican leaders to “not cede the field to a president whose interests directly contradict the party’s. Otherwise, they will rue the day they stood silent.”

“For the good of America, the 2020 election needs to be brought expeditiously to the conclusion that all logic tells us is coming. National security requires that the transition get underway effectively. These are Republican values. We will acknowledge reality sooner or later. For the good of the party as well as the country, let’s make it sooner,” concluded Bolton.

Meanwhile on Sunday, Trump again attacked Bolton on Twitter, writing, "John Bolton was one of the dumbest people in government that I’ve had the ‘pleasure’ to work with.”

"A sullen, dull and quiet guy. He added nothing to National Security except, ‘Gee, let’s go to war.’ Also, illegally released much Classified Information. A real dope!" he added.

Bolton served for 17 months as Trump’s National Security Advisor before he was fired last September.

Since then, Bolton has published a 592-page book in which he takes frequent shots at Trump, describing him as “erratic” and “foolish” and claiming he behaved “irrationally” and “bizarrely”.

The Justice Department sued to bar the book’s publication, claiming it contains classified information and that Bolton violated a non-disclosure agreement by writing the book. However, a federal US judge later ruled that Bolton can move forward in publishing the book.