House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy condemned the claims made by North Carolina GOP Rep. Madison Cawthorn regarding his fellow Republicans engaging in drugs and orgies. Last Week Tonight host John Oliver called out McCarthy for condemning Cawthorn while disregarding other controversial actions taken by the freshman congressman.
In Sunday’s episode of “Last Week Tonight,” Oliver called out McCarthy, who recently said that Cawthorn has lost his trust for claiming that his fellow GOP lawmakers engage in cocaine and in “sexual get-togethers.” Oliver noted the other incidents that McCarthy should have condemned but only enabled when it came to Cawthorn.
Oliver cited Cawthorn’s comments to “lightly threaten” members of Congress, suggesting that President Joe Biden’s vaccine strategy was all about taking the guns and bibles away and also calling Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelennskyy a “thug,” among others.
Oliver also noted that Cawthorn’s strategy only exposes his track record of making false claims about certain things. This included claims that he was hurt while serving in the military and the car crash that paralyzed him derailed his plans to attend the Naval Academy, as well as claiming that he is training for the Paralympics.
Oliver later closed his argument by questioning how Cawthorn’s recent claims surprised McCarthy when the House Minority Leader has enabled him for everything else.
“This predatory, conspiratorial, inexplicably hostile to trees guy?” said Oliver, referring to a clip of Cawthorn punching a tree. “Your party has supported and enabled him this whole time. And the tactics he uses are pretty much in line with Republicans’ entire MO right now. Or, to put this in terms that Madison Cawthorn would understand: It looks to me like you raised a monster, and now it’s your f***ing problem.”
Many Republicans were angered by Cawthorn’s claims of sexual get-togethers and cocaine in a closed meeting of the House Republican Conference, who all raised their concerns to McCarthy. As Cawthorn is not known to be friends with any Democratic lawmakers, it was assumed that the North Carolina congressman was referring to Republicans.
McCarthy reportedly attempted to chastise Cawthorn for making such claims, immediately raising comparisons of tolerating white nationalists but not at the claims of having drug-fueled orgies.