Senator Josh Hawley—and his personal mission to block each of President Joe Biden’s Department of Defense nominees from being confirmed in the Senate unless Secretary Lloyd Austin resigns—brought Hawaii Senator Brian Schatz to breaking point last week.
In a speech given on the Senate floor, Sen. Schatz lost it on the Missouri Senator. (“He is blocking the staffing for the senior leadership of the Department of Defense. This is coming from a guy who raised his fists in solidarity with the insurrectionists,” he says in a clip of the speech. There’s a lot more said, but you get the point.)
In this bonus episode of The New Abnormal, co-host Molly Jong-Fast had Sen. Schatz on to learn what ultimately drove him to make that impassioned speech.
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He says that the last straw was when Hawley refused to confirm the person who’s in charge of logistics change, all because “he’s mad about Afghanistan,” alleges Schatz.
“This person is like a longtime DoD leader. And [Hawley] is not saying he’s not qualified. He’s just saying, ‘I’ve taken this person hostage, I’ve taken the DoD hostage.’ So I just kind of yelled at him,” he says. “I’m one of four boys. I kind of felt like I was yelling at one of my brothers, because I was just irritated. I didn’t have prepared remarks at that point and I just started shouting.”
Schatz also talks about climate change, his fellow Democratic Senator Joe Manchin, and how the Coast Guard is still policing marijuana over the high seas.
Plus! Molly and co-host Andy Levy discuss Dr. Oz, listen to clips of Tucker Carlson saying that the “Libs of TikTok” account is real journalism, and break down Fox News star Jesse Watters’ meet-cute (or meet-creepy, rather) with his wife.
Listen to The New Abnormal on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon and Stitcher.
