I didn't expect to wake up yesterday to the news that the senator from
the 22nd district had overnight accused me by name of grooming and
sexualizing children in an email fundraising for herself.
So I sat on it for a while wondering why me?
And then I realized because I am the biggest threat to your
hollow hateful scheme.
Because you can't claim that you are targeting marginalized kids
in the name of quote parental rights if another parent is standing up to say no.
>> That was Michigan state senator Mallory McMorrow and
it is rare to see a Democrat effectively fight back against Republican smears.
But that is exactly what McMorrow did in that speech and I love to see it.
So it was a response to a Republican state senator by the name of Lana Theis and
Lana Theis in a campaign email accused her of being a groomer.
And she actually fought back, and the speech was so good, particularly for
a reason that agrees with something I've been saying over and
over again on the show, we're gonna get to that in a minute.
You don't wanna miss it, but since,
McMorrow was being smeared as something that she clearly is not, she thought
maybe this is a good opportunity to let you get to know me, let's watch.
>> You say that I'm one of them, you say she's a groomer, she supports pedophilia.
She wants Children to believe that they were responsible for slavery and
to feel bad about themselves because they're white.
Well, here's a little bit of background about who I really am.
Growing up my family was very active in our church, I sang in the choir,
my mom taught CCD.
One day our priest called a meeting with my mom and told her that she was not
living up to the church's expectations and that she was disappointing.
My mom asked why?
Among other reasons she was told it was because she was divorced and
because the priest didn't see her at mass every Sunday.
So where was my mom on Sundays?
She was at the soup kitchen, with me.
My mom taught me at a very young age that Christianity and
faith was about being part of a community.
About recognizing our privilege and blessings and
doing what we can to be of service to others,
especially people who are marginalized, targeted and who had less, often unfairly.
I learnt that service was far more important than performative nonsense like
being seen in the same pew every Sunday or writing Christian in your Twitter bio.
And using that as a shield to target and marginalized already marginalized people.
>> I already love this speech, so far so good but
we haven't even gotten to the best part yet.
Before we do though, John I wanted to give you an opportunity.
>> I like a lot about that, the main thing that I like about,
I suspect will be in that last clip.
But no, I like the vigorous defense.
The gap in passion between the side that has tried to make
all of American politics about the LGBTQ community,
let's have sort of just as an open question, should they be allowed to exist?
That's what republican politics is, and people are fired up against that, regular
people, you go on social media, everything people hate this, they despise it.
And Democratic politicians, if you ask them a question at a press conference,
sure they might say the right thing, but what are they doing?
Where is the urgency?
We're talking about people's rights being stripped away.
We're talking about tens of millions of people being pushed back into the closet.
And for the most part, the Democratic response is pretty much what it is on
virtually everything, non-existent.
And so it's no surprise that she went viral.
She, in that one video provided a more vigorous defense of all these people than
virtually every powerful leadership Democrat in the country.
>> 100% all we've seen from Democrats in response to
the grooming smears is either silence or super weak responses
kind of like minimizing what they're saying, but you guys,
they are succeeding, I mean legislation is being passed.
You literally have, I noticed this online yesterday, and look,
Twitter is not indicative of how an entire political group actually thinks.
But the individuals on the left who seem to think that like
Libs of TikTok didn't do anything wrong and
this was doxing by Taylor Lorenz and all Libs of Tiktok was doing.
>> Who thinks that?
>> No you see it, you shouldn't dox because all they were doing was reposting
what other people would, that by the way, that is not true.
There was specific framing meant to make these members of the LGBTQ community
look like they're predators, to make it look like their groomers.
And then now that's all this is, the Republican tactic now because
they can't win based on policy ideas, cuz they have none, okay?
Is, let's just smear everyone who serves as an opponent as a groomer,
as a child predator, even though they have child predators within their ranks that
they provide cover for over and over again.
I haven't seen a damn Democrat in congress bring that up.
Hey Matt Gaetz, where's that 17 year old that you allegedly paid for
to travel across state lines and have sex with you?
Is the DOJ still investigating that?
I wanna know more about that.
Jim Jordan, all these accusations from wrestlers indicating that
you provided cover for a predator within the school,
within the college, well, what happened with that?
How come they don't bring these things up?
>> They don't care about Trump's connections to Epstein and
all that, the things he said, that would be done any democratic politician.
I'm not saying you have to turn on Trump, but
you could at least grapple with that intellectually at a time when
your entire political philosophy is found on supposed panic about pedophilia.
>> I can't stand weakness and all we've seen from Democrats over and over again,
in the face of the worst attacks toward disenfranchised people has been weakness.
And I love to see finally, although it's a state lawmaker,
rather than someone in the federal government fighting back.
Now with that said, I want to go to the best part of her speech and it's this.
>> People who are different are not the reason that our roads are in bad shape
after decades of disinvestment or that health care costs are too high or
that teachers are leaving the profession.
I want every child in this state to feel seen heard and supported not marginalized
and targeted because they are not straight, white, and Christian.
We cannot let hateful people tell you otherwise to scapegoat and
deflect from the fact that they are not doing anything to fix the real
issues that impact people's lives.
And I know that hate will only win if people like me stand by and let it happen.
So I wanna be very clear right now, call me whatever you want,
I hope you brought in a few dollars.
I hope it made you sleep good last night, I know who I am, I know what faith and
service means and what it calls for in this moment.
We will not let hate win.
>> That was perfect, explain why the Republican Party,
whether it's on a state level or
the federal level is hype focused on these culture wars.
Tell the American people why it's happening.
It's because they've got nothing to offer.
They might use populist rhetoric, they might pretend like they understand
the economic anxieties of Americans, they love those anxieties.
They've played into those anxieties,
they have passed policies deregulating corporations so workers can be abused, so
this rigged economic system can be exacerbated.
That is what the Republican Party is, call them out on it.
They don't support unions, they don't support workers,
all they wanna do is play off the politics of hate for power.
And finally, you have a Democrat saying it,
finally, it's relief honestly to finally hear someone say it.
Someone in a position of power say it, McMorrow gets it.
And I wanna see more Democrats call it out, you don't see it.
I mean, not a single Democrat in Congress right now is saying what needs to be said,
call them out.
They don't care about the ordinary American,
all they care about is making this country, which is already unbearable for
the vast majority of people, even more unbearable.
Look is your hate gonna keep you warm at night?
Is discriminating against a transgender athlete gonna keep you warm at night?
Is it gonna help you pay your medical bills?
Ask those questions?