‘The Fish Rots From The Head’: Jen Psaki Blames Near Fisticuffs in Congress Squarely on Trump

PSAKI: “This week, in the span of one day — we are talking about one single day here — former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy was accused of elbowing Tennessee representative Tim Burchett in the kidneys, a fistfight nearly broke out in the middle of a Senate hearing when Senator Markwayne Mullin stood up from his chair to confirm the president of the Teamsters union — I’m not sure why that was necessary — and the chairman of the House Oversight Committee screamed at another representative in another hearing, calling him a smurf. I don’t know about the use of that word, but here we go. In fact, Republicans' tempers flared so dramatically and so publicly that Speaker Mike Johnson told them to take Thanksgiving to cool off. But let’s face it, we all kind of know they won’t. Because the fact is, the fish rots from the head, it always does. And Donald Trump remains the de facto head of the GOP. Now, none of this behavior should come as a surprise, given Trump’s role in unleashing a violent mob on the Capitol on January 6th. The problem is, rank-and-file Republicans in Congress seemingly refuse to learn from that history, even when it once put their lives in jeopardy."