“Vote Katie Porter: The Choice of the Young and Stupid.”
Not really a campaign slogan that’s going to work well, is it? Which is a problem, because Rep. Porter, a California Democrat, is one of the hopefuls to replace Sen. Dianne Feinstein when the cryptkeeper finally retires next year. She’s been raising her profile, part of which was an appearance on “Real Time with Bill Maher” on Friday.
In addition to Maher, British journalist Piers Morgan was on the panel. Both of them thought alleged Pentagon leaker Jack Teixeira — along with his Gen Z cohort — were immature, coddled and mindless.
Porter’s response? Sure, but “I win those votes.”
Your Democrats in 2023, America.
Teixeira, a 21-year-old member of the Air Force National Guard, was arrested last Thursday and accused of distributing classified Pentagon documents regarding the war between Ukraine and Russia.
Granted, the documents — if accurate — show that the Pentagon and Ukrainian sources have been painting an overly rosy version of how the conflict is going and that NATO countries had special ops forces on the ground in Ukraine, despite the alliance’s past denials of that allegation.
However, just as much was made about Teixeira’s alleged motivation for the leaks as was made about the leaks themselves. Unlike past leakers of classified information — Edward Snowden, Reality Winner, etc. — Teixeira apparently didn’t leak the information out of any kind of personal conviction. Instead, authorities say he did it to impress other members of a gaming community called “Thug Shaker Central” on social media chat platform Discord.
While useful information can doubtlessly be gleaned from the documents, Maher lamented immature folks who “do stuff ‘for the likes.'”
“You know, that disease that happened to America? That every kid has to do something ‘for the likes?’ I just think our kids are not mature.”
Morgan chimed in, saying that the younger generation is “constantly seeking affirmation … you post something, and people validate you.”
“But to use national security secrets for that?” an indignant Maher responded.
“Right, but the real scandal is …” Morgan said, before Porter interjected. She shouldn’t have.
“You guys sound kind of … old and grumpy,” the (it must uncharitably be noted, alas) not young-looking Porter said.
Both Maher and Morgan weren’t impressed but decided to give her enough rope to hang herself. She didn’t need much.
“Kids are immature,” Porter said. “That’s why they’re — hmm, kids.”
“Not at 21,” Maher said. “Not all over the world.”
“Yes!” Porter exclaimed. “Twenty-one-year-olds are immature. That’s why we don’t let them drink until they’re 21. That’s why some of us don’t think that 20-year-olds or 19-year-olds ought to be able to get AR-15s.”
“They can go fight,” Maher said. “They can be in the Army.”
“Well, I think that’s a discussion we should have,” Porter said.
“They can vote,” Maher said, adding that being able to choose who runs your country indicates “a certain level of maturity. They’re deciding whether you should be in Congress or not.”
The audience clapped. Then came Porter with her attempted clap-back: “And by the way, I win those votes.”
Katie Porter reacting to Bill Maher and Piers Morgan discussing the Pentagon leaker Jack Teixeira “You guys sound kind of old and grumpy right now”
Maher and Piers were arguing that Gen Z is more immature than the previous generations.
Porter: “By the way, I win those votes” pic.twitter.com/CXypJZqE6o
— Eric Abbenante (@EricAbbenante) April 15, 2023
“I win those votes, and I’m proud of it,” she said, doubling down.
“You just said you win the votes of the immature,” Maher shot back.
“Well, the immature — first off, immature is not necessarily an age thing,” Porter said.
Maher went on to accuse her of playing the age card, basically saying “our argument sucks because we’re old.” But, at that point, she’d admitted the truth about how she views her core constituency.
And by the way, this isn’t to say that the 49-year-old Porter is mature herself. Her ex-husband accused her of domestic violence after an altercation in 2013, according to Fox News. (In fairness, both parties filed domestic violence restraining orders against one another after the altercation; they were sharing the same abode while legally separated.)
Her ex-husband, Matt Hoffman, said Porter hit him “in the arm, causing a large bruise” during the confrontation. She then allegedly “dumped boiling potatoes on his head and ridiculed him as ‘too dumb’ to have a cellphone,” Fox News reported last week.
Granted, that was 10 years ago, but it came after Porter’s campaign said that Hoffman had “retracted” the allegations — something which he says he never did.
Earlier in the year, Porter was also accused of toxic workplace behavior — including leaked text messages in which she berated one of her staffers for contracting COVID-19, according to Fox News. That staffer also said she “ridiculed people for reporting sexual harassment” and “made fun of individuals whose parents passed away from COVID.”
Porter told the liberal “Pod Save America” podcast that she was “willing to expect people to work hard. I work hard, and I think that’s what the American people should expect.”
But if you’re young and dumb, vote for Katie Porter, a toxic alleged domestic abuser who doesn’t have a high opinion of her core constituency. If I were a conspiracy theorist, I’d almost think Porter was a ringer recruited by team Feinstein in order to get Californians to beg the obviously senile 89-year-old to run again.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
