Seth Meyers thinks Mike Johnson could be AI
Late Night host Seth Meyers reflected on the events of Tuesday when House Republicans failed to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in a stint that left them “humiliated.”
Tuesday was not a good day for Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson, who brought articles of impeachment to the floor but lost the chance to pass them by two votes.
Meyers spoke about how it took 15 rounds of voting to elect his predecessor as speaker, Republican Kevin McCarthy, until they unprecedently fired him and “settled on a new guy who, based on his name and his face, might be AI and is much like his predecessor failing miserably at the job,” he said of Mr Johnson.
The host rolled a clip of Mr Johnson announcing the impeachment had not succeeded, which was followed by cheers within the chamber.
“The cheering at the end was from Democrats, although there’s definitely a chance Greene got confused at thought it passed,” he said, after referencing the blunder far-right Georgia congresswoman Marjory TaylorGreene made when she mispronounced the word “indictable”, instead saying “in-dick-table”.
“Someone had to walk over to her and whisper ‘214 is less than 216’,” the host jokingly said.
However, Meyers did have some sympathy for Ms Greene, saying he “blamed it on Fox News” because “if you guys talked about Trump’s four indictments on air more”, then the GOP members would maybe know how to pronounce it.
“I bet Marjorie Greene also says in-sure-rection and stolen classified dick-uments,” the host said.
Mr Mayorkas was accused of failing to enforce the existing laws governing immigration into the US and obstructing a House Republican probe into the policies of the Department of Homeland Security; however, Meyers said that this was just an effort to try and get a “political win against Joe Biden.”
In the last moments before the vote was due to close, Democratic representative Al Green turned up on the House floor to cast his own ballot “like Stone Cold Steve Austin interrupting a wrestling match,” Mr Meyers compared.
What was so striking about Mr Green’s entrance was that Republicans were likely counting whether they had enough bodies to pass the impeachment until Mr Green literally rolled into the room in a “wheelchair, wearing blue hospital clothing and tan socks. He voted no,” the New York Times reported.
The lawmaker had been in hospital undergoing emergency abdominal surgery but asked to leave temporarily to cast his vote; “I didn’t come assuming that my vote was going to make a difference. I came because it was personal,” he told the outlet.
However, Ms Greene, a driving force behind the impeachment attempt, spoke to reporters after the failed motion, claiming that Democrats “hid” one of their members, “trying to throw us off on the numbers that we had versus the numbers they had.”
“You’re talking like they smuggled him into the chamber inside a giant cake, and then he popped out to cast his vote like a stripper,” Meyers remarked.