Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., said in a Sunday interview that the United States would have to be “spiritually sick” to elect President Donald Trump twice, describing Trump as a symptom of deeper national problems.
Politico’s Jonathan Martin asked Warnock whether the country needed a spiritual rebirth. Warnock agreed, then characterized Trump as a serious problem and a danger to the country. He said the president’s election reflected what he described as a broader “brokenness.”
Warnock cautioned against treating the current political period as a temporary interruption after which the country could simply return to normal. In his view, the conditions that left some people feeling excluded helped make Trump’s political appeal possible.
The Georgia senator described the 2026 midterm elections as an “inflection point.” He warned that a Democratic loss could make the 2028 presidential election “theoretical,” though the source material does not specify what he meant by that phrase. Warnock did not say whether he plans to seek the presidency. He said he wanted a robust debate and a genuine Democratic primary in 2028.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment, according to the report. Republican National Committee spokeswoman Emma Hall offered a sharp rebuke, calling Warnock a “radical left-wing warrior.” She also accused him of supporting the abolition of prisons, police and borders, and referenced his past comparison of Republicans to dying snakes. Those assertions were Hall’s characterization; the supplied material does not provide further context or a response from Warnock.
The report also recalled Warnock’s remarks in an April interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper. Asked about pastors who support Trump and say he was placed in office for a divine purpose, Warnock called the Trump administration “ungodly.” He compared those leaders to Christians who invoked the Bible to defend slavery and said they were wrong. Warnock argued that the Black Church arose in opposition to what he called an American effort to reconcile Christian faith with slavery.
Warnock is the senior pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, as well as Georgia’s senior U.S. senator, according to the source. The comments covered both his criticism of Trump and his view that Democratic leaders should address what he sees as underlying social and political divisions rather than focus only on defeating the president.
