Katie Porter took TalkTV host Piers Morgan to task for comparing the expelled Tennessee legislators to the mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6th.
April 16, 2023

Katie Porter took TalkTV host Piers Morgan to task for comparing the expelled Tennessee legislators to the mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol on Janary 6th. During HBO's Real Time Overtime segment this Friday, which is aired live on CNN, host Bill Maher read a question from a viewer who wanted to know what his panel thought about the Tennessee lawmakers who were expelled.

After Maher bemoaned them using a bullhorn inside the well of the legislature, Morgan chimed in with this:


MORGAN: And interrupted the proceedings which, of course, when that happened on January the 6th in a much larger and more violent way, all the people currently cheering on the two Tennessee legislators were the ones who would have been condemning and castigating what happened --

Which Porter rightfully jumped on:

PORTER: You're not actually comparing.

MORGAN: No, no, I'm not.

MAHER: That's a crazy --

PORTER: You actually did just compare.

MORGAN: No, no. Here is what I'm comparing. When you have a mob of protesters and they're going into a legislative chamber, whether it's at the Capitol or whether it's in Tennessee, the principle is the same. And if you don't have the same principle response to both of those things, regardless of scale, the principle --

PORTER: Listen, the principle is different. They were Tennessee legislature -- legislators who went into the chamber and admittedly broke the rules of decorum partly because they were being silenced when they wanted to talk following the rules of decorum about gun violence prevention.

What happened on January 6th was a bunch of crazy (bleep) with guns. You can't police people.

MORGAN: Yes.

PORTER: That is not the same.

After Morgan tried to backtrack a bit, even Maher took a shot at him for making what he called a "terrible analogy" and Porter later explained how the "rules of decorum" that Morgan and Maher were both so upset they didn't follow "are often used to silence people who do not have voices."

Porter took another shot at Morgan for the January 6th comparison and after Morgan again tried to defend himself, Maher told Morgan "Let's stop digging."

Maher's other guest, Ben McKenzie, wrapped things up by reminding everyone what the Republicans in Tennessee accomplished with their stunt:

MCKENZIE: I just love that they've been reelected immediately and raised all this money and they're national heroes. Oops! Didn't work.

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