House Democratic Leader Elect Rep. Hakeem Jeffries said that Republicans like Mitch McConnell are hypocrites and shamelessness is their superpower.
Video of Jeffries:
Transcript via ABC’s This Week:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MITCH MCCONNELL, MINORITY LEADER OF THE UNITED STATES SENATE: The newly elected incoming leader of the House of Democrats is a past election denier, who basically said that the 2016 election was, quote, illegitimate. And suggested that we had a, quote, fake president.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEPHANOPOULOS: Suggesting the equivalence there with Donald Trump. What’s your response?
JEFFRIES: Well, you know, it’s unfortunate that Republicans have chosen to focus on me, House Democrats are going to focus on solving problems for the American people.
STEPHANOPOULOS: But you did say that history will never accept Donald Trump as legitimate president and the Republicans are making quite a big issue out of that. What is your response?
JEFFRIES: Well, here’s the Republican playbook, facts don’t matter, hypocrisy is not a constraint to their behavior, and in many cases, they believe shamelessness is a superpower.
My view of the situation has been pretty clear, I supported the certification of Donald Trump’s election, I attended his inauguration even though there were many constituents and others across the country pushing me and others to do otherwise, and found ways to work with the Trump administration being the lead Democrat in negotiating historical criminal justice reform.
That track record speaks for itself. At the same time, I will never hesitate in criticizing the former president. I think I’m in good company there throughout the world.
There is no equivalence between Jeffries and Trump, but Mitch McConnell is doing his Democrats so extreme schtick that he always pulls out to take attention away from a big loss, and Republicans have been doing a lot of losing lately.
Rep. Jeffries was also sending a message to House and Senate Republicans that he might be a new leader, but he is not going to be defined by them.
Republicans are able to violate rules and norms because they are shameless. They don’t care if they are called hypocrites.
The GOP doesn’t want to talk about the fact that they continue to support an authoritarian who wants to destroy the Constitution, so they make false comparisons and hope to distract from the opposition to the ideals that our nation was built on.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
