Greg Kelly Slams Davenport Mayor for Calling Off Search

Davenport, Iowa, Democrat Mayor Mike Matson was too quick to call of the search for possible survivors from a building collapse, according to Newsmax's Greg Kelly, who laments government officials have lost their way with their primary mission: "serving citizens."

"You know the building that came down in Davenport, Iowa. I believe you can make the case that wokeism had a big role in this," Kelly said in his opening monologue on Friday night's "Greg Kelly Reports." "So Sunday it comes crumbling down. You've seen the building on the news, right? A big chunk of it. Now, a couple of things here. City officials were warned ahead of time that this building could come down imminently. And once it did come down, they looked for survivors but not very hard, and basically they wanted to call it a day less than a day later."

Kelly played the Monday news clip of Matson saying the "rescue's over" and it is now about "recovery and what are we doing with the building?"

Matson said "there's always a concern" about potential victims trapped under debris, sparking Kelly's concern: "But we're not rescuing anybody anymore. We're just going to knock the building over.

"What?!" Kelly continued. "I'm not an architect. I'm also not a search and rescue specialist, but I have seen on the news when they find people days, even weeks after a building collapses — like say in an earthquake. Has this guy, the mayor, ever seen the news?"

Kelly played clips of past rescue operations finding survivors, while Matson was quick to turn his back on people that might be trapped "that we know about," Matson admitted.

"Yeah, you don't call it quits the next day," Kelly said. "The mayor, his name is Mike Matson. He's a Democrat. He says he has some regrets, but he seemed pretty damn confident with his weak, 'let's give up plan,' didn't he?"

"'That we know about.' There could be, but what are you going to do?"

Here is where the DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) problem comes in, according to Kelly.

Governments from the top down are far too concerned with spending time and resources on DEI, Kelly said, and not focusing on what they are supposed to be doing: Taking care of their people.

"So here's the problem, I think: Local city officials, national officials, city officials, county officials, they all have to do this woke stuff," Kelly said. "In the city of Davenport they have a talent and inclusion administrator, whatever that means, a job that did not exist just a couple of years ago.

"I looked it up. The Black Lives Matter nonsense in 2020 in George Floyd's death. All right, there they are in Davenport, Iowa, having a moment. Everybody taking a knee, including, yeah, the Mayor Mike Matson.

"Great, you did some virtue signaling, and you've got a great website, and I'm sure you've got some pride stuff going on.

"But what about doing the things that you're supposed to do in government, the streets, the buildings. This sexuality and gender stuff, it is a total distraction and we're going to see more of this."

Kelly noted another building collapsed in Connecticut on Friday and a similarly too soon turn away from rescue operations resulted.

"That building, people inside, and they blew it off," Kelly lamented. "Those people, their families, they were so ill-served, not served at all.

"It's amazing. Government is so intent on changing society and making government bigger instead of serving citizens, what they're supposed to do. These people will let down. I think wokeism is a big part of it, and we've got to dial it back right away."

Newsmax has reached out to the Davenport mayor's office for comment, but has not yet heard back.

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