Many rich, entitled, white men have appeared before Rep. Katie Porter feeling superior and prepared, only to be humiliated and humbled by her simple and straightforward recitation of facts and logic proving them criminally corrupt. No one deserves this treatment more than Steve Mnuchin, but he was particularly resentful of having to undergo the Katie Porter Treatment, as evidenced by his sexist and condescending behavior towards her today.
Under her line of questioning about why he was trying to move $455 billion of COVID relief back to Treasury now, when the law says it cannot be done before 2026, Rep. Porter challenged him with such brain-twisters as, "Is today the year 2026?" Consequently, he became offended and sniffed that it was ridiculous for her to be wasting his time with such questions.
Her response was, "Well, Secretary Mnuchin, I think it's ridiculous that you're play-acting to be a lawyer when you have no legal degree." In a a thoroughly predictable move, he claimed the lawyers at Treasury were enough to advise him, but then he went a step further to frikkin offer to MANSPLAIN it to Chairwoman Maxine Waters at a later date — as if Rep. Porter was too stupid to understand the legal issues involved.
Not cool, Steven.
In response, Rep. Porter asked him directly if he held a legal degree, and he said he did not. Similarly, she asked Chairman Powell, (who disagrees about the money going back into the general Treasury fund) if he has a legal degree, and the answer was yes.
As a way of pointing out Mnuchin's lack of credentials, Rep. Porter compared his to Powell's, implying the one with the law degree would have a better idea of how the law should be applied as written. Clearly chaffing at being outranked academically (and intellectually,) he attempted then to insult HER, by asking, "Are YOU a lawyer?"
UNREAL.
Not only is Rep. Porter a lawyer, Steven, she went to Harvard Law, studied under Sen. Elizabeth Warren, taught law at UC Irvine, wrote a Consumer Protection Law textbook, and is currently writing law as a sitting member of Congress.
Twitter had thoughts, beginning with Rep. Porter herself.*
*I have no idea what the first letter of each sentence of this post spells. Do you?
I didn’t just fall off the turnip truck, @stevenmnuchin1. I’ve been holding Wall Street bankers and predatory lenders accountable for more than a decade. pic.twitter.com/7f6TJpfcrd
— Rep. Katie Porter (@RepKatiePorter) December 2, 2020
I made this helpful guide for people over at the Treasury confused about the relative statuses of Katie Porter and Steven Mnuchin. pic.twitter.com/MqcBwIXYVY
— Joseph (@jhkayejr) December 2, 2020
It would be much easier to deal with the daily insanity if we could be treated to Katie Porter thrashing some government or corporate fool at least once a day.
— BrooklynDad_Defiant! (@mmpadellan) December 2, 2020
