Jimmy Kimmel on House Republican extremist: 'Klan mom was in top form'

Jimmy Kimmel

Late-night hosts recapped the war within the GOP this week over how to handle the Georgia representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, the extremist follower of the QAnon conspiracy movement who has claimed the Parkland school shooting was staged and endorsed the execution of the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi. On Thursday, the Democratic House voted to strip Greene of her committee assignments, a day after House Republicans refused to censure her. Facing a decline in her legislative power, Greene addressed Congress and backtracked somewhat on previous claims – she now believes “school shootings are absolutely real”, and that “9/11 absolutely happened”.

“All right, well, at least now we know 9/11 happened,” Jimmy Kimmel deadpanned on Thursday night. “Can you imagine having to go in front of the House of Representatives to say 9/11 happened?

“Klan mom was in top form” during her congressional “apology”, Kimmel continued. Greene claimed that her QAnon-supporting Facebook posts from 2018 were merely from her past. “This woman was tweeting nutso conspiracy theories as recently as yesterday,” Kimmel countered.

“There are so many videos where she’s spreading and giving credibility to QAnon, now she says it’s time to heal,” Kimmel added, playing a clip of Greene equating QAnon and “the media” for spreading lies.

“That’s right, the woman who started impeachment proceedings against Joe Biden the day he took office is calling for unity now,” he said. “The congresswoman who wants to execute Nancy Pelosi is right – we need to come together, and the media is just as guilty as QAnon! That’s like saying Jell-O is just as guilty as Bill Cosby. It’s nonsense.”

Seth Meyers

On Late Night, Seth Meyers blasted Greene’s “apology” to Congress, in which she attempted to distance herself from her QAnon social media posts as recently as 2018.

“She obviously is not sincere,” Meyers added of her remarks. “She’s been raising money off it, and then today she spoke on the House floor, where instead of apologizing unequivocally and denouncing her previous comments, the best she could do” was assert that 9/11 “absolutely happened”.

“Oh, my God, thank you, it is so big of you to admit that. What else would you like to clarify?” Meyers deadpanned, then imitated Greene: “I would also like to make clear that Inception is just a movie, RoboCop is not real, and the giant glowing orb in the sky is, in fact, the moon and not a secret sky bank where Bill Gates keeps all his gold bars.”

Trevor Noah

Greene’s removal from the House budget, education and labor committees is “a pretty sweet deal”, said Trevor Noah on the Daily Show. “Basically, her punishment for acting insane was to do less work for the same amount of money.

“Honestly, I think kicking her off these committees could actually backfire,” he added. “The last thing you want to do with a crazy person is give them time to be crazy. That’s why they should put her on all the committees – then you’ll never hear from her again.”

Noah also dug into the House Republican leader, Kevin McCarthy, for claiming to reporters that he’d never heard of QAnon. “It’s truly amazing that this guy acts like he doesn’t even know what QAnon is even after they tried to kill him – most people would have at least Googled him at that point,” he said.

Plus, “it’s not like these guys don’t have the time to research conspiracy theories”, he added, “because when it comes to Hunter Biden, they remember every word like it’s the lyrics to their favorite song – ‘the Burisma emails decrypted from the Delaware laptop have been verified by Tony Boblinsky.’ But ask them about the biggest rightwing cult in the country, and they’re like ‘Uh, Q-non? Qua-who-nah-nah? Man, who can keep track of this stuff?’”

As for Greene’s statement to Congress, in which she acknowledged that school shootings such as the Parkland massacre in 2018 had, indeed, happened? “Hey, I’m glad that she’s come around to the standard Republican belief that school shootings are real and that nothing should be done to stop them,” Noah joked.

Stephen Colbert

And on The Late Show, Stephen Colbert ripped Greene’s statement to Congress, in which she said “any source of information that is a mix of truth and a mix of lies is dangerous”.

“You’re right, it’s dangerous to mix a truth,” Colbert responded, “like you saying ‘I used to believe in QAnon’, and you lying like, ‘Now I don’t any more’.”

Greene also made a point to say “9/11 absolutely happened”, to which Colbert offered a harsh rebuke.

“You know what? This may come as a surprise to you, but those of us who watched those buildings burn with our bare eyes here in the New York City area are not that impressed with your willingness to admit that it happened,” he said. “This is the modern GOP: they want credit for recognizing reality.”