During a House Oversight and Reform subcommittee hearing on e-cigarettes, Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) began attacking Vicki Porter, a self-identified “reformed Marxist” advocating for the continued legalization of vaping.
“Ms. Porter, I was reading, because I wanted to know more about you and your beliefs. And, I respect that we all have different beliefs, and you call yourself a converted conservative and reformed Marxist? Are you a conspiracy theorist?” Tlaib asked.
“I think my politics are entirely irrelevant to this hearing,” Porter said.
Tlaib then began questioning why Porter was winking at another congressman at the hearing. Porter responded that she knows Rep. Glen Grothmann (R-WI).
“I didn’t know what the winking was, ’cause I thought maybe there was something, like a conspiracy thing going on there. I didn’t know,” Tlaib said.
.@RashidaTlaib attacks conservative vaping advocate Vicki Porter: “Are you a conspiracy theorist?” pic.twitter.com/Czf5cALRks
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) September 24, 2019
Tlaib continued by attacking Porter’s outlook on vaping.
“I quit smoking with e-cigarettes, and so did eight million other people,” Porter said.
“You’re still smoking,” Tlaib said.
Another weird moment from @RashidaTlaib: She says scientists know that “secondhand smoke is worse than directly smoking cigarettes” pic.twitter.com/IG6VP4D8A8
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) September 24, 2019
Tlaib went on to say that “secondhand smoke is worse than directly smoking cigarettes.”
While secondhand smoke has a plethora of negative consequences, there is no widespread consensus by any doctor that secondhand smoke is worse for humans than directly smoking a cigarette.
The motivations behind what made Tlaib call Porter a conspiracy theorist are unclear. It may be her advocacy of vaping, or it may be Porter’s political identification.
Michigan, Tlaib’s home state became the first state to ban the sale of flavored e-cigarettes. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-Mich.) signed an executive order Tlaib backed, claiming that these products are purposefully marketed towards kids.
