The Fruits of Impeachment

by Mark Steyn
Fox & Friends
November 27, 2019

https://www.steynonline.com/9876/the-fruits-of-impeachment

Mark joins Steve, Emily and Brian on the curvy couch

Programming note: This morning I'll be back on one of my favorite shows, "Varney & Company" on Fox Business, just after 11am Eastern/8am Pacific. Later I'll be making a pre-Thanksgiving appearance on "Tucker Carlson Tonight" at 8pm Eastern - with a rerun for West Coasters at 9pm Pacific. If you're in the presence of the receiving apparatus, I hope you'll dial us up.

On Tuesday morning I started the day at "Fox & Friends" with Steve, Emily and Brian. We talked impeachment, as well as AOC's dislike of the expression "free stuff":

'So that's free borders and free health care and free college... She wants 7 billion people essentially to be able to enjoy what in the 19th century would be the life of a younger son of a middle European grand duke — at a cost to the U.S. taxpayer.

'Yet she doesn't want you to call that "free stuff."

'God bless her,' Steyn said. 'This is where all the energy and charisma and talent is in the Democrat Party. Because the moderate wing, both with Hillary and with the Bidens is in the hands of these corrupt kleptocrats.'

Click below to watch:

Mark Steyn on impeachment push, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez denouncing 'free stuff' https://t.co/ABgq14lMCH @FoxNews #AAG #AAG2020
— All American Girl (@AIIAmericanGirI) November 26, 2019

If you prefer, you can see the full segment over at Fox.

If you enjoy me in video, there's just shy of ninety minutes' worth on a special climate-change edition of The Mark Steyn Show, which includes questions from an audience of Mark Steyn Club members.

See you back on't telly for "Varney & Company" at 11am Eastern.

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25 Reader Comments

Dave A • Nov 29, 2019 at 13:21

Selecting the best Steyn column ever is a high bar, but one of the funniest was "When Harry Met Hillary" from June, 2003. You can read it in "The (Un)documented Mark Steyn", it's worth the price of the book all by itself. No doubt all Steynclub members already have a copy but it would make a great Christmas gift.

Following the lunatic impeachment proceedings has me thinking it's time for a similar column. It could be about Nearly Headless Nancy leading a motley crew of Nifflers, Doxies, Blast-Ended Skrewts, Billywigs, Blibbering Humdingers, Veelas and Erumpents on a Headless Hunt.

According to Wikipedia, an authoritative source if there ever was one, a "Veela" is defined as: "Semi-human, highly attractive, looking sometimes like an exceptionally beautiful girl, and sometimes like a harpy, and having a power to bewitch and enchant men." Be honest, which member of the Brainless Crew does that sound like?

I'm beginning to think J.K. Rowling is more of a prophet than a novelist.

Cottesloe dreaming • Nov 28, 2019 at 02:23

Forgive me RAC , but from someone on the other side of the world : charisma and exotic beauty , I just don't see it.
Is this what these terms mean in the U.S. now ? Clap your hands charisma ?

RAC • Nov 27, 2019 at 17:37

Yeah - We all get to enjoy those "free roads" and other government bennies according to the thought leader of the American left. Silly me, I always thought these were paid for with federal and State taxes extracted from the citizenry. We can ridicule Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez 'till the cows come home but she is the real deal and I wish we had a counterpart with her level of charisma. Coupled with her exotic beauty she likely draws more national air time than anyone except for the Trumpster and all of his is negative of course. So sorry to be 'objectifying' her looks but set aside PC thoughts for a moment and ask yourself - if AOC were a 300 lb plain-Jayne would she have this level of influence? That great philosopher George Costanza said something like "beautiful woman! - they get away with everything, you never see them carrying anything heavier than 3 pounds!". It helps in the political realm as well. Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Sol

RAC • Nov 27, 2019 at 17:52

I get the feeling it took most of us about five minutes to realize what the Obama Administration realized early when they saw the future in the form of Donald Trump and formed a group to try to take him out.

Kate Smyth

RAC • Nov 27, 2019 at 20:25

Yes, "The Squad" is effective - individual looks aside - because of its immunity to criticism. Something Trump isn't bothered by, fortunately.

PS. If Ilhan Omar were a fire-breathing imam (which, ideologically speaking, she is) would she have this level of influence? It looks as though her connections with Qatar are now being unveiled...

Paul Nachman

Kate Smyth • Nov 27, 2019 at 22:28

Scott Johnson at PowerLine says the Omar/Qatar business is very doubtful: https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2019/11/an-omar-sideshow-2.php

Johnson has probably been on Omar's case the longest of anybody, so if he thinks this is a red herring, it's likely not worth more of our attention.

Kate Smyth

Paul Nachman • Nov 29, 2019 at 23:58

I've only really followed Mohamad Tawhidi's commentary. Will check out PowerLine though - thanks.

Perry Pattetic • Nov 27, 2019 at 16:36

What happened to her Svengali? The one who auditioned her, groomed her, scripted her and chose her lipstick?
Politics - showbiz for ugly people: this makes Cortex the political Bo Derek. Bo got Dud, and Cortex gets the other dud - Bernie.

Sol • Nov 27, 2019 at 14:24

The clapping, to jar the wrong term loose from her audience, and her pedagogic instruction in the AOCs suggests how young AOC might have been when her indoctrination started.

I remember an episode of "Sesame Street" in which a shady character called "Lefty" (of a green hue) sidles up to Ernie with a bottle of air to sell on the down-low. He demonstrates that it's good for making sounds through a harmonica and inflating a balloon. Ernie buys the air, for five cents, but is surprised when the bottle doesn't come with it. Lefty empties the air into Ernie's hands and gleefully slinks away. As Ernie waves Bert over, he is dismayed that by doing so he's dropped the air.

