Georgia Lt. Gov. Defends Kemp, State Election Process: 'This Isn't a Third World Country'

Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan said President Donald Trump and his Republican defenders are hurting the GOP in both the long and short term, saying bluntly the presidential election was not "rigged" because this is not a "third world country."

Duncan appeared on CNN Monday as he again defended Republican Governor Brian Kemp and the state's election officials from Trump's ongoing baseless accusations that he lost to President-elect Joe Biden because of "systemic voter fraud." Duncan said Trump and his GOP allies should consider the damage they are doing to the Republican Party, particularly as they alienate voters from turning up for the state's two critical runoff elections for the U.S. Senate on January 5. Incumbent Republicans David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler must maintain their seats for the GOP to have a slim majority in the upper chamber.

CNN host John Berman took a swipe at Republicans dodging the question and being ambiguous about whether they think there was a voter fraud. "Was this a hard question to answer?" Berman asked.

"No, it wasn't hard at all," Duncan said. "This isn't a third world country here in Georgia. We've been running elections for a long, long time, and we were working all together and we've got 159 counties and certainly we try to all hold each other accountable and make sure our standards are as high and as modern as possible. And certainly we're in the middle of that process."

Duncan reiterated that Trump and his die-hard supporters are alienating Republican voters with their conflicting messages about voting in the upcoming Senate runoff. Loeffler and Perdue are facing Democratic challengers Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, respectively, in the January 5 contest.

"You know, the mountains of misinformation are not helping the process but only hurting it. I worry we are handing off a playbook to the Democrats for January 5th, and I certainly can't think of a worse playbook to hand off over the last four or five weeks to the Democrats," Duncan said.

The Monday segment on CNN highlighted several Trump legal team members and his most ardent supporters in Congress who have repeatedly refused to acknowledge Biden's victory—while simultaneously questioning the validity of the U.S. voting process that got them elected into office.

"It's been difficult to watch folks willing to put their character and their morals out there just so they can spread a half-truth or a lie in an effort to maybe flip an election," Duncan continued.

"And that's not what democracy is all about. I would urge the president and Republicans to redirect their post-election approach here. We all have short-term and long-term challenges here if they don't," Duncan said, noting the runoff elections and the party being "larger than one person" in the long run.

Newsweek reached out to Duncan's office as well as the Trump campaign for additional remarks Monday afternoon.