CNN’s John King used Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin’s tragic medical emergency this week to attack the Republican Party as members of Congress try to figure out who will become the next House Speaker.
King’s comments come as 20 House Republicans refuse to back Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) bid for House Speaker, which has resulted in Congress not being able to do anything because none of the members can be sworn into office.
“Especially when you have a small majority, you have to accept your responsibility as a member of the team,” King said. “Pick your business, pick your sport. Imagine if a baseball team goes on the field and after two pitches, the right fielder decides, I want to pitch. It can’t work that way. Someone has to be in charge. Someone has to be in charge of any organization. That doesn’t mean you always agree with your boss, you don’t always agree with your manager. You don’t always agree with your coach.”
King then used Hamlin’s cardiac arrest on the field earlier this week to attack House Republicans.
“Imagine those two doctors we just listened to who treated and all the people in the field who cared for that Buffalo Bills player, if somebody said no — or no, I want to do the other job, it doesn’t work that way,” he said. “When you’re on a team, you have to — yes, yes, you go to the boss’ office and you say, I want this, I want this, I want this, but eventually, somebody has to make a decision. And you have to accept the responsibility of the government.”
“They don’t want that responsibility,” he claimed. “They don’t care about that responsibility. They don’t respect that responsibility.”
WATCH:
Disgusting: CNN invokes Damar Hamlin's cardiac arrest to warn against GOP lawmakers.
"Imagine those two doctors that we just listened to who treated, and all of the people on the field who treated the Buffalo Bills player if they said, 'no, [I don't want to function as a team]'" pic.twitter.com/y1xbrSjLu6
— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) January 5, 2023
TRANSCRIPT:
JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: And, John, one of the things that you hear from a lot of the McCarthy supporters, who again might not even be super enthusiastic about him but just want to get down to work is that the rules changes that these rebels have already exacted from McCarthy or whoever ends up to being speaker because it’s not like the next person is going to go back on that are going to make legislating close to impossible.
JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR: And so, whoever wins the speakership, will that person be Speaker for a week, a month, by August when you have to do the debt ceiling, and that means you have to be responsible — and responsible, I think is the word here, respecting the system, the organization, the government. Dana, I think, put it as plainly as you can, they don’t care. They don’t care.
Especially when you have a small majority, you have to accept your responsibility as a member of the team. Pick your — pick your business, pick your sport. Imagine if a baseball team goes on the field and after two pitches, the right fielder decides, I want to pitch. It can’t work that way. Someone has to be in charge. Someone has to be in charge of any organization. That doesn’t mean you always agree with your boss, you don’t always agree with your manager. You don’t always agree with your coach.
Imagine those two doctors we just listened to who treated, and all the people in the field who cared for that Buffalo Bills player, if somebody said no — or no, I want to do the other job, it doesn’t work that way. When you’re on a team, you have to — yes, yes, you go to the boss’ office and you say, I want this, I want this, I want this, but eventually, somebody has to make a decision. And you have to accept the responsibility of the government.
They don’t want that responsibility. They don’t care about that responsibility. They don’t respect that responsibility.
TAPPER: Yes.
KING: So, 58 days after the American people, everybody thought, every historical marker said Republicans would win 20 seats, maybe 30 seats, maybe more, they won 10. They lost the seat in the Senate. Why? Because the American people said we don’t want crazy. We’ll take a center right, but we won’t take center crazy. What are we getting in the House right now? Crazy.
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