GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy Is Actually Selling Shirts Calling Those Against Mask Mandates, Like Himself, ‘Morons’

One way to respond to an insult is to own it — to proudly embrace the nasty thing you’ve been called. Of course, that doesn’t always work. Case in point: The other day, Kevin McCarthy, the House Minority Leader, was dismissively called a “moron” by his sometime foe Nancy Pelosi after he opposed a congressional mask mandate amidst rising Delta variant cases. Now we have his comeback: He made T-shirts in which he tries to reframe a word Webster’s defines as “a stupid or foolish person.”

The shirt, which he’s been selling online, are MAGA red with the insult writ large. Under it lies his new definition: “A term coined by Nancy Pelosi referring to freedom-loving Americans who oppose mask mandates.”

Will it stick the way “deplorables” did? Probably not. McCarthy, despite his power and his willingness to let lawmakers like Marjorie Taylor Greene get away with whatever, isn’t as popular as many in his party. And one can spin “deplorable,” which is a subjective term and could be something to aspire to, depending on who finds what worthy of condemnation. It’s harder to spin a synonym for idiot. Who wants to be called a “moron”?

In any case, the Republican leader calling himself a “moron” might be the only time those on the other side of the aisle agree with him. Indeed, it was greatly enjoyed on social media.

Anyway, who says conservatives aren’t good at jokes?

(Via The Daily Beast)