Sen. Kelly Loeffler’s (R-Ga.) incessant attacks on her Senate opponent, Rev. Raphael Warnock, can all be condensed to Republican red-meat talking points: Radical ideology is dangerous. People who twist the word of God to further an extremist agenda should be condemned. Government handouts are terrible because America is not a socialist country; it is a democracy. Conservative principles, family values and hard work are what made this country great. Faith is good. Crime, bad. Freedom. Troops. Jesus.
I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I agree with Kelly Loeffler.
She’s absolutely right. A true Christian would never vote for a religious fanatic who preached an anti-American agenda. A real American would always honor the brave men and women who fight for our freedoms. The American dream should only come through hard work, so we should do away with this “victim mentality.” Instead of celebrating thugs, celebrities and people who use identity politics, we should be fostering a culture that honors citizens who achieved success by merit.
This is what the America-loving patriots in the GOP stand for. If the people in Georgia were actually conservative Christians, they would love anyone who embodied these values and hate anyone who didn’t.
A true patriot would love Raphael Warnock.
A real Republican would hate Kelly Loeffler.
Warnock versus the Welfare Queen
One of Georgia’s senate candidates was raised in the Christian tradition by a veteran who started his own business after serving our country. This American patriot found a way to escape poverty through education and faith in Jesus Christ. One candidate has an unimpeachable record of community service. One candidate has fought for religious freedom and lived a faith-filled, scandal-free life.
The other candidate is Kelly Loeffler.
Raphael Warnock was born to a World War II veteran who also served as a minister and a small business owner. Warnock escaped public housing and poverty by taking college classes in high school and eventually enrolled in Morehouse, emulating the steps of an American hero, Martin Luther King Jr. He eventually earned two master’s degrees and a Ph.D. from one of the best schools in America, Columbia University.
Like many Black WWII veterans, Warnock’s father wasn’t able to use the GI Bill to open a business, even though he earned it. Instead, he earned the money for his car restoration business by hauling cars to a local steel yard while Warnock’s mother picked cotton and tobacco. Warnock eventually became pastor of Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist, the church King once co-pastored.
Also from humble beginnings, Loeffler was able to pay for her education by leveraging property she inherited from her grandparents. After earning her MBA from DePaul, Loeffler left her job at Toyota to become a corporate executive, marrying the firm’s CEO two years after she was hired. She was eventually named CEO of one of the firm’s subsidiaries while her husband literally owns the stock exchange.
Since 1995, according to USDA disclosures, Senator Kelly Loeffler’s family has received more than $3.2 million in government farm subsidies and bailout funds, Prospect reports. Her brother has received more government funds than anyone in his zip code. Meanwhile, Loeffler’s parents hauled in more than a million dollars before they retired in 2015 and still continue to get government subsidies to this day.
OK, because the Loeffler family’s total take over the last 25 years is less than half of one percent of Kelly’s net worth—an estimated $800 million—maybe Kelly isn’t a socialist welfare queen.
She’s just a welfare princess.
Why does Kelly Loeffler Hate Jesus and America?
America is nothing if not its Constitution and its democratic principles. True Republicans champion populism, religious liberty and freedom of speech. Loeffler, on the other hand, has built an entire campaign on cherry-picking excerpts of Warnock’s sermons to paint him as an un-American radical. Loeffler has aired ads essentially vilifying Warnock for quoting the actual words of Jesus Christ and preaching the same message as Dr. King.
The only thing “radical” about Raphael Warnock is his refusal to stoop to Loeffler’s level. (To be fair, I don’t know if Warnock has enough anointing oil for Jesus to allow his knees to get that low.) He wears sweater vests, for Christ’s sake! While Warnock has been a longtime advocate for voting rights and participating in democracy, Loeffler has called on Georgia’s secretary of state to resign over his unapologetic, blatant attempt to count votes. She ignores political norms and refuses to concede to the electoral process. With no evidence whatsoever, she continues to question the will of her state’s voters and is actively campaigning to disenfranchise millions of Georgians for no reason.
