Sens. Warnock and Lankford call for unity in polarized America

• Case in point: Lawmakers grappled this week with gaining bipartisan support for a spending bill to avoid a government shutdown.
• The full interview with NBC's Kristen Welker will air on a special edition of "Meet the Press" on Sunday morning.

Zoom in: Warnock said bipartisan work "is as basic as the American covenant," according to a transcript provided to Axios.

• He added that while there are differences of opinion, "the issue is our humanity and trying to build and strengthen the American family."
• Asked how lawmakers can reach across the aisle, Lankford said he believes most people don't identify first with their parties but rather as human beings and neighbors. The question, he said, is how to get "people who disagree [to] sit down and figure it out? That's where we are."
• He added, "Unfortunately, Washington, D.C. is a mirror to the country that the country doesn't really like."
• Rather than trying to figure out how to be bipartisan, "we're supposed to figure out how to solve problems," Lankford said. "I think that's the emotion of the country, is they want it to be fixed, but they can't figure out how it's going to actually happen.

Between the lines: The percentage of Americans who say they have a great deal or a fair amount of trust in the mass media has fallen to a record low.

• Engagement with political news and news generally is also down considerably compared to the previous presidential primary election cycle.

The bottom line: Warnock said he thinks what "we're dealing with is the fundamental assault on that basic understanding that we are the American family" and that "all families have a complicated story."

• He added, "We have differences, but we sit together and we work it out."

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