Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) has certainly provided us with some unique drama for the day, on top of the drama over averting a government shutdown after he pulled the fire alarm. He came up with the most ridiculous excuses, including saying he thought somehow the alarm would open the door. No one was buying that one, as people excoriated him on X, and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) called for him to be prosecuted.
While Democrats said they wanted to see the video (too late), House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) said he wanted to see what legal action would be taken and seemingly referenced the Jan. 6 defendants. Then other members moved to censure and/or to expel Bowman. So, we'll have to see how all of that works out.
Even though he was caught on video and he's admitting the action, he's trying to spin it as some kind of mistake. It remains to be seen how seriously that idiotic defense is treated by the Capitol Police and potential prosecutors.
What has to be the capper of the day, though, comes from Rep. George Santos (R-NY), the guy who has his own issues with questionable actions. Now, this is some truly funny stuff -- and Santos does an epic burn of Jamaal Bowman.
The presentation is priceless. "If you lift this part here, and pull this down, you trigger an alarm. Don't do it. Stay good, kids."
People on both sides of the aisle loved it, with even progressives calling it comedy gold and saying they would miss that if he, Santos, left.
In addition to being incredibly funny, Santos' little tutorial makes it painfully obvious that you can't mistake the fire alarm for anything but a fire alarm. So, whatever Jamaal Bowman is trying to spin on us -- about it somehow being an accident -- isn't anything grounded in any reality.
If a student in Bowman's school offered up such a ridiculous excuse, I doubt Bowman would have believed it. At the school where Bowman was a principal and founder, someone who set off a false alarm would face consequences up to and including expulsion.
I think obstructing a vote and just the ridiculous excuse alone should count toward an expulsion. If he did it to delay the vote, but got caught, he shouldn't have said anything to protect his legal defense. But if he admitted it, he should have just been honest. Because the silly excuse he came up with makes him look even worse, if that's possible.