On Wednesday, anchors on all three network morning shows couldn’t contain their joy over radical left-wing Democrat Raphael Warnock winning Tuesday’s Georgia Senate runoff, with each broadcast treating him to a fawning softball interview. Rather than press him on his history of incendiary comments, scandals, or far-left ideology, the hosts gushed over the Atlanta reverend’s victory being a “political earthquake” that reflected the “kind spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King.”
“Good morning, and congratulations to you, Reverend Senator-elect Warnock....You were part of a political earthquake,” that was how CBS This Morning co-host and Democratic Party donor Gayle King welcomed Warnock on the program. She then excitedly invited him to tout his win: “Your victory last night, early this morning, makes you the first black Democratic senator from the state of Georgia. Please tell me what this moment means to you.”
Eager to continue reveling in the election outcome, the partisan King followed up:
How did this happen? Because many people thought this was not possible, it was a very nasty, at times, campaign, very rough and tumble. Was it Stacey Abrams, was it the black turnout? Some people are saying, “Thank you, President Trump, for being President Trump.” I’m not dismissing anything or downplaying anything that you brought to the table, but how did this happen?
She also hoped that Warnock would bring his church background to the office: “How are you going to be able to reach across party lines, as a pastor, and why do you want to get involved right now at this time?” She even urged him to continue his ministry: “Will you still preach on Sundays?” Warnock assured her: “Oh, absolutely. Listen, the last thing I want to do is spend all of my time only talking to politicians, I’m afraid that I might accidentally become one.”
Conveniently missing from the discussion was any mention of Warnock’s anti-American and anti-military sermons from the pulpit over the years.
Wrapping up the friendly chat, King remarked: “You know, the last time you were here, Reverend, you were performing the eulogy, you were leading the ceremony for John Lewis at his funeral services. You were pastor of his church....What do you think he would say about your election today?” In response, Warnock expressed his desire to follow Lewis’s example of “moral authority.”
However, he was never asked about police video showing him in a domestic dispute with his ex-wife, the fact that child abuse was uncovered at a camp overseen by him, or that he and his fellow Democrat Jon Ossoff teamed up with a sexually violent rapper to help get out the vote days before the election.
Ignoring all of that, King said of Lewis: “Something tells me he’s really watching you today.”
“The history of what’s happening this morning is not at all lost on Senator-elect Warnock, who becomes only the 11th black U.S. Senator ever and is being sent to Washington from the deep south,” correspondent Steve Osunsami noted on ABC’s Good Morning America. Referring to Warnock’s Atlanta parish, he then proclaimed: “The kind spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King that lives on in his church, also lives on in this moment.”
Talking to Warnock, co-host George Stephanopoulos wondered: “Congratulations, first black senator ever from the state of Georgia. What does that say to you about your state and our country?”
As the softball exchange concluded, Stephanopoulos remarked on Warnock’s “big smile,” followed by fellow co-host Robin Roberts declaring: “He knows he has work to do, and he’s ready to do it. It’s very apparent.”
On NBC’s Today show, co-host Savannah Guthrie began with this: “You’re making history, as I mentioned. What do you think made difference, and is Georgia now officially a red state? Excuse me, a blue state, a blue state?”
Again, none of the network’s bothered to ask a single challenging question of the newly elected Democratic senator or press him on his party’s leftist agenda.
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Here is a full transcript of King’s questions to Warnock on CBS This Morning:
7:06 AM ET
GAYLE KING: Senator-elect Warnock spoke last night – actually it was very early this morning, about his mother’s journey and how his historic win was a full-circle moment.
SEN.-ELECT RAPHAEL WARNOCK [D-GA]: My mother, who as a teenager growing up in Waycross, Georgia, used to pick somebody else’s cotton. But the other day, because this is America, the 82-year-old hands that used to pick somebody else’s cotton went to the polls and picked her youngest son to be a United States senator.
KING: Boy, the Reverend Raphael Warnock is senior pastor of Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church, the historic parish once led by the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. Good morning, and congratulations to you, Reverend Senator-elect Warnock. Listen, you delivered that speech about 2:30 this morning but something tells me you are not tired today. You know why? You were part of a political earthquake. Your victory last night, early this morning, makes you the first black Democratic senator from the state of Georgia. Please tell me what this moment means to you.
(...)
KING: How did this happen? Because many people thought this was not possible, it was a very nasty, at times, campaign, very rough and tumble. Was it Stacey Abrams, was it the black turnout? Some people are saying, “Thank you, President Trump, for being President Trump.” I’m not dismissing anything or downplaying anything that you brought to the table, but how did this happen?
(...)
KING: Congress is so divided right now. You know, they say racially, economically, some people even say ethically. How are you going to be able to reach across party lines, as a pastor, and why do you want to get involved right now at this time?
(...)
KING: Your opponent, Kelly Loeffler, has not conceded. Have you heard from her?
(...)
KING: Will you still preach on Sundays? Will you still preach on Sundays?
WARNOCK: Oh, absolutely. Listen, the last thing I want to do is spend all of my time only talking to politicians, I’m afraid that I might accidentally become one.
(...)
KING: You know, the last time you were here, Reverend, you were performing the eulogy, you were leading the ceremony for John Lewis at his funeral services. You were pastor of his church. I’m wondering, because I’ve been thinking about him a lot these last couple of days because he used to say your vote is the most important weapon – nonviolent weapon that you have and to use it. What do you think he would say about your election today?(...)
KING: Something tells me he’s really watching you today. Thank you very much for your time, and congratulations again.
WARNOCK: Great to be with you.
