Kevin McCarthy Says He Was “Obviously Joking” When He Threatened Violence Against Pelosi

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s spokesperson said that he was “obviously joking” when he threatened violence against Nancy Pelosi.

According to McCarthy’s spokesperson:

A spokesman for Kevin McCarthy says he was “obviously joking” when he said it would be “hard not to hit” @SpeakerPelosi with the gavel if he becomes speaker.

— Chris Jansing (@ChrisJansing) August 1, 2021

It is the height of irresponsibility for McCarthy to claim that he was joking about a violent act against a member of Congress after the 1/6 attack.

Kevin McCarthy is also the same person who obstructed the 1/6 Commission and tried to sabotage the 1/6 Select Committee by first picking Reps. Banks and Jordan for seats on the Committee and then withdrawing all of his selections after Speaker Pelosi would not allow him to undermine the committee’s work.

Calls are growing for McCarthy to apologize or resign.

Just joking is one of the favorite go-to moves for Republican politicians in trouble. The White House tried to claim that Trump was joking when he suggested that people should inject bleach to get rid of COVID.

The just joking defense is nothing new for Republicans, but it never works because if you have to explain that something was a joke, then it was clearly not funny.

McCarthy needs to apologize because things are about to get a whole lot worse for him if he doesn’t.