Fox host Martha MacCallum made it clear that Georgia's “Deportation Bus Tour” candidate Michael Williams is not on the network’s roster of preferred candidates (unlike Ron DeSantis) but his racist-Republican message still got a warm welcome.
The Daily Beast has a good run-down of Williams’ gubernatorial candidacy:
Michael Williams, a Georgia state senator, is currently polling dead last in the state’s Republican primary. With the primary next week, Williams is trying to rally racists by hosting a “Deportation Bus Tour” from a converted school bus plastered with slogans like “FILL THIS BUS WITH ILLEGALS” and “DANGER! MURDERERS, RAPISTS, KIDNAPPERS, CHILD MOLESTORS [sic], AND OTHER CRIMINALS ON BOARD.”
As The Daily Beast also noted, Cracker Barrel made it clear that the chain wants nothing to do with Williams who has scheduled at least 10 stops at various restaurants around the state:
“We are not sponsoring this event or supporting Mr. Williams’ campaign stops in any way, and per our company policy, we will not allow him – or any political candidate—to host an event on Cracker Barrel’s property,” the company said in a statement. “We take pride in showing our communities and our country that the hospitality we practice is indeed welcoming and inclusive to all.”
If MacCallum had any similar concerns about Williams’ campaign, she kept them to herself. In her brief interview with him, she only seemed to care about the fact that he doesn’t look like a winner.
MacCallum opened the interview with videos of all the Republican-primary candidates. She laughed and said, “Last and most provocative – perhaps, I don’t know, it’s a pretty tough race, is State Senator Michael Williams.” After playing a Williams ad, she said, “He joins us now with that bus behind him. Good to see you this evening, sir.”
MacCallum’s first question was, “How did this idea come to you and, you know, you’re—I think fifth in the polls right now? Is it sort of a last-ditch effort to get some attention, I guess, is one question?”
MacCallum never challenged the fact of the disgusting bus, itself.
Williams replied that he “didn’t want to do one of those traditional kind of boring campaign bus stories.” He wanted something to “exemplify what our tagline meant, which was fearless conservative, as well as addresses an issue that is pivotal to my campaign, as well as important to all Georgians—that’s illegal immigration.” He proudly stated that he and his bus had visited two sanctuary cities that day.
MacCallum challenged nothing about the conflating of “fearless conservative” and the demonization of immigrants. Instead, she helped Williams play the conservative victim by noting that YouTube had taken down his video about the bus and then reinstated it.
“What was really exciting to me,” Williams said, “was that we had supporters, not just here in Georgia, but all over the country. People that love the First Amendment, that love our conservative values. They reached out to YouTube and said put that video back up and they caved, and they put it back up."
Rather than challenge those supposedly beloved conservative values, MacCallum moved on to suggest that Williams might drag down the Republican ticket. She noted that Georgia is becoming more Democratic and “asked,” “How do you think that you can make up the ground that you appear to have lost to Casey Cagle, the lieutenant government there?”
Williams reassured her that Georgians love Trump and “the values that he’s fighting for.” Therefore, Williams is “100% confident” a Republican will win the general election.
In case you were wondering, Williams said he is not using the bus to actually deport anyone, only to bring attention to his plan to allow sheriff deputies to act as ICE agents.
MacCallum closed by saying, “So good to see you tonight, Michael Williams. Thank you for being here.”
MacCallum made her disapproval more explicit in the following discussion. It featured conservative Charlie Hurt and Democrat Jessica Tarlov. All three seemed to write off Williams.
Too bad MacCallum and her Fox superiors didn’t have the decency to challenge Williams' lack of decency to his face.
Watch MacCallum pussy foot around what should not have been tolerated at all below, from the May 16, 2018 The Story with Martha MacCallum.
Read more at http://www.newshounds.us/gop_candidate_michael_williams_deportation_bus_...
