Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer recently announced a new, more relaxed dress code that allowed for more casual clothing on the Senate floor. Republicans (and also Joe Manchin) threw a collective fit over the change. Susan Collins joked she was going to wear a bikini. Marjorie Taylor Greene ranted about “etiquette.” Nearly every GOP senator signed a letter to Schumer that stated “Allowing casual clothing on the Senate floor disrespects the institution we serve and the American families we represent.”
But the absolute worst reaction to the change comes not from the Senate itself but from right-wing pundit Erick Erickson. Erickson, like many Republicans, places the blame for the new dress code on Democratic Senator John Fetterman, who famously wears hoodies and shorts to work. (Fetterman denies advocating for the change.)
“Dems who were outraged by January 6 rioters storming the Capitol because of the violence wrought against that great Temple of Democracy are okay with a man at war with the English language and pants getting to wear a hoodie and shorts onto the Senate floor,” Erickson tweeted Tuesday. “Just no bison helmets.”
First of all, even though Erickson doesn’t name Fetterman specifically, it’s clear that’s who he’s talking about. And that jab about being “at war with the English language” is very obviously a reference to the senator’s recent stroke and the issues with speech processing he dealt with afterward. So Erickson can get f***ed, plain and simple.
Moving on to the part where he compares the ability to dress more casually on the Senate floor to a violent attempt to overthrow the government—what a completely nonsensical false equivalency. It’s hard to believe this mini-rant is anything but rage farming (an extremely lucrative practice on Elon Musk’s Twitter/X) but even then, it’s still such a bizarre take, removed from any semblance of reality.
Yes, Erick, lawmakers who didn’t like insurrectionists storming their place of work are also OK with a more casual Friday approach to business. What are you not understanding?
As for Fetterman, he has an offer for his colleagues to refocus their attention from his shorts back to their jobs:
(featured image: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