That didn't strike me as a very good deal when I was nine. But all Democrat presidential candidates and millions upon millions of their constituents believe it is. That's what the Green New Deal is. Spend money on air. If you'll believe, the carbon-sequestering comes with the non sequitur of carbon-spewing affluence. The hornswoggle sounds notes of no harmony, all dissonance. That George C Parker, who sold the Brooklyn Bridge and other public landmarks to immigrants, was onto something.

Zack • Nov 27, 2019 at 11:25

Her office released a correction, she meant to say "other people's stuff"

Penns Woods

Zack • Nov 27, 2019 at 21:48

Oh that is SO good. Just love the humor in the Steyn crowd.

Brawndo • Nov 27, 2019 at 10:34

The Democrats must impeach. Anything short of that will get rubbed in their faces by Trump as well as punished by voters on both sides of the electoral divide. Now, however, it appears there will be bipartisan support for not impeaching him although a unanimous vote to impeach strengthens the witch hunt narrative. All Trump has to do is just be Trump. I'm thinking this is the most fun he's had in years.

David Elstrom • Nov 27, 2019 at 10:00

Before AOC twisted the term for the Newspeak dictionary "public goods" used to mean roads, the Post Office, or national defense, that is goods or services available for all to use. Now the term encompasses money people have earned that has been stolen through excessive taxation. But this nonsensical redefinition does underscore the abject contempt Democrats have for the people.

And on this note, the latest scam, censure, that Democrats are running up the flagpole, will fall just as flat as impeachment. It's just another attempt to institutionalize the idea that Democrats can persecute Republicans without constraint—even going so far as to frame an opponent—while Republicans are forbidden to investigate actually corrupt Democrats. Even those whose influence peddling is obvious and who brag about it on video.

Laura Rosen Cohen • Nov 27, 2019 at 09:38

That Michigan Democrat would be better served taking a look at her own dump-o-rama of a state, and particularly the urban sh&thole of Detroit. Talk about urban decay. It's one of the most run down and corrupt cities in America and I found it actually terrifying to walk about the streets there or even ask for directions at a gas station when I overshot a highway exit. When I got back into Canada at Windsor I felt like getting out of the car and kissing the ground. But blah blah blah Ukraine, blah blah impeach blahblahblahblah.

Also agree with Lowell here about the insidious nature of the term "public goods". This language is a deliberate attempt to mislead naive citizens about where the money comes from i.e their own pockets. I have lost count of the number of times I have insisted people use the term "taxpayer funded" instead of "publicly funded".

Todd Lewis

Laura Rosen Cohen • Nov 27, 2019 at 11:24

It's amazing how liberals universally fall into lockstep when it comes to defining and using words and phrases in the manipulative terms of their corrupt narrative. "Taxpayer funded" is completely non-manipulative and accurate and doesn't give tacit assent to liberal premises. If only conservatives were as diligent and unified in defending and propagating the integrity and truthfulness of language.

Laura Rosen Cohen

Todd Lewis • Nov 27, 2019 at 12:37

Agree with you completely. The bastardization of language, the utter lies that are built into leftist terminology is a huge part of the problem. Conservatives consistently give liberals and leftists a pass on this stuff.

Owen Morgan

Laura Rosen Cohen • Nov 27, 2019 at 14:54

Isn't Detroit the place so corrupt that they can't re-count the votes, because they have no idea how many voters there were in the first place (only that all one hundred and thirty-five per cent of them have voted for the name with a "D" after it)?

Paul Nachman

Laura Rosen Cohen • Nov 27, 2019 at 22:21

How about the very word "progressive" to characterize a political orientation? It's always struck me as incredibly smug.

In contrast, "liberal" and "conservative" are labels that don't carry that air of self-congratulation.

Owen Morgan

Paul Nachman • Nov 27, 2019 at 23:02

Implicit in the political use of the word "progressive" is the sense of inevitability: anyone who is not progressive is, by definition, standing in the way of "progress" to a supposedly desirable destination. In this context, "progress" is defined by the self-defined "progressive." It's a very linear concept, backed up by a perfectly circular argument.

Al Man from CA

Laura Rosen Cohen • Nov 28, 2019 at 10:11

My favorite has always been "investments", or "investing in" when referring to wasting taxpayer money as though the dough is secured and producing positive results (ala Solendra). I think I first noticed the left using these canards during the Clinton regime, but it could go back before then.

Laura Rosen Cohen

Owen Morgan • Nov 28, 2019 at 10:56

"A linear concept, backed up by a perfectly circular argument."

OOOOOH that's very clever, Owen. I like it!

Laura Rosen Cohen

Al Man from CA • Nov 28, 2019 at 10:57

Oh gawd that's another good one "investing in" = throwing money out the window or into their lefty friends pet projects. We really need a dictionary for this stuff.

Brian from Minneapolis • Nov 27, 2019 at 09:16

Maybe we should call "free stuff" "taxpayer funded resources" while we're at it. They don't want to admit that it's what they want. It's free because they don't have to pay for it, we do.

Lowell Walker • Nov 27, 2019 at 08:07

I'm sick to death of children waving a finger at me and telling me what I can and can't say. "Public goods". This woman is suffering from serious delusions.

Fran Lavery

Lowell Walker • Nov 27, 2019 at 13:24

Unfortunately, she's probably going to be around for a long time.