-House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy
threw a nearly nine-hour tantrum on the House floor
as Democrats passed their signature social spending bill.
Meanwhile, one Republican senator continued to spread
Trump's big lie about the election
and another accused a Biden nominee of being a communist.
For more on this, it's time for "A Closer Look."
♪♪
There was a temptation during his presidency
to believe that Donald Trump and the fringe movement
of goons and weirdos who supported him
were not necessarily the core of the modern GOP,
that once Trump faded away,
the party would return to some semblance of normalcy.
But over and over, Republicans keep proving how naive and wrong
that assumption was.
And look, I get it.
I think lots of people were hoping
this would be a Beetlejuice situation
where we could just say his name three times
and he would disappear into that waiting room
where he'd finally look like he fits in.
"We love shrunken head guy, don't we, folks?
We don't talk about him enough. regularly about it.
Love his tiny head.
And of course, what a seat next
to the great Geena Davis, League of Their Own'?
What a film. What a film.
They say there's no crying in baseball,
but when Kit plowed into Dottie and she dropped the ball,
I'll admit I had a little bit of dust in my eye."
Anyhow...
By the way, we're trying a new transitional word today
instead of "anyway."
Are you delivering a comedic digest of the day's news?
Did you get stuck in a nonsensical tangent and
need a way back to the politics
but used "anyway" too many times?
Try anyhow "anyhow." [ Chime dings ]
Anyhow, Trump did not disappear,
and even if he did, the brand of politics
he represented is very much alive and well within the GOP
and not just among some obscure lunatics in the House.
Texas Senator Ted Cruz was just on CBS this weekend,
continuing to spread the big lie
that there was widespread fraud in the 2020 election
and defend his role in trying to overturn the results
on January 6th. -I brought together a group
of 11 senators,
and we objected to call for a for an electoral commission
to review the claims of voter fraud and to assess
and make a determination to consider the evidence,
which I think would have been much better for our democracy
because we right now have a substantial chunk of our country
that has real doubts about the integrity of the election.
And if we had had a credible electoral commission
do an emergency audit,
it would have enhanced faith in democracy.
But instead, Democrats and a lot of the press
decided to just engage in incendiary rhetoric
rather than acknowledge voter fraud is real.
It is a problem... -Well, do you have --
-...and the allegations of voter fraud
needed to be examined on the merits.
-Alright, first of all, over 60 cases
did examine the evidence,
and not one found any merit in any of Trump's claims.
That includes judges appointed by Trump
and the GOP-dominated Supreme Court.
You think a judge appointed by Trump himself
would turn down the opportunity to help out?
They were probably getting nonstop texts from him
begging for help like an ex who won't go away.
Seriously, did you forget about all that?
I mean, how could you?
Rudy Giuliani is probably
still standing outside the Supreme Court,
banging on the front door like a guy who just got evicted
from his apartment for hoarding cats.
"Hey, those aren't my pets. Those are my law partners.
You can't do this to
Whiskers, Whiskers, Giuliani and Klein."
And look, it's not like Republicans
stopped looking for voter fraud
after Biden's election was certified.
CNN reported back in October
that a week after the 2020 election, Texas Lt. Governor
Dan Patrick announced that he was offering up
to $1 million to incentivize, encourage, and reward people
to come forward and report voter fraud.
Nearly a year later, Patrick, a Republican,
has paid out his first reward
$25,000 to a Democrat in Pennsylvania
who reported a Republican who, after voting once,
attempted to vote a second time as his son.
That's right, Patrick had to pay the reward
to a registered Democrat who reported a Republican
that was 72 years old
for trying to vote a second time as a son.
How does a 72-ear-old man try and vote as his son?
Does he put on a dark baseball hat and Ray Ban sunglasses?
I don't know. Let's take a look at the article.
Oh, that is what he did. Alright.
Probably made a big show of it too.
"Voting for squares like my dad.
But for an election this important,
I guess I can live with being lame for once.
Where's the nearest skateboard park?
I'm 51."
Anyhow... [ Chime dings ]
...the GOP is still
very much devoted to Trump and his brand,
whether it's spreading the big lie
that the 2020 election was stolen
or embodying the ideology and performance of Trumpism,
the unhinged conspiracy mongering
and dark implications of a hidden plot
or sinister enemies around every corner.
In fact, the GOP is so morally and intellectually bankrupt,
they've circled all the way back to accusing people
of being secret communists, Joe McCarthy style.
-An outrageous turn during
an already contentious confirmation hearing Thursday,
Republican Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana
suggesting the nominee who grew up in a country
that was still under Soviet Union control
might still support communist policy.
Saule Omarova is President Biden's pick
to be Comptroller of the Currency.
-I don't mean any disrespect.
I don't know whether to call you professor or comrade.
-Oh, my goodness.
-Senator...
...I'm not a communist.
I do not subscribe to that ideology.
I could not choose where I was born.
My family suffered under the communist regime.
I came to this country.
I'm proud to be an American,
and this is why I'm here today, Senator.
-That's Louisiana Senator John Kennedy,
who went to Oxford and used to be a Democrat,
but has since adopted the voice and mannerisms
of a slow-talking, suspender-wearing alligator
from a Disney movie who threatens to drain the bayou
and replace it with a shopping mall.
"Well, what have we got here?
This swamp will make a mighty fine Chick-Fil-A
if I do say so myself."
Honestly, you know you've taken a real villain turn
when someone gasps off camera and reacts to your line
of questioning the way soap opera characters react
when an evil twin shows up.
