At the beginning of the year, ABC‘s This Week co–anchor John Karl was off to a poor start, proving, yet again, that his network is essentially a biased political activist program. Karl gave a warm, easy interview to recently elected representative Maxwell Frost from Florida‘s 10th district.
During the chat, Karl brought up the time when Frost confronted Florida‘s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, at a private event. The segment was met with shock, as Frost admitted he had been in a private setting. This Week‘s lack of challenging questions highlighted the soft stance taken towards Frost, who is known for his far–left views.
The interviewer neglected to ask difficult questions, instead opting to focus on the incident that occurred in a private setting. This Week‘s decision to gloss over Frost‘s policies and opinions was seen as a controversial move, especially considering the congressman–elect‘s strong leftist leanings. The show‘s failure to ask tough questions has been criticized for potentially allowing Frost to avoid answering for his more extreme views.
“So I saw one of your campaign ads features this interaction you had with DeSantis,” Karl said with an amused smirk on his face.
After airing the campaign commercial, Frost whined “Governor DeSantis never comes to Orlando” and when he does “it’s to do a press conference where he’s spewing bigotry and hate. Or to make money for his friends which is exactly what he was doing there,” Frost cried.
Frost claimed he “didn’t stand up and yell and curse” at DeSantis. “I just stood up and said, Governor, what’s your plan to end gun violence? We’re dying.”
“So we came to him more with a plea and what I got in return, was nobody wants to hear from you. Getting dragged out by security. Having popcorn thrown at me and people yelling curse words and racial slurs,” Frost added to make himself seem like a victim despite willingly going to a private event where he wasn’t welcome in order to further his radical gun-grabbing agenda.
Karl seemed delighted that the GenZ freshman politician attempted to crash DeSantis’s event. The segment ended with Karl also bragging about how Frost plays drums as if that had anything to do with the job he now faces.
Relevant Part Of The Transcript:
JON KARL: So I saw one of your campaign ads features this interaction you had with DeSantis.
[cuts to campaign ad]
MAXWELL FROST: Two months I confronted Governor DeSantis on ending gun violence. And what did he say?
GOVERNOR RON DESANTIS: Nobody wants to hear from you.
[cuts back to live]
KARL: What was going on there?
FROST: Yeah so look, Governor DeSantis never comes to Orlando. When he does it’s to do a press conference where he’s spewing bigotry and hate. Or to make money for his friends which is exactly what he was doing there. He was a special guest at a private thing for a podcaster and so we in the spirit of direct action and protest we decided to show up. And look I didn’t stand up and yell and curse at him or anything. I just stood up and said, Governor, what’s your plan to end gun violence? We’re dying.
And this was about a week and a half after the Uvalde shooting. He hadn’t said a single word about ending gun violence. So we came to him more with a plea and what I got in return, was nobody wants to hear from you. Getting dragged out by security. Having popcorn thrown at me and people yelling curse words and racial slurs.
KARL: And what was the reception that you got for that ad? I mean, the moment went viral.
FROST: Yeah, yeah.
KARL: Getting shouted down by the Republican governor as a young candidate–
FROST: Yeah.
KARL: As a Democrat, must actually not been a bad thing.
FROST: Yeah well we decided to flip it on its head. And use it and we put it on broadcast in the district, we got nothing but people giving us calls and sending messages saying I saw your ad, I haven’t seen an ad like that ever or in a long time.
KARL: But you were also, you were sent to campaign in Georgia, You hadn’t even been sworn in yet as a member of Congress. But you were campaigning for Raphael Warnock. And I noticed you playing drums—
FROST: Oh yeah.
KARL: At a students for Warnock.
FROST: That was at an indoor skate park. That’s one of the coolest campaign events I’ve ever been to.
KARL: So are we going to see more of that? You’re a jazz drummer.
FROST: Yeah, I play jazz, hip-hop, different styles, yeah, of course. I mean something I want to work on, some more extracurriculars, bringing the arts more on the hill, having concerts on the hill. Stuff like that I think it’s important. The arts, it’s really important to me. It’s at the level of politics for me.
Erica Carlin is an independent journalist, opinion writer and contributor to several news and opinion sources. She is based in Georgia.