Lawrence O’Donnell shredded congressional Republicans on Tuesday night for their conduct during the ongoing government shutdown, which is set to cross the 30-day mark this week. He specifically called out how many vacations politicians on the right have taken during the impasse.
O’Donnell initially turned his ire toward House Speaker Mike Johnson and the “vacation” he has permitted Republicans to take during the shutdown. “House Speaker Mike Johnson has rewarded House Republicans for shutting down the government by giving them a permanent paid vacation that is now in its sixth week and may go on for months,” O’Donnell said on Tuesday’s “The Last Word.”
“Johnson sent them on vacation more than a week before the government shutdown,” the MSNBC host explained. He, notably, is not the only prominent public figure who has slammed Republicans for taking “vacation” during the shutdown. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has also condemned some of his Republican counterparts for not working day-and-night to resolve the shutdown.
“They’ve had more vacation this year than most Americans get in three years,” O’Donnell lamented. “Republican members of the House have not done one day of work since Mike Johnson led them to shut down the government.” You can watch the full “Last Word” segment yourself in the video below.
In the segment’s second half, O’Donnell broadened his scorn to include President Trump. The “Last Word” host called Trump and Republicans out for failing to end the shutdown in time to prevent Americans’ SNAP benefits from running out.
“After beginning the year, by allowing the richest person in the world, Elon Musk, to shut down the United States Agency for International Development and, thereby, take American food supplies away from starving children in the middle of famine in Africa,” O’Donnell recalled, “Republicans have [now] chosen to bring the spirit of that policy home and take the food away from the children who depend on those food stamp benefits.”
“40% of the people fed by the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program are children,” O’Donnell concluded. “Now, we are on the verge, for the first time in the 21st century, of millions of people in America and children in America actually knowing what starving feels like. Republicans did this.”
