It is increasingly impossible to underestimate the Republican party, as various members of the United States right work to one-up each other’s idiocy.
Typically, Donald Trump and Marjorie Taylor Greene are at the head of the pack, spouting off nonsense like their political careers depend on it. Which they absolutely do, because without a constant stream of terrifying lies to fill their follower’s heads with, neither Trump nor Greene would have a ghost of a chance of continuing their careers.
Careers that somehow persist despite a lineup of what should be disqualifying factors, like the inability to pronounce basic words — or numbers. Greene recently displayed her utter lack of skill in the vocabulary department when she fumbled “indictable,” a word that’s become commonplace in the modern Republican party. As Trump eyes down a flurry of indictable charges, his colleague is busy pronouncing the word like “in-dick-table,” and earning a thorough dragging for her efforts.
Minutes later, in longer versions of the widely-circulating clip, Greene also struggles with her numbers, when she reads 2,437,856 as “two thousand, four hundred thirty, eight hundred and fifty six.” Its honestly not nearly as embarrassing as Trump referring to Thailand as “Thighland” or accidentally mistaking 9/11 for gas station chain 7/11, but it is clear evidence that Marjorie Taylor Greene is what happens when you ban books.
What’s worse is that she and Trump are far from alone. They’re joined by nearly every politician on the right side of the aisle, including Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR), who skipped over verbal gaffes to instead display his embarrassing lack of geographical knowledge.
There are 48 countries in the continent of Asia, but Cotton seems to only acknowledge one. While I, too, am a victim of the woefully inadequate American education system, at least I don’t put it on full display like Cotton, who recently harangued TikTok’s Singaporean CEO, Shou Zi Chew.
In a widely circulating clip from a recent Senate hearing on online child safety, Cotton repeatedly questioned Chew’s background and relation with China, a country with which he is in no way connected. In proper bullying fashion, Cotton hammered Chew with inane questions, even after getting a clear answer on what nation Chew is a citizen of.
After repeatedly asking Chew about his (non-existent) affiliation with the Chinese Communist Party, Cotton prompted comparisons between himself and a deeply unflattering cartoon character. Over on TikTok, people were quick to point out the similarities between Cotton’s line of questioning and a purposefully ignorant conversation between King of the Hill protagonist Hank Hill and Kahn, a Laotian man.
The resulting comparison is landing Cotton in hot water, as people flag the blatantly ignorant line of questioning and wonder if he really deserves such a lofty position in the U.S. government. If we’re going to start disqualifying politicians for saying something stupid, however, that would essentially eliminate the entire Republican party, so I assume Cotton’s backlash will fade into the background in no time.