Name: "There's Really Like 6 Parties..." | Thomas Massie Tells the Truth About Congress
Uploaded: 2025-07-22T22:00:31.000Z
Description: Watch the stand-up comedy video '"There's Really Like 6 Parties..." | Thomas Massie Tells the Truth About Congress' from Theo Von Clips on Comedy Buff. Published 2025-07-22. Transcript available.

Watch the stand-up comedy video '"There's Really Like 6 Parties..." | Thomas Massie Tells the Truth About Congress' from Theo Von Clips on Comedy Buff. Published 2025-07-22. Transcript available.

Here's my question. Is anybody representing the people anymore? Because it kind
of feels like it used to feel like you at the parties were against each other.
And now it feels like it's the government versus the people. That's what it
feels like.
I think it is. I mean, I call it the uniparty. Last year, Marjorie Taylor Greene
and I introduced a resolution to oust Mike Johnson. After Mike Johnson put a
bill on the floor and was a tie-breaking vote to send more money to Ukraine,
after he passed another omnibus, after he passed another bill to spy on
Americans, using mostly Democrat votes, because a lot of Republicans are waking
up to that and didn't vote for it.
After he did like three or four really bad things, Marjorie and I put a
resolution on the floor.
Which you think are bad things, right?
I think they're bad things.
Spying on Americans, sending all the money to Ukraine. Yeah, I think they are.
I think they're not Republican priorities. And he's a Republican speaker. So we
put a resolution on the floor to vacate the speaker's office.
What does that mean? To get a new speaker?
Get a new speaker.
Okay.
Typically, no Democrat will vote for that. And if he doesn't have enough
Republicans to sustain that vote, he will lose and he'll get a new speaker.
Why would no Democrat vote for that?
Well, for the first time in history, they did. Like, they did vote to keep Mike
Johnson. Because it was as good as they've ever had it.
They were getting everything they wanted.
You believe he was helping their party?
Yeah, he was helping their party. So they kept him in power. So it is really
hard to change things. You can occasionally get people to try.
But the consequences of trying and losing can be great. Like, they call up all
the lobbyists and say, quit giving money to that member of Congress.
They'll call up donors in your district. They'll call up constituents and have
constituents call you up.
Or the new thing recently is to fund social media campaigns. The NRCC, National
Republican Congressional Committee.
They spend money on Twitter influencers who then do things against who knows
what. I mean, they're directing them. That part isn't transparent.
But it's directed toward me, for instance. Our own party is coordinating
efforts against me.
Well, then at that point, that's what I'm saying. There's a party that's, it's
them against you.
Which is okay. I've got a thick skin.
Right. But I'm just saying, it feels like it's, it feels like it's you guys are
playing this game, but it's all against the voter.
None of it is for the voter anymore. It doesn't, you know what I'm saying? It's
like, it feels like, I don't know.
It just feels like it's, it's, it's the voter against the politicians.
And it's, it just starts to feel really, really scary for sure.
Have you thought about becoming an independent or is that not a, is that too,
is that, is that, is that death?
I, I've thought about it a lot.
And one of the things that surprised me when I got to Congress is there's two
of everything.
So there's two cloakrooms. There's a Democrat cloakroom.
Wait, say that part again. There's a Democrat cloakroom?
Cloakroom and a Republican cloakroom.
This is like when you show up to vote, there's a little clubhouse, two little
clubhouses attached to Congress.
You can go back there and get a hot dog and a hot ham and cheese and ice cream
sandwich.
Oh yeah. Get a hot blonde too, huh?
That is our cloakroom right there on the right.
Is that really?
Yeah. You go back there, although there's some computers as well.
That's looking in one direction.
If you look in the other direction, there's a sandwich.
They're not showing the sandwich bar.
Oh yeah. I'd love it.
Oh, there's a sandwich bar. Yeah, that's it.
Oh God. That's it?
Yeah. Now, that's the Democrat cloakroom.
The Republican one looks just the same.
Okay.
Okay. But here's the thing.
Give me a little mortadella, huh?
There's only two cloakrooms.
So if you were truly independent and you came to Congress, there'd be nowhere
to get a hot dog
or to call people go in there and call their lobbyist friends.
Yeah.
Like during votes, you'll get a call and they'll say, hey, don't dare vote for
this.
Or maybe they'll call up a member of Congress.
They'll go to the cloakroom, call and ask for advice.
In any case, there's also things called backrooms on every committee.
You've heard of backroom deals.
I couldn't believe it.
When I got to Congress, people are using the word backroom because there are
backrooms
behind the committee rooms where you go back and do your huddle.
But there's only two huddles.
There's the Democrat huddle and the Republican huddle.
And there's only two backrooms.
So I say if you were an independent, you're going against the architecture.
It's not just tradition.
It's built into marble and oak.
There can only be two parties.
That's how strong they have put it in.
And if you're bipartisan, that means you like both parties.
I say that if you're, I'm not bipartisan, I'm transpartisan.
Trans means you can't identify with either some days.
I don't know which cloakroom to go into.
Some days they don't want me in either cloakroom.
So I feel like I'm a transpartisan.
Well, at least you can just be out in the van outside, you know?
That's right.
Some days I have gone out to the camper and just like drink some raw milk and
just be like,
we're so screwed.
Let's go back in and try it.
But I think it is hard.
It would be really hard to have an independent party or to get elected as an
independent.
Yes, that's true.
But never forget this.
There's really like six parties up there in D.C.
And they've been shoehorned into two different cloakrooms.
Right.
And so you got to pick which.
So either way, if you had a separate party, you're kind of still in one cloakroom
or the other.
You're kind of still in one huddle or the other.
Yeah.
So there's a guy from Maine.
His name's Angus King.
He's a senator.
He's a senator and he runs as an independent and he gets elected as an
independent.
And then he goes in the Democrat cloakroom.
So, yeah, that's him.
Oh, yeah.
He definitely looks like a Maine guy.
So he gets elected.
Undeniably wears a raincoat at night.
You may have heard the term rhino, Republican in name only.
I have a friend who calls him an I-no, an independent in name only.
Because he gets elected as an independent, and Bernie Sanders did this too, and
then caucuses with the Democrats.