BRENTWOOD, Tennessee — Two reporters directed loaded questions from the political left at U.S. Sen. Elect Bill Hagerty at a press conference he held in Brentwood Tuesday afternoon.
Hagerty held the conference, before election results arrived, in front of the Brenthaven Cumberland Presbyterian Church.
Madisen Keavy, with the Knoxville-based WATE, asked Hagerty to “address voters’ concerns that if President Trump does not win tonight that he may not leave the White House as the law says.”
Hagerty said he felt certain in a positive result and felt great about his own race.
“One vote is the rule in America,” Hagerty said.
“I am certain he [Trump] will accept the results.”
Earlier, Hagerty said he felt “honored to have the support of so many Tennesseans.”
“We are reaching out not only to Republicans but to independents, Democrats, all Tennesseans,” Hagerty said.
“I want to be the best representative I can possibly be of Tennessee conservative values in the United States Senate.”
But that didn’t stop Tennessean reporter Natalie Allison from asking this:
“Throughout the campaign, and [given] what you had to do to get here, you have had to use a lot of divisive rhetoric. Our country is very polarized. What do you plan on doing once you are elected, and do you plan on making attempts to try to unite Republicans and Democrats?”
Hagerty denied using any divisive rhetoric.
“I have been reaching out over the course of this general election to Republicans, to independents, and to Democrats. Everybody is concerned about seeing our nation turn toward prosperity again,” Hagerty said.
“Our state is one of the best positioned states in the nation, and I think a good job remedies so many social ills so I look forward to working with every Tennessean to the best of my ability.”
Former Nashville mayoral candidate Carol Swain, who supported Hagerty’s campaign, attended the press conference. She approached Allison after Hagerty ended his press conference.
“My question to her was ‘What divisive language?’ I wanted her to give me an example of it because I hadn’t heard it,” Swain told The Tennessee Star.
“She didn’t respond to me. She didn’t really say anything. I kept talking about how The Tennessean needs to focus on the other side because the other side is really dangerous. Those are the ones not likely to abide by the election. Those are the ones The Tennessean ought to be more worried about — the left.”
Swain said that Allison’s and Keavy’s questions repeated the national media’s narrative.
“I think it is ridiculous given that the Democrats never accepted the outcome of the 2016 election, and they are worried about what Trump will do if he loses,” Swain said.
Swain said Hagerty has a statesman-like temperament and that Allison asked an inappropriate question, especially given how Hagerty has conducted himself during his campaign.
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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].
More of the same B.S. from the biased & ignorant media/press.
It’s a shame those two wasted everyone’s time with questions like that.
No surprise here, almost all of our local media are leftists.