Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA) didn’t hold back her anger at Piers Morgan for what sounded as if he was comparing Jan 6. insurrectionist to expelled (and now reinstated) Black Tennessee State Reps. Justin Jones and Justin Pearson – and Bill Maher backed her all the way.
Porter, Morgan and actor Benjamin McKenzie joined Maher on his weekly show “Overtime” on CNN that follows “Real Time With Bill Maher” on HBO Friday nights. The first question posed from the audience was about the Tennessee representatives that were facing explosion. When Maher noted they used bullhorns, Morgan jumped in and began to compare them to the Capitol rioters. And Porter wasn’t having any of it.
“And [they] interrupted the proceedings which, of course, when that happened on January the 6th in a much larger and more violent way, all the people currently cheering on the two Tennessee legislators were the ones who would have been condemning and castigating what happened,” Morgan said, interrupting Maher’s introduction to the topic.
Porter fired back, “You’re not actually comparing.”
“No, no, I’m not,” Morgan responded in defense.
“You actually did just compare,” she threw back at him.
Morgan took a moment to gather his thoughts and then attempted to explain what he was trying to say.
“No, no. Here is what I’m comparing,” Morgan said. “When you have a mob of protesters, and they’re going into a legislative chamber, whether it’s at the Capitol or whether it’s in Tennessee, the principle is the same. And if you don’t have the same principle response to both of those things, regardless of scale, the principle.”
But Porter wasn’t buying what Morgan was selling and set the record straight on how the two are nowhere near the same.
“Listen, the principle is different,” Porter began. “They were Tennessee legislature — legislators who went into the chamber and admittedly broke the rules of decorum partly because they were being silenced when they wanted to talk following the rules of decorum about gun violence prevention.”
Fired up, she added, “What happened on Jan 6. was a bunch of bats–t, crazy f—kers with guns. Who killed police people! Piers, that’s not the same.”
Morgan went on, trying to make the point that he agreed with what the Tennessee legislators were saying in protest and their position on guns. “I just think, in the end, you’ve got to be consistent about the way you view —,” he started, only for Maher to interrupt him.
“That is a terrible analysis,” Maher said. “Why bring it up? That’s a terrible analogy.”
You can watch the full exchange above and judge for yourself who won the argument.
