White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki’s advice to people who were upset about President Joe Biden’s latest legislative failures sounded like something she might tell a friend going through a bad break-up.
Psaki, who joined the Friday broadcast of ABC’s “The View,” had a list of suggestions for people who were sad or angry that the Senate had failed to pass two major Democrat-driven election overhaul bills — the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and the Freedom to Vote Act — which were blocked when Democratic Senators Joe Manchin (WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (AZ) refused to support any changes to the filibuster rule.
Psaki on voting rights bills failing: “My advice to everyone out there who’s frustrated, sad, angry, pissed off, feel those emotions, go to a kickboxing class, have a margarita, do whatever you need to do this weekend, and then wake up on Monday morning, we gotta keep fighting.” pic.twitter.com/WkW4dJz0PB
— The Recount (@therecount) January 21, 2022
Co-host and ABC News anchor Linsey Davis asked Psaki about the bills, saying, “Of course as you know all too well, the Senate once again failed to pass voting rights protections with Manchin and Sinema joining all Republicans in not changing the filibuster rules. The president said he was disappointed but not deterred. Where do you see a path forward at this point?”
“The path forward is we have to keep fighting. Look, this week has been frustrating, devastating, angering, all of those things, everyone who’s fighting for this, so many activists across this country who have been so central to getting to this point. I mean, just a year ago there were more people who were opposed to filibuster changes in the Senate. So we’ve made some progress on that front, but we’ve got to stay at it,” Psaki replied.
“My advice to everyone out there who’s frustrated, sad, angry, pissed off, feel those emotions, go to a kickboxing class, have a margarita, do whatever you need to do this weekend, and then wake up on Monday morning, we gotta keep fighting.” Psaki continued. “What that means, Linsey, is we have to keep talking to members about federal legislation, that’s essential, that’s something that can be permanent, that can make sure people’s rights are protected. But we also need to make sure people are educated in states across the country about what their rights are, how they can vote, when they can vote, how to request an absentee ballot. There’s a lot we need to do on that front that will rely on the energy and the anger of that activism as well.”
Joy Behar quickly agreed that perhaps a margarita — or two — was the appropriate response.
Critics quickly piled on Psaki’s comments, noting that it sounded like something she might tell a friend getting out of a bad relationship.
“This is the kind of advice you give your friend when she calls you crying about being dumped,” Noam Blum pointed out, adding, “The fact that she went with ‘kickboxing class’ when this is framed as a fight for the rights of poor black people in rural red states is fantastic.”
“How can I go to SoulCycle when the SOUL of our country is stuck in an endless CYCLE of violence???” Blum concluded.
“‘Go to a kickboxing class, have a margarita’ might as well be the slogan of the Democratic Party, which is by now so obviously a party of and for the upper managerial class it’s unspoken slogan is ‘crush the poor,'” added Federalist Senior Editor John Daniel Davidson.
Matt Whitlock joined in, saying, “Apparently the fight to end voter ID (with its 90% support) continues on Monday after some margs and kickboxing.”