Tuesday marked the first session of the House committee convened to investigate the January 6 Capitol Riot. And it didn’t take long for the theatrical nature of the proceeding to expose itself as Congressmen Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) and Adam Schiff (D-CA) let the faux tears flow for the cameras. Fox News Channel host Tucker Carlson used a hearty dose of sarcasm as he keyed in on those moments and called them out for how “emotionally fragile” they were.
“The one thing we did learn, it’s something we long suspected but never seemed confirmed is an awful lot of members of Congress are emotionally fragile,” he quipped. “At some seem unable -- unstable really. Some to the point where they might qualify for federal disability of those grounds, they cry a lot.”
Before playing a soundbite of Kinzinger’s crocodile tears, Carlson noted someone “handed out tissues for the weeping that was certain to ensue. It didn't take long for Republican Adam Kinzinger of Illinois to make good use of the Kleenex”:
I never expected today to be quite as emotional for me as it has been. [Transition] You talked about the impact of that day. But you guys won. You guys held. You know, democracies are not defined by our bad days. We’re defined by how we come back for bad days. How we take accountability for that.
Carlson joked that “Kinzinger hadn't cried this hard since he drank too much Rosé while watching the final rose ceremony on The Bachelor, the one they were mean to Brianna. Adam Kinzinger is a highly sensitive plant and he doesn't care who knows it.”
While Kinzinger was up first, Carlson jokingly said he and his staff were “surprised” by Schiff’s tears because he was such a tough guy. “A few years ago he single-handedly took on an entire Facebook page full of Russian memes and lived to tell the story … But even Putin-fighting heroes have their limits,” he sarcastically lamented, noting that Schiff had accused him of working for Vladimir Putin.
Getting to the ridiculous Schiff soundbite, he suggested that as the congressman “recalled the horrible image—the nightmare really, of the Qanon shaman wandering aimlessly around the Capitol in a psilocybin haze, carrying the American flag, he broke down and pretended to cry. Watch it if you can, it's a moving moment.”
And in the soundbite, Schiff awkwardly pointed out how it was the two Adams who were supposedly getting emotional and framed it as an “Adam thing”:
God help us. We’re so driven by bigotry and hate that we attack our fellow citizens as traitors. If they are born in another country or they don't look like us. And god help us. But I have faith, because of folks like you. And Adam, I didn't expect this to be quite so emotional but it must be an Adam thing today.
“Yeah, it’s an Adam thing. Did Adam Schiff just complain that others were calling people traders? Really? He cried anyway,” Carlson added, before moving on to how Congress had boosted their own security while other places defunded the police.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
Fox News Channel’s Tucker Carlson Tonight
July 27, 2021
8:17:18 p.m. Eastern(…)
TUCKER CARLSON: The one thing we did learn, it’s something we long suspected but never seemed confirmed is an awful lot of members of Congress are emotionally fragile. At some seem unable -- unstable really. Some to the point where they might qualify for federal disability of those grounds, they cry a lot.
As members of Congress filed into the House chamber, a servant handed out tissues for the weeping that was certain to ensue. It didn't take long for Republican Adam Kinzinger of Illinois to make good use of the Kleenex, watch.
REP. ADAM KINZINGER (R-IL) (Emotional): I never expected today to be quite as emotional for me as it has been. [Transition] You talked about the impact of that day. But you guys won. You guys held. You know, democracies are not defined by our bad days. We’re defined by how we come back for bad days. How we take accountability for that.
CARLSON: It was all too much for Adam Kinzinger, he wept just thinking of it, he let it all pour out right there in the hearing, couldn't help it.
Kinzinger hadn't cried this hard since he drank too much Rosé while watching the final rose ceremony on the bachelor, the one they were mean to Brianna. Adam Kinzinger is a highly sensitive plant and he doesn't care who knows it.
But what surprised us was Adam Schiff of California. You think about Adam Schiff as a kind of tough character. A few years ago he single-handedly took on an entire Facebook page full of Russian memes and lived to tell the story. Schiff once accused us, in this set, of working for Vladimir Putin, so naturally, we pegged him as a pretty hard guy. But even Putin-fighting heroes have their limits.
As Schiff recalled the horrible image—the nightmare really, of the Qanon shaman wandering aimlessly around the Capitol in a psilocybin haze, carrying the American flag, he broke down and pretended to cry. Watch it if you can, it's a moving moment.
REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): God help us. We’re so driven by bigotry and hate that we attack our fellow citizens as traitors. If they are born in another country or they don't look like us. And god help us. But I have faith, because of folks like you. And Adam, I didn't expect this to be quite so emotional but it must be an Adam thing today.
CARLSON: Yeah, it’s an Adam thing. Did Adam Schiff just complain that others were calling people traders? Really? He cried anyway.
(…)
