Just about everyone is stuck at home these days, which means new challenges, especially for parents with school-age children and teenagers.
And like every other American parent right now, politicians are no exception to homeschool struggles.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois told CNN she accidentally unmuted her phone while on a conference call with the entire Senate Democratic caucus … while potty training her daughter.
"I said, ‘Go potty, honey, wash your hands,’ and then (Sen.) Amy Klobuchar, in a very dry voice, just said, ‘And Tammy Duckworth just told everyone to go potty and wash our hands, that’s good advice.’ And I went ‘Oh my God,’ and everybody was laughing at me,” she said.
Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas told the network that his daughter attempted to put a cat on top of his head in the middle of a live TV interview. Though it might’ve ended in disaster, that’s just the kind of comical and relatable content we could all get a good laugh out of right now.
Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia posted a viral video of him making a microwave tuna melt, combining an obscene amount of mayonnaise, undrained canned tuna and cheese.
“My daughters won’t eat them anymore, and my staff tried to stop me from sharing this quarantine delicacy with the world. Fortunately for you, they were OVERRULED. So here it is, my soon-to-be-world-famous Tuna Melt,” he quipped in the caption.
Though disgusting and cringeworthy, it was comedic relief, as many Americans are likely learning they are terrible cooks.
House Minority Whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana is teaching his son algebra while balancing the duties of being in congressional leadership. I do not envy him.
I bet a lot of students are going back to school in the fall, having learned how to do “old math” from their parents. I also do not envy the teachers who will have to adjust the different teaching methods of parents.
Not only has homeschooling been a challenge, but apparently grooming has been too much of a chore.
Men have taken the opportunity to grow beards. More than a dozen—and counting—senators and congressmen are sporting new facial hair, evident from pixelated screens on cable news channels.
Sen. John Thune of South Dakota has channeled his look from 30-something years ago, sporting facial hair.
Thune told Washington publication Roll Call, “When you’re quarantined and hanging out in your basement and dealing with this whole coronavirus thing, I thought, ‘You know what, I’ll let it go for a couple of days.’ And my wife didn’t complain too much about it. So I will see. I know it’s not really consistent with my image.”
Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky told Fox News that his family sent him to the basement to quarantine after testing positive for the coronavirus. “They did agree to feed me,” he said. “But nobody would send a razor down, so I guess this is what I got from my quarantine.”
Editor’s note: Seymour Klierly writes Washington Whispers for the Journal from inside the Beltway.
