In an incredibly funny, if unintentionally so, moment that occurred during a hearing conducted by House of Representatives’s Ways and Means Committee on Wednesday, March 12, Re. John Larson (D-CT) had a total temper tantrum, banging his fist and shouting over Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). That temper tantrum, predictably, raised eyebrows online.
For reference, the freakout was sparked by Elon’s desire to reform Social Security and cut out the fraud, Particularly, Rep. Larson and other Democrats have falsely insisted that Elon Musk and DOGE are aiming to destroy Social Security and other entitlement programs by slashing their budgets. In reality, Elon aims to root out fraud that appears to be draining precious resources from those programs.
Funnily enough, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow was one of those who drew attention to the absurd moment. Though she aimed to praise Rep. Larson’s comments on Social Security, in reality she just made him look ridiculous by describing how he was screaming loudly over a potential administrative change to the program.
Maddow said, introducing his temper tantrum, “Veteran Democratic Congressman John Larson of Connecticut just ripping the bark off today about Social Security and what Republicans are really doing here. And indeed, as he was ripping that bark off in Congress, look at what the Washington Post was posting just down the road.”
Describing the WaPo report, which she was trying to frame as terrifying, she noted that it reported Social Security was weighing “a proposal to end telephone service for claims processing.” She breathlessly declared, about that potential change, “This is what they’re doing! This is what’s going on!”
She then said, commenting on his screaming and accidentally making him and the general worry look absurd, said, “Congressman John Larson, who I just showed you, screams his freaking head off in Congress about it this morning – screams at them – and then at noon, the Washington Post publishes this horror movie script about their plan!”
While Maddow only accidentally made Larson look imbecilic, commenters on X chimed in to directly note how ridiculously he was acting. One conservative commentator, for example, said, “Rep. John Larson (D-CT) thinks that yelling like a lunatic is a good way to run committees in the House. He’s making Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) look sane. Also, Elon Musk doesn’t owe Larson anything. Musk is exposing fraud caused by Dems like Larson.”
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Another poster, quoting Larson to mark him and note the absurdity of his claims, said, “Democrat Rep. John Larson shows his theater skills during a hearing about @DOGE. ‘We’re an equal branch of government! You start off with a blather. Yet look at the empty seats here. Where is Elon Musk?!’ Elon has not been served a subpoena.”
Watch Maddow here:
Larson, trying to defend himself and his temper tantrum on X by lying yet again, wrote, “Elon Musk called Social Security a Ponzi scheme, and now he and Donald Trump are out to slash & privatize your hard-earned benefits. Some of us may have been born at night, but not last night. Hands off Social Security, Trump and Musk!”
Watch Rep. Larson’s freakout here:
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video