Please enjoy some hot-mic audio of senators worrying about our “crazy” president
Here’s an idea: Let’s just start leaving mics hot all the time. This is perhaps a plea to the audio engineers (?) in Congress and throughout the broadcasting world to “accidentally” leave as many mics on for as long as possible for the foreseeable future. While targeted leaks to worthy publications will always be one of the best ways to hold the Trump administration accountable, there is something deeply beautiful and even heartening about hot-mic moments such as this one, in which ranking Senate Democrat Jack Reed of Rhode Island and Republican Susan Collins of Maine join together to shit all over their troll-like colleague Blake Farenthold and the troll king himself, Donald Trump.
Here’s the sweet, sweet audio:
The Washington Post has a detailed blow-by-blow of the conversation. It begins with the two senators discussing the Trump administration’s spending, which has no cohesive idealogy, veering from wild cuts in grants to a “clean” border wall with no attention paid to the debt ceiling or the Budget Control Act, all of which could lead to a “paralyzed” federal government and Department Of Defense. It’s here that Reed confides, “I think he’s crazy,” referring to the president, who is almost certainly crazy. “I don’t say that lightly and as a kind of goofy guy.” Collins replies, “I’m worried,” which is extremely good to hear! Senators should know that it is okay to say this—not just on a hot mic, but publicly, and that their votes in Congress should reflect their fears of this administration’s uniquely apocalyptic brand of incompetence.