To be fair, Loeffler doesn’t just hate democracy and religious freedom. She also told the members of the WNBA franchise that she co-owns to STFU about Black Lives Matter. Maybe she doesn’t think the Constitution affords Black people the freedom of speech. Or maybe there’s another reason she refuses to acknowledge how voting, Christianity and religious freedom works. Perhaps she’s just trying to scare white people.
Loeffler’s attacks are the same dog whistles used by her party against every non-white candidate. It’s hard to know whether Loeffler is “playing the race card” or using “identity politics.” It might be “race-baiting,” which, I think makes Warnock the worm; is white supremacy the hook? Is this how Loeffler lures racists into the voting booths?
Or perhaps Loeffler misunderstood what Jesus was talking about when he said: “I will make you a fisher of men.”
Thug Life
On January 24, the same day Loeffler attended a private briefing on COVID-19, Loeffler and her husband ditched between $1.275 and $3.1 million worth of stock in 27 companies that were curiously vulnerable to the coronavirus pandemic. Then they just happened to buy a million dollars in work-from-home software producer Citrix. Then, Loeffler purchased $46,000 worth of shares in a travel company on March 6, Bloomberg reports. That same day, she boarded a flight with President Trump to visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in her home state. Days later, on March 10 and 11, Loeffler dumped the stocks.
On March 11, shortly after the markets closed, Donald Trump announced the European travel ban.
It was probably just a coincidence.
Raphael Warnock has also had his share of scandals. He has extended his open arms to some very undesirable worshippers at Ebenezer Baptist and has repeatedly denied accusations that he is a clone of comedian J.B. Smoove. However, The Root can confirm multiple incidents of Warnock telling jokes while holding a microphone. Are Raphael Warnock and Jesus Be Smoove the same person?
You be the judge*:
I gotta be honest: They all look alike.
Warnock has also confessed to accepting bribes, admitting on numerous occasions that he gave his heart to Jesus in exchange for everlasting life.
Kelly Loeffler said she got a better price when she sold her soul.
Why Doesn’t Kelly Loeffler Hate Sen. Kelly Loeffler?
Kelly Loeffler is everything she pretends to hate and nothing she claims to love.
Imagine being the richest, most powerful person in the chamber of the most powerful men in America. Imagine that not being enough. Imagine being so rapacious and empty-souled that you still have to slander a man of God, cheat democracy and profit off massive death just to satisfy your unquenchable greedlust. Now, imagine squeezing your gluttonous, bloodthirsty arsehole into a pair of Wranglers to pretend you care about the “common people.”
She sailed into the safe harbor of wealth and power on the winds of white entitlement while pretending she rowed her boat ashore. Loeffler is a semi-mediocre, almost honest, anti-American flotilla meandering about on welfare, theft and privilege. She is a repository in which America has deposited all of its deadliest poisons for the sole purposes of vomiting them back into her mouth and spitting them at us. I usually hate the premise of this conjecture but, in this specific case, nothing else could be truer:
If Kelly Loeffler were Black, we would call her a “nigger.”
But Loeffler is white. The vast divide between what Kelly Loeffler says she believes and what she practices in real life has nothing to do with her morals, her faith or even the color of her skin. Loeffler’s unrepentant hypocrisy, however blatant it might be, has everything to do with her political party.
Republicans do not believe in anything.
They bellow about fiscal conservatism while running up bigger financial deficits than Democrats. They tout their belief in “small government” while asserting state control of marriage, recreational drug use and anything women want to do with their vaginas. They advocate for religious freedom while simultaneously demonizing Muslims and vilifying atheists. They hate “the race card” while dog-whistling to white supremacy. They hate socialism but hand out tax breaks to corporations and subsidize their base. They love free speech unless you burn a flag, kneel during the anthem or say something critical about Israel.
They ignore voter suppression until they lose. They want “law and order” until the law disrupts their order. They love Martin Luther King Jr.—except the stuff he actually believed. They pledge their allegiance to the flag but have never even attempted to make this country into “one nation.” They haven’t upheld the “liberty” part—not even for a nanosecond. They despise the “justice for all” part.
Any real Christian conservative who truly loves this republic would hate Christian conservative Republicans and upend the unexceptional, detestable wastebasket of privilege that is Kelly Loeffler.
If, of course, they believed in things.
* Both photos are J.B. Smoove.