Filling in for Craig Melvin during MSNBC’s 11:00 a.m. ET hour on Friday, anchor Kasie Hunt welcomed on newly-announced left-wing weekend host Tiffany Cross to campaign for Democrats in Georgia’s Senate runoff election. In part, Cross labeled incumbent Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler a “carpetbagger” and dismissed criticism of Democratic candidate Raphael Warnock’s radical record as “asinine.”
“And let’s talk more about this with Tiffany Cross, MSNBC’s newest anchor and, of course, the author of the book, Say it louder: Black Voters, White Narratives, and Saving Our Democracy,” Hunt happily announced at the top of the segment. She fawned over her new colleague, who has a history of vile rhetorical bomb throwing: “Tiffany, before we get into it, I just want to say congratulations, we’re thrilled to have you as a colleague.”
Cross gushed back: “Thank you so much, Kasie. I’ve appeared on the screen with you so many times and I’m thrilled to be able to call you a colleague. So I really appreciate that.” Hunt continued the lovefest: “Yeah, we can’t wait to see what you’re gonna do on Saturday mornings.”
If anyone wants to know what to look forward to on MSNBC Saturday mornings, Cross is known for fantasizing over President Trump being “dragged out on the White House lawn like a 1980s episode of ‘Cops,’” disgustingly labeling black speakers at the Republican National Convention “a modern-day minstrel show,” and comparing Trump’s voter base to the Ku Klux Klan. And all of those awful examples were just from 2020.
After Hunt excitedly touted Democratic “enthusiasm” in the Georgia campaign, Cross strategized on behalf of her party:
Yeah, I think Stacey Abrams has done a lot of work on the ground. And so that’s why you’re seeing this groundswelling of so many people requesting these absentee ballots....And so I think that’s where you’re going to have to rely on coalition building and GOTV efforts. And when you look at the people doing the work on the ground through that lens, I think victory is certainly possible....I do think you can see victory happen on the Democratic side in the Senate.
She also hurled partisan attacks at Republicans: “You have to also consider the disinformation campaigns being run by the Republicans that’s only hurting themselves....There’s also discord within the Republican Party in Georgia. Kelly Loeffler was by all evidence a carpetbagger.”
Hunt helpfully followed up:
Tiffany, let me ask you about Raphael Warnock specifically because it’s really unique that we have a black candidate who is facing this runoff with an electorate, as you say, that is more and more engaged. What do you think it means to them to have Warnock on the ticket? And is he going to be the one who is helping out Jon Ossoff here, as the two of them campaign together?
Sounding like an DNC spokesperson, Cross heaped praise on the pair of Democrats: “You know, I think they’re both going to help each other....And they certainly campaign well. I had them on the show when I was guest-hosting for Joy Reid on AM Joy and they did a great job complementing each other.”
Talking about Warnock specifically, Cross lashed out at GOP criticism of his radical record: “I will say, though, I think Raphael Warnock has done a great job in combating some of the Kelly Loeffler ads. He had the great ad where he was walking the dog, and just, you know, got ahead of some of these asinine attacks that we’ve seen come out of some of the Republican campaigning.”
An examination of Warnock’s offensive comments over the years was conveniently omitted from the discussion. Like the time in 2011 when he told his parishioners that “nobody can serve God and the military” or the time in 2018 when he launched into an anti-Semitic tirade against the state of Israel. He also praised incendiary pastor Jeremiah Wright in 2013 and claimed in 2016 that “America needs to repent for its worship of whiteness!”
Apparently Hunt and Cross have no interest in such things.
Wrapping up the segment, Hunt once again welcomed Cross to the MSNBC family of hyper-partisan leftists:
Tiffany Cross, thank you so much for your insights today. And congratulations on the new show again. Tiffany’s show premiers Saturday, December 12th at 10:00 a.m. Eastern, right here on MSNBC. And our friend Jonathan Capehart’s new show will debut the next day, Sunday, December 13th. Jonathan, congrats to you as well. We’re thrilled to have both Tiffany and Jonathan on the team here at MSNBC.
The insular cable channel is maintaining its steadfast business model of only speaking to a shrinking niche of ultra-left-wing viewers. Cross and Capehart will fit right in.
This campaign ad on behalf of the Democratic Senate candidates in Georgia was brought to viewers by Progressive and Dell. You can fight back by letting these advertisers know what you think of them sponsoring such content.
