Morgan Fischer
Audio By Carbonatix
In Washington, D.C.’s rotting corridors of power, Phoenix’s freshman congresswoman just added a new title to her impressive résumé: congressional memelord.
Rep. Yassamin Ansari, a Democrat who represents central Phoenix, was spotted Thursday afternoon at the U.S. Capitol with a table set up outside the office of Speaker Mike Johnson, complete with a hand-written sign.
“Mike Johnson is starving families and gutting healthcare to cover up the Epstein Files,” the sign read. “CHANGE MY MIND.”
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For those unfamiliar with internet culture, the setup is an allusion to a widely recognized meme that has been repurposed countless times since it surfaced in 2018. Around that time, conservative podcaster Steven Crowder visited a college campus and sat at a table with a similar sign in a stunt to bait verbally combative students into an argument about whether “male privilege” is a myth.
The now-iconic photo of Crowder smugly holding a coffee mug became a canvas for anyone with Photoshop abilities to edit and make their own hilarious claims about anything at all.
Ansari took the meme to the next level by reenacting it. The resulting photo, taken by NBC News reporter Sahil Kapur, is a fairly effective way to boil down what’s happening in Republican-controlled Washington, which is mired in a record-breaking government shutdown.
“Republicans are holding our government hostage to force healthcare cuts and hide the Epstein files,” Ansari told Phoenix New Times in a written statement. “They control all branches of government and refuse to even talk to Democrats on a path forward.”
Ansari noted that if Republicans refused to extend Obamacare subsidies that help people afford health insurance — which Democrats have been fighting for — “roughly 370,000 Arizonans will lose access to affordable healthcare.” Ansari also called out the Trump administration’s refusal to fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, which is leaving hundreds of thousands of Arizonans unable to afford food.
Johnson has also kept the House of Representatives in recess for all of October and into November. Even Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican who was once MAGA’s biggest cheerleader, said Congress not being in session was “an embarrassment.”
“Mike Johnson needs to call back the House, come to the table, and actually talk with Democrats on a solution,” Ansari wrote. “I stood ready to talk today.”
Johnson’s choice to keep the House out of session is also keeping the details from the federal investigation into sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein from being released. That largely appears to be why Johnson has refused to swear in Tucson Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva, who won a special election 42 days ago. Grijalva would become the deciding vote on a discharge petition that would lead to the release of the Epstein files.
