President Donald Trump's weekend call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger concerning the November election was "inappropriate" and a "misuse of energy" considering the importance of Tuesday's Senate runoff race, state Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan said Monday.
"I was disappointed at the tone, at the intent, at the questioning," Duncan, a Republican, said on CNN's "New Day." "I've continued to encourage everybody, including the president, to stay focused on tomorrow. That phone call did absolutely nothing to help, you know, drive turnout for Republicans here in Georgia, for Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue."
He added that he can't imagine anyone on Trump's staff encouraging the call or not telling him to "hang up and move on to the next subject."
GOP Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler are facing a close challenge from Democrat challengers Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock in a contest that could determine control of the Senate, and Duncan said he can't think of any scenario where Trump's phone call helps with their chances.
"If we look back to the last ten weeks, any Republican using this misinformation or election fraud is only an excuse," said Duncan. "It's not a solution for us winning on Tuesday, but also long-term winning. You know, I've been so committed to this, because I plan to be a Republican longer than this election cycle. And I think it's time that we start to realize where things went wrong for us."
The party, he added, needs to return to "understanding the policies that we support" and returning to the tone used by President Ronald Reagan, who "inspired people."
"That, to me, is the future of this party and not phone calls like that," said Duncan.
He said he'd let legal experts decide if action should be taken concerning Trump's call, but still, it was "based on all types of theories that have been debunked and disproved over the course of the past ten weeks."
Duncan also said he was proud to hear Raffensperger "stand true" and to hear his answers, even though his responses weren't what Trump wanted to hear.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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