Here is a full transcript of the December 4 segment:
11:27 AM ET
KASIE HUNT: And let’s talk more about this with Tiffany Cross, MSNBC’s newest anchor and, of course, the author of the book, Say it louder: Black Voters, White Narratives, and Saving Our Democracy. Tiffany, before we get into it, I just want to say congratulations, we’re thrilled to have you as a colleague.
TIFFANY CROSS: Thank you so much, Kasie. I’ve appeared on the screen with you so many times and I’m thrilled to be able to call you a colleague. So I really appreciate that.
HUNT: Yeah, we can’t wait to see what you’re gonna do on Saturday mornings. Tiffany, let’s talk about Stacey Abrams. She tweeted that in the last 24 hours, a million voters have requested their ballots in this race – or I’m sorry, she tweeted that in the last 24 hours – a million people asking for ballots. That seems to say a lot about the enthusiasm. And we also know that Democrats have been much more likely to vote by mail. What’s your take on what this means for this upcoming runoff?
CROSS: Yeah, I think Stacey Abrams has done a lot of work on the ground. And so that’s why you’re seeing this groundswelling of so many people requesting these absentee ballots. But I would also say there are folks like LaTosha Brown of Black Voters Matter and there are these very, you know, confined digital spaces where people are encouraging the voters of Georgia to exercise their civic engagement this way.
I do want to say as well that the Asian-American Pacific Islander vote in Georgia is quite significant, also. There are 300,000 people of API descent in Georgia and almost 200,000 of them voted, 185,000 to be exact. And so I think that’s where you’re going to have to rely on coalition building and GOTV efforts. And when you look at the people doing the work on the ground through that lens, I think victory is certainly possible.
You have to also consider the disinformation campaigns being run by the Republicans that’s only hurting themselves when you have Sydney Powell on stage at a GOP event saying don’t vote because, you know, it’s a rigged election. She’s saying this to the Republican Senate base.
There’s also discord within the Republican Party in Georgia. Kelly Loeffler was by all evidence a carpetbagger. I mean, she pretty much bought this seat by flooding millions of dollars into the GOP pockets there. And that’s why the Republican Governor Brian Kemp fought the system by tapping her over Doug Collins, by all means a Trump acolyte on Capitol Hill, as you well know, Kasie, being – covering Capitol Hill. So there’s not unity on that side.
And so I do think you can see victory happen on the Democratic side in the Senate. And it says something, that the power of the Senate will be determined by the rising majority of America, the new American electorate, people of color.
HUNT: Certainly I know that’s how Kelly Loeffler’s critics certainly tagged her in Georgia. And there has also been some frustration among Georgia officials at Doug Collins in the wake of this as they try to focus on getting these two Republicans elected and he continues to side with President Trump.
Tiffany, let me ask you about Raphael Warnock specifically because it’s really unique that we have a black candidate who is facing this runoff with an electorate, as you say, that is more and more engaged. What do you think it means to them to have Warnock on the ticket? And is he going to be the one who is helping out Jon Ossoff here, as the two of them campaign together?
CROSS: You know, I think they’re both going to help each other. You know, Jon Ossoff, if you remember, he ran for the Georgia congressional 6th district, a district where I grew up actually. So I think the voters got to know him during that process. Raphael Warnock, you know, being someone who went to Morehouse and he still pastors at Martin Luther King’s church there, has very deep roots in the Atlanta community and I think statewide people have gotten to know him. But I think these two candidates will certainly help each other. And they certainly campaign well. I had them on the show when I was guest-hosting for Joy Reid on AM Joy and they did a great job complementing each other. And I think the voters have gotten to see that.
I will say, though, I think Raphael Warnock has done a great job in combating some of the Kelly Loeffler ads. He had the great ad where he was walking the dog, and just, you know, got ahead of some of these asinine attacks that we’ve seen come out of some of the Republican campaigning. So time will tell if this is going to become effective, but I think given all evidence that we’ve seen so far, the race is certainly tight and nobody should operate as though the wind is at their back, this is gonna come down. And I wonder if this will be like the presidential election, will we know the results on January 5th or will we have to wait a few days to find out. So I think that, you know, remains to be seen.
HUNT: Indeed. And we have just about a month left of this race. Tiffany Cross, thank you so much for your insights today. And congratulations on the new show again. Tiffany’s show premiers Saturday, December 12th at 10:00 a.m. Eastern, right here on MSNBC. And our friend Jonathan Capehart’s new show will debut the next day, Sunday, December 13th. Jonathan, congrats to you as well. We’re thrilled to have both Tiffany and Jonathan on the team here at MSNBC.
