Things got wild during a hearing in the House of Representatives on Tuesday, March 11. That came when Rep. Keith Self (R-TX) sparked an argument over what pronouns to use regarding transgender lawmaker Rep. Sarah McBride (D-DE), whom he called “Mister”. That argument quickly spiraled out of control when Rep. Bill Keating (D-MA) erupted and started screaming while pounding his fists on the table.
As background, the Tuesday incident occurred during a House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Europe Subcommittee hearing titled ”Arms Control, International Security, & U.S. Assistance to Europe: Review and Reforms for the State Department.” That hearing went from being boring and technical to exciting and absurd at the flip of a switch thanks to Rep. Self.
Rep. Self, the chairman of the subcommittee, began the spat by saying, speaking of the transgender lawmaker who identifies as a woman but has XY chromosomes, “I will now recognize the representative from Delaware, Mr. McBride.” That got Rep. Keating going. Immediately furious, he snapped at Rep. Self, “Can you repeat your introduction please?”
Rep. Self, responding in broad language and not immediately rising to the anger bait, said, “We’ve set the standard on the floor of the House…” In that, he appeared to be referencing President Trump’s executive order on their being two genders, as he later posted on X (formerly Twitter), “It is the policy of the United States to recognize two sexes, male and female.” That is language from Trump’s Executive Order on the matter, which further adds, “These sexes are not changeable and are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality.”
In any case, Rep. Keating wasn’t having it. Obviously furious with what Rep. Self was insisting upon, which was biology-based pronouns rather than identification-based pronouns, Rep. Keating angrily snapped, “What is that standard? Would you repeat what you just said when you introduced a duly elected representative from the USA?! Please?”
Rep. Self didn’t back down. Repeating his earlier use of “mister” rather than “miss” in referencing the transgender lawmaker, who didn’t speak up either way as the argument rolled on, Rep. Self stonily told the furious Massachusetts congressman, “I will. The representative from Delaware, Mr. McBride.”
Rep. Keating decided to respond by quoting the infamous line from the McCarthy hearings. He did so angrily, screaming at the subcommittee chair, “Mr. Chairman, have you no decency?! I’ve come to know you, but this is not decent!” That was a reference to, in the McCarthy era, Boston lawyer Joseph Welch telling Rep. McCarthy, “Let us not assassinate this lad further, senator. You have done enough. Have you no sense of decency?” That is often misquoted, as done by Rep. Keating, as “Have you no decency?!”
"*" indicates required fields
In any case, Rep. Self tried continuing the hearing, saying, “We will continue this hearing-” But he was cut off by the screaming, woke congressman, who banged his fist on the table, shouted, and said, “You will not continue it with me unless you introduce a duly-elected representative the right way!” Rep. Self adjourned the meeting. Watch the argument here:
Days after the hearing, on Friday, March 14, Rep. Self took to X to announce that he had received death threats over the hearing. He wrote, “In recent days, the rhetoric from the left has turned vile and hateful. My office received multiple death threats and threats of violence—several of which are currently being investigated by authorities.”
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video