Friday, February 05, 2021

"I don’t even know what it is": Kevin McCarthy's rhetoric of ignorance

Kevin McCarthy of California, the Republican Minority Leader of the United States House of Representatives, made a statement after the House Republican Caucus's meeting to discuss the extremism of Colorado Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene yesterday: "I think it would be helpful if you could hear exactly what she told all of us — denouncing Q-on, I don’t know if I say it right, I don’t even know what it is." As he publicly condemned QAnon last August, McCarthy has been justifiably mocked for pleading ignorance. It's such an odd rhetorical strategy, though, to defend himself by claiming he has no idea what he is talking about right after a meeting discussing it. (Andrew Shields, #111words, 5 February 2021)

 



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