Wednesday Night’s CNN’s Don Lemon Tonight, anchored by stand-in host Laura Coates welcomed two known Republicans and left Coates grasping for a little more hope for the downfall of the party. Lieutenant Governor Geoff Duncan (R-GA) and self-proclaimed conservative CNN political commentator S.E. Cupp joined Coates as she tried to wrap her head around the idea that GOP is still alive and well.
During the segment, Coates asked the Lt. Gov., “You have to wonder, if all the critics are pushed out… do you have fears for the longevity of the Republican Party or is this something that this is going to enter or allow for maybe a third-party system that reclaims some aspect of this?”
Despite the question probing Duncan to answer against the party, he confidently answered this:
“There is a golden opportunity here, but it’s going to take, right?” Continuing, he stated, if we put the right candidate forward that’s got solutions, that’s energetic, that’s not 78 or 82 years, they certainly have lost their best fastball. So, let’s get somebody that’s capable of leading this country in the right direction, helping our inflation issues, puts us back on the map with national security, understands immigration…”
Duncan did follow up with a swipe at the party, noting “the quality of the candidate still matters. If we win the House and we shove a bunch of Marjorie Taylor Greenes in there, we're going to be embarrassed as Republicans for the next couple of years.”
Simply not satisfied with the confidence and lack of demise for GOP, the host then turned her attention to Cupp, asking repeatedly, “is the time running out? Is the clock running out?”
In reference to the midterms that are coming up quickly in November, Coates questioned Cupp on the timing to which the Republican Party, and Democratic as well, might have to straighten up their parties and nominate someone to run in the 2024 election. Of course, Cupp used the opportunity to lambaste the GOP
“Listen, 2024 is around the corner. And Trump is really the only one who has expressed an interest in getting in to the race,” Cupp said. “So, if he has no competition in a party that wants no competition of ideas anymore (…) then we know where this is going. It is pretty inevitable.”
Stating the simple truth that the United States has a moderate middle “that is just completely embarrassed at their vote for Joe Biden,” Duncan stated, “We’ve got a chance to convince the middle and win for decades.”
The 2024 election will speak for itself, as well as the midterms. But one thing is certain. The Republican Party has been here since 1854 and sees no end soon.
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Click "expand" to read the full transcript.
CNN’s Don Lemon Tonight
08/10/22
11:30:57 p.m. Eastern(…)
LAURA COATES: I mean, Lieutenant Governor, on that point, to S.E.'s point, the idea of if the Republican Party, to S.E. and many others, is wholly unrecognizable and the idea of the identity crisis really fully fledged out.
You have to wonder, if all the critics are pushed out, if all those who are willing to say something different or more in line with what traditional Republicans have asserted, do you have fears for the longevity of the Republican Party or is this something that is going to enter or allow for maybe a third-party system that reclaims some aspect of this?
LT. GOV. GEOFF DUNCAN (R-GA): Look, I've been a Republican a lot longer than Donald Trump has ever been one, and I'm only 47 years old. So, I'm not going anywhere. I'm going to fight for my Conservative values.
And I think there is a golden opportunity here, but it's going to take, right? I think you've got folks on the Republican side that now for the first time, a majority of them don't want Donald Trump to run again. Those numbers might oscillate a little bit now with some of the additional attention he's gotten with the FBI search. But they're tracking in that direction.
And you've got a middle that is just completely embarrassed at their vote for Joe Biden and all the misgivings he has given America over the last two years.
And so, if we put the right candidate forward that's got solutions, that's energetic, that's not 78 or 82 years old, they certainly have lost their best fastball. So, let's get somebody that's capable of leading this country in the right direction, helping our inflation issues, puts us back on the map with national security, understands immigration, the realities of immigration. We've got a chance to convince the middle and win for decades. But it's going to take time to get there. And the quality of the candidate still matters. If we win the House and we shove a bunch of Marjorie Taylor Greenes in there, we're going to be embarrassed as Republicans for the next couple of years.
COATES: S.E., is the time running out? Is the clock running out? Obviously, the primaries are coming up, the midterm elections. The 2024, I mean, it's still two years away, but everyone's looking towards that to figure out what's going to happen next. Is the shot clock going to run out? I hate to mix analogies you use to baseball, Lieutenant Governor, but I'm going to go to a different one. Is shot clock running out here?
S.E. CUPP, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Listen, 2024 is around the corner. And Trump is really the only one who has expressed an interest in getting in to the race. Everyone else seems a little cautious around him. So, if he has no competition in a party that wants no competition of ideas anymore, then, you know, then we know where this is going. It is pretty inevitable.
(…)
