With most House Republicans staying home after Speaker Mike Johnson sent members home as the U.S. government enters its third week of shutdown, two Democrats have decided to turn frustration into farce.
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in social media video The information quickly went viral after it was posted Wednesday, with Delaware Rep. Sarah McBride and California Rep. Ted Lieu roaming the empty halls of the Capitol, calling out the missing Republicans. “Steve Scalise, where are you?” Lew shouted, scanning the deserted visitor center and looking behind an empty desk. “Where are you, House Republicans?”
Mr. Lew ran into Mr. McBride, who joined in, joking that there were “far more tourists around the Capitol than House Republicans.” They pass statues and escalators, and as they rise from the sky, McBride spots a strange door only two feet high.
Related: Watch Sarah McBride troll Republican absenteeism hours before Trump administration re-shutdown
“Maybe I’m meeting Stephen Miller here,” she said, mocking gravity as she bent down and opened the small door for herself.
“No, I don’t see any House Republicans in there,” Liu replied after checking the front door himself.
small door and big metaphor
That miniature portal is not a prop. This is one of the Meigs miniatures of the Capitol, a small service door built in the mid-1800s by engineer Montgomery C. Meigs as part of an early plumbing and fire suppression system. According to Reichstag architect websiteafter a Christmas Eve fire destroyed the Library of Congress in 1851, Meigs installed a hidden network of valves and pipes behind these knee-high hatches, which workers used to access hidden reservoirs.
These 30-inch doors now sit along the hallways, relics of a long-gone era when the Capitol was lit by gas lamps and washed down daily with buckets. They’re weird, fascinating, and completely iconic in McBride and Liu’s videos.
McBride and Lieu add to the joke by referencing Miller, a longtime Trump advisor known for shaping some of the Trump administration’s most extreme policies. Doors may be small, but in the public imagination, so are mirrors.
Miller’s height has been the subject of memes lately. After New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez joked online that Mr. Miller “looks” 4 feet 10 inches tall, he continued: fox news Explaining that he is closer to 5’10”, he added fuel to the situation and sparked jokes on social media. What many understood was that whatever Miller’s exact height, the visual would work.
From absurdity to responsibility
After a humorous beginning, Liu and McBride’s video turns dark halfway through, before reaching a small door. As they passed protest signs that read: “free the file,” “Perhaps one of the reasons they’re doing this shutdown is that they don’t want to trust Adelita Grijalva, who would be the last sign to release the Epstein file,” Liu said.
Prime Minister Johnson has so far refused to swear in Grijalva, the incoming congressman who won the Sept. 23 special election in Arizona. Newly elected Rep. Grijalva has pledged to sign an expulsion petition that would force the House to vote on releasing files on the late convicted criminal Jeffrey Epstein.
“They’ve been acting very questionably for some time, and that’s probably part of it,” McBride said, apparently referring to Republicans who have quietly resisted supporting the release of the files.
“This shutdown was all orchestrated by Trump, and it will not distract us from continuing to pursue justice for the survivors of Epstein sex trafficking,” California Rep. Dave Ming, a close colleague of Lew and McBride, jumped in.
“That’s right,” McBride replies.
serious business
It’s the realities of American life that create the moments of weight and lightness in the Democratic senator’s video.
The ongoing shutdown has crippled federal health and science agencies, furloughed thousands of employees and halted critical services. as defender The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Health and Human Services have lost entire departments, including those that provide services. LGBTQ+ People, women and youth. Programs that once tracked and supported infectious diseases LGBTQ+ Health Equity is closed.
McBride and Lew’s satire perfectly captures that disappearing act, as the Republican leadership largely evacuated Washington while real people lost services.
Source: Advocate.com – www.advocate.com
