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Former Lt. Governor and current CNN contributor Geoff Duncan told CNN anchor Kasie Hunt it was a “badge of honor” to be dumped by the Georgia Republican Party over his opposition to President-elect Donald Trump.

On Monday, Georgia Republicans voted unanimously to expel Duncan from the party via an official resolution that prominently featured Duncan’s opposition to Trump.

On Thursday’s edition of CNN This Morning, Hunt cut right to it by asking Duncan how it felt to be deep-sixed by the party:

KASIE HUNT: All right, joining us now to discuss is Geoff Duncan, former Republican lieutenant governor of Georgia. Geoff, always wonderful to see you on the show.Can you talk a little bit about what it was like to learn that this resolution was going forward in the party that you were once a significant leader of?GEOFF DUNCAN: Yeah. I mean, my first thoughts that came across my mind were what took them so long? There’s been a growing divide between myself and the Georgia Republican Party for years.There’s been a growing divide amongst many Republicans in Georgia when the party started focusing 110 percent of their efforts on trying to defend a rigged 2020 election — in their words, not mine — and committing 100 percent of their financial resources, or a majority of their financial resources to defending folks that were indicted for felony counts. And then the additional issues that continued to

parlay from that point.So, no — no surprise. And quite honestly, badges of honor come in all kinds of shapes and sizes, and this is one of those where I don’t want to be associated with a group that thinks that the best direction forward is chaos and confusion.HUNT: What do you think is the best direction forward? Democrats are doing some introspection, at least, in terms of trying to figure out how to deal with a second Donald Trump presidency. Some of them talking about doing it differently than they did in 2017.What do you think the best way is to approach President Trump when he comes back?DUNCAN: Well, I think two parts to that question — or to the answer.I think one is it’s up to Donald Trump. If he shows up and wants to be a serious leader that takes on some serious challenges and tackles them with a level head, I think there’s an opportunity for the Republican Party to kind of heal up and get back on its tracks. But if he continues to be a petulant child and only look to satisfy grievances that him and his family have, then this is going to be a train wreck for four years.But I think the second part to that answer is that both parties have a leadership problem, right? Republicans have the wrong leader at the head of their party and Democrats have
no leader at the head of their party. And so there’s this vacuum of genuine leadership.And this has — this has been something I’ve been saying for a long time now. I even wrote a book about it that this vacuum of leadership is just leaving Americans to just, you know, be — you know, one issue at a time just blowing in the wind.And we, the people, have got to be more — you know, more strict with our requirements for who leads us as to giving us exact reasons why we go down these paths. I mean, looking for press conferences to talk about taking over Greenland and trying to merge — you know, annex Canada, and rename the Gulf — I mean, these are unserious ideas that don’t take us across this — these serious policy gaps that we have coming across our plate.

Watch above via CNN This Morning.

Tags: CNN, CNN This Morning, DNC, Donald Trump, Geoff Duncan, Kasie Hunt