MSNBC host Tiffany Cross claimed it’s “mind-boggling” that Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Mandela Barnes isn’t crushing his opponent, incumbent Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., in the polls.
While interviewing Barnes on her Saturday show, “The Cross Connection” host and her guest talked about how “dangerous” and “out-of-touch” Johnson’s policies are, claiming that they’re “not based in facts.”
Cross also referred to Johnson as a “Trump acolyte” and fixated on his “anti-abortion” policies, which Barnes has been hammering throughout the campaign.
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Prior to introducing Barnes, Cross briefly touched on the latest Marquette University Law School poll showing how close Johnson and Barnes are in their race. Cross’ graphic showed that Johnson has a one-point lead over Barnes at 49% of the vote to 48%.
Cross said, “Now a recent Marquette Law School poll shows that the race is in a dead heat. Mind-blowing considering where Johnson is.”
She slammed the Republican, saying, “Johnson’s campaign has aired a flurry of racist ads attacking Barnes on crime.”
During the October 1 episode of “The Cross Connection,” Cross claimed that GOP ads fixating on Barnes’ soft-on-crime policies were “racist” and compared them to the “Willie Horton” ad of the 1988 presidential race between George H.W. Bush and Michael Dukakis.
She then discussed Barnes’ campaign, saying, “Meanwhile Barnes has been focusing on Johnson’s anti-abortion stance and his launching his ‘Ron Against Roe’ tour today.”
Speaking to Barnes directly, Cross stated, “It’s kind of mind-boggling that you guys are in a dead heat. It reminds me of the Herschel Walker, um, Raphael Warnock dead heat.”
She ripped into Johnson even more, saying, “Because Ron Johnson has said some wild things, he’s a Trump acolyte, he says things that are not based in fact.”
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Cross asked Barnes, “What’s the biggest challenge your campaign is facing right now?” Barnes mentioned the “flurry of spending” and “insane amounts of money that have been poured into this race by [Johnson’s] allies.” Though Barnes claimed that the fact they’re spending so much money and the race is still so close “signals that we’re doing the right thing.”
He criticized Johnson, stating, “We are leading with the fact that Ron Johnson has left people behind. Ron Johnson has turned his back on every day hardworking Wisconsin people.”
Barnes also attacked Johnson’s abortion stance directly, saying, “And his position on abortion is dangerous and, excuse me, out of touch – and extremely out of touch with the 70% of people of this state that think Roe v. Wade should be the law of the land.”
Cross slammed Johnson for purporting “to be pro-law enforcement, yet he’s defending who attacked law enforcement on [Janurary 6th].”
Barnes responded, “Well, the reality is Ron Johnson will say whatever he wants to say. He’s gonna say he supports law enforcement, but he turned his back 140 officers that were injured on January 6th. This happened because he called the election into question.”
Barnes asserted that Johnson questioning the election helped create the “chaos that ensued” on January 6th.