"Oh, my goodness, it's...
the evil John Kennedy."
[ Thunder booming ]
[ Laughter ]
Worst part of my day today --
Wally -- the ol' cue card Wally goes,
"Hey, are you going to be okay
remembering the evil John Kennedy?
You need a second set of cards over the other camera?"
I'm fine, bro.
Crushed it.
-Yeah, you did good. You did good.
[ Laughter ]
-And by the way, a fellow senator,
Democrat Tina Smith of Minnesota,
confirmed that it was her who said,
"Oh, my goodness" off camera, writing on Twitter,
"That person off camera is me
and what I was really thinking was "holy [bleep]."
Which is appropriate because the rest of Kennedy's
questions were also holy [bleep].
For example, earlier in that same exchange,
Kennedy asked her if she had formally resigned
from a mandatory school organization
in a country that no longer exists.
-You used to be a member of a group
called the Young Communist, didn't you?
-Senator, are you referring to my membership
in the Youth Communist Organization
while I was growing up in the Soviet Union?
-I don't know. I just wanted to ask you that question.
-Everybody in that country was a member of the Komsomol,
which was the communist youth organization.
-So you were -- were a member?
-That was a part of normal progress in school.
-Did you -- Have you resigned? -From the...?
-From the Young Communists?
-You grow out of it with age automatically.
-Did you -- Did you send them a letter, though, resigning?
-Senator, this was many, many years ago.
As far as I remember how the Soviet Union worked
was at a certain age,
you automatically stop being a member.
-Could you look at your records
and see if you can find a copy?
-I'm sorry. Do you think schoolchildren
keep records that include copies of letters they sent?
If they did, I'd still have all the letters I sent
Wendy Hughes asking her what Aaron Matthews had
that I didn't, and even worse, I'd have copies of her response.
But, sure, she should write a formal letter of resignation
to a country that no longer exists.
While she's doing that, maybe you can write a letter
resigning from, I don't know, Boss Hogg's gang?
This is what the unhinged Republican Party is now.
You can see the same hysterical performance last week
from House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy,
who staged a nearly nine-hour meltdown on the House floor
over the Democrat's social spending bill,
which, among other radical socialist ideas,
provides funding for universal pre-K,
extends the new child tax credit mandates,
paid family leave, and expands Medicare
to include hearing aids.
All that stuff is apparently so unacceptable to McCarthy,
he lost his mind in a tantrum that went past 5:00 a.m.
while being heckled by Democrats from the back row.
-He delayed that vote with a long,
very long, super long speech.
It lasted a record-breaking eight hours and 32 minutes.
-This is the single most reckless and irresponsible
spending bill in our nation's history.
I can look anywhere I want, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I cannot believe the amount
of control one party rule wants.
They now want to dictate to a member on the floor
of where I can look?
You ever eaten one of these baby carrots?
I'll lead you in a little secret.
There's no such thing. They're just big carrots.
They chop them, they charge you more, and you buy them.
I have a friend who serves in the Senate.
Right before COVID, he was on a [indistinct]
with other senators,
and he was sitting and having a communication --
maybe you've experienced this as well --
with a military general in the Chinese Communist Army.
You know what General said to him?
"America, you're weak."
-McCarthy's got the amped-up energy of a fifth grader
telling you about a classmate.
"I have a friend, and his name is Timmy,
and he went to the zoo and met a donkey
and the donkey took a big poop and it was so funny."
Seriously, what was the point of that story?
I feel like I zoned out during an anecdote at a dinner party,
and now I have to catch up
to figure out what the hell he's talking about.
"Uh-huh? Oh, yeah. Wow, so they kicked you out
for having too many cats?"
"And now I have no one to help me type up my lawsuits.
They even took Klein."
Is this true about the baby carrots
are just big carrots they cut up?
[ Laughter ]
What about baby corn?
[ Laughter ]
Seems like it should be consistent
across all the vegetables.
[Bleep] hell of a way to find out.
That's all I'll say.
The only fun anyone got out of this demented spectacle
was getting the chance to heckle McCarthy,
like when Ohio Congressman Tim Ryan
yelled at him from the back,
"Keep going, no one's listening."
And then yesterday, McCarthy went on to Fox News's
most deranged shows with Maria Bartiromo
to be congratulated for going off the deep end
while whining about Democrats interrupting him.
-Congratulations.
How is your voice doing after eight and a half hours speaking?
-You know, my voice is still strong
because it's still strong for the American people.
You know, when I went to the floor,
I had no idea we would speak that long.
It wasn't about breaking the record.
It was about breaking down this bill
and the amount of heckling that they would try to do
to stop me from being able to talk.
-"I never thought I'd talk that long,
but right before I went on the floor,
I got this very jarring news about baby carrots."
[ Laughter ]
This guy is such a goober.
He sounds like a substitute teacher
complaining to the principal that his high school class
won't stop chucking things at him.
"I got hit with a spit ball, a paper airplane,
and fully knocked out with a stapler.
And then when I came to, that changed
my name of the chalkboard to Mr. McFarty."
Republican party is just as unhinged
as it was during the Trump years, if not more so.
They're fully devoted to both Trump
the man and the performance of Trumpism,
whether it's lying about the election,
accusing people of being secret communists,
or staging deranged meltdowns on the House floor.
It reminds me of something my very real
and totally not imaginary friend once told me.
He said, "Kevin McCarthy..."
-You're weak.
-This has been "A Closer Look."
♪♪
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