Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) is famous in the U.S. Senate for his incisive wit and dry sense of humor. He has displayed these talents during his time as an elected official, whether by stumping unqualified Biden nominees or in interviews with reporters.
During a Senate Budget Committee hearing on Wednesday, a woke 23-year-old Olympic skier named Gus Schumacher became his latest victim. As Outkick.com reported, Budget Chairman Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) had invited Schumacher to testify as an “expert” on “The Nature of Climate Costs.”
But things went south quickly for the young man when it was Kennedy’s time for questioning. Then it got even worse when the Louisiana senator decided to pivot and exposed some damning quotes from Schumacher exposing his left-wing activism.
Kennedy opened up with a simple question: “What is carbon dioxide?” Schumacher responded by giving an elementary school answer, thinking it would be enough.
However, Kennedy had a different idea and pressed for more information. The so-called “expert” left utterly stumped.
Here’s a transcript of the exchange:
Schumacher (chuckling): I went to high school, but carbon dioxide is a gas. I’m not a professional to talk about carbon dioxide so much.
Kennedy: You’re here as an expert. Tell me more about what carbon dioxide is.
Schumacher: Carbon dioxide is what I see it as, you know, a gas that exists in our atmosphere.
Kennedy: Is it a major part of our atmosphere?
Schumacher: It’s a huge part of our atmosphere.
Kennedy: It’s actually a very small part of our atmosphere.
Schumacher: Well, okay. But, yeah. I don’t know.
WATCH:
Kennedy then inquired about what steps America should take to reduce the use of fossil fuels. Schumacher responded that there was an opportunity for the country to use more renewable sources.
However, he was left baffled again when Kennedy asked him for specifics on how much the U.S. should spend on renewable fuels and how long he thought it would take to reduce carbon emissions.
“I’m not an economist,” Schumacher said.
The skier was eventually forced to admit that he had no clue whether spending trillions on renewable energy would solve “climate change.”
“I don’t think anyone knows for sure,” he said.
Kennedy next dug up some old tweets exposing Schumacher as a race-baiting leftist activist who hates the police. Kennedy explained why including this seemingly ancillary material was necessary.
“When my colleagues invite witnesses to advise us on passing legislation, I always check out the background of our witnesses because I like to know who I’m talking to,” Kennedy explained.
Schumacher had re-posted someone saying on June 8, 2020: “The ‘war on drugs’ was intentionally created to incarcerate black people en masse.”
When asked to respond, Schumacher claimed he did not recall typing it.
The skier also quoted a far-left protester who whined back on August 27, 2020, that “Police are paid w/taxpayer $$$. If they are not answerable to us, we can demand new service & that’s what this is. #AbolishThePolice in favor of that new service.”
“You think we ought to abolish the police?” Kennedy asked. “Should we do that before or after we get rid of fossil fuels?”
“I’m not going to address that,” Schumacher snapped.
Of course, Schumacher refused to do so because he had already suffered enough humiliation.