Elizabeth Warren Tells Trevor Noah Why Her Silencing Was a Huge Win for Democrats
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) gave his Democratic opposition a great new slogan when he silenced Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) on the floor Tuesday night. Warren was in the process of reading a letter by Coretta Scott King which had prevented Jeff Sessions (R-AL), now attorney general, from obtaining a federal judgeship in 1986.
"She was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, she persisted," McConnell said, referencing her interruption earlier in the night by Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT).
Daines had informed Warren such a letter was a violation of rule 19 of the standing rules of the Senate—insisting that Warren was impugning another senator, despite the letter having been admitted into the record beforehand.
Now, "she persisted" has been hijacked as a message of empowerment, and a celebration of strong women everywhere.
"You said I couldn't stand up to Donald Trump, and I couldn't, but I'll stand up to Dr. King's dead widow," "Daily Show" host Trevor Noah mocked Wednesday night, in his best impression of McConnell.
Later in the segment, he interviewed Warren, pointing out that four of her male colleagues have been able to read King's letter since she was silenced.
"Is there something to that?" he mused.
“Look, the main thing is that millions of people are now reading Coretta Scott King’s letter,” she told Noah. "It is an amazing letter... it is a letter full of advice to us. It talks about a moment in history when African Americans were beaten away from the polls and it talks about Jeff Sessions' role in that."
"I think it has an important lesson today, for all of America," Warren added. "I hope everybody reads that letter."
“Do you think Mitch McConnell realized what a solid he’s done you?” Noah then asked.
Warren chuckled at the scene's domination of the news cycle, and the slogan that came out of it.
“It’s helped us have a better Democratic conversation,” Warren said. “We don’t have the votes in the United States Senate to block somebody like Jeff Sessions [as attorney general]. ... So what we’ve got to do is count on people all around this country to make their voices heard.”
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