By: Alana Goodman
‘If it is true that a man who has dominated the news and poisoned the discussion for months needs to repent, then it is doubly true that a nation that can produce such a man and make his vitriol go viral needs to repent’
Georgia Democrat Raphael Warnock argued in late 2016 that Americans needed to “repent” both for supporting Donald Trump and for the country’s “worship of whiteness.”
The comments came in an address at Atlanta’s Candler School of Theology shortly before Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election.
“If it is true that a man who has dominated the news and poisoned the discussion for months needs to repent, then it is doubly true that a nation that can produce such a man and make his vitriol go viral needs to repent,” Warnock said to raucous applause. “No matter what happens next month, more than a third of the nation that would go along with this, is reason to be afraid. America needs to repent for its worship of whiteness, on full display this season.”
A full version of Warnock’s remarks can be found here. The Warnock campaign did not respond to a request for comment. While Trump’s support among white men eroded in the 2020 presidential race, he gained ground with African-Americans and Hispanics.
The senior pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church, Warnock is now locked in a tight Senate race against Republican incumbent Kelly Loeffler. He is already under fire for a bevy of his previous statements, from calling Israel an “oppressive regime” to his defense of the anti-Semitic Rev. Jeremiah Wright. He is also come under scrutiny for praising his religious mentor, Dr. James Cone, who argued that white Christians practice the “theology of the Antichrist” and described whites as “satanic.”
In the same sermon, Warnock also argued for raising the minimum wage, telling the audience that refusing to do so while demanding Americans work is dehumanizing. “Whenever we refuse to raise the minimum wage while demanding that people ought to work, we are saying, ‘I can do with them whatever I want,'” he said.
Warnock is headed into a runoff election against Loeffler on Jan. 5. National political organizations are expected to pour record-breaking funds and resources into the highly contested race, which is one of two runoff elections in Georgia that will determine party control of the U.S. Senate next year. (Washington Free Beacon)
