Let's Go, Brandon!

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Mr. Gill goes to Washington

In case you missed it last week, here’s another chance: Texas Rep. Brandon Gill takes apart Anthea Hartig, Director, Smithsonian Institution of Natural History, and it’s hilarious

Gill’s great; he doesn’t display the wicked sense of humor Louisiana’s Senator John Kennedy does, but as an antidote to the bloviating politicians of both parties who use these hearings solely as material for soundbites to be used in their reelection campaigns, he’s a wonder.

Here’s an appreciation of the man by Bethany Mandel in the Washington Examiner:

Brandon Gill’s Socratic method

A surprising number of people already know who freshman Rep. Brandon Gill (R-TX) is, even if they couldn’t tell you what district he represents.

They’ve watched the Texas Republican ask a longtime abortion advocate during a House hearing to name her “favorite method of abortion,” a question so unexpected that it ricocheted across social media, cable television, and the front pages of conservative news sites. They’ve seen him press a witness defending expanded food stamp benefits over whether taxpayers should really be buying Coca-Cola for SNAP recipients. They’ve watched him spar with Gov. JB Pritzker (D-IL) over immigration policy, challenge NPR executives over taxpayer funding, and methodically dismantle liberal witnesses without ever raising his voice. Even people who have never voluntarily watched a congressional hearing have probably encountered one of Gill’s exchanges as a two-minute clip on X, YouTube, Instagram, or Fox News.

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“If I wanted to yell at liberals,” he said, “I could sit behind my desk and make a video yelling at liberals.”

A congressional hearing, in his mind, serves an entirely different purpose.

“The whole West’s intellectual edifice is based on the Socratic method,” he continued. “It’s based on asking probing questions and coming to truth by asking probing and enlightening questions. A committee hearing is the perfect place to do that.”

That one sentence explains almost every viral moment Gill has had since arriving in Washington. Take the abortion hearing that made him a household name in conservative circles. The exchange wasn’t built around a rehearsed one-liner — it was built around a simple premise. If someone has dedicated decades of her professional life to defending abortion rights, shouldn’t she be willing to describe, plainly and without euphemism, the procedure she is defending?

“If you’re going to dedicate your life to defending this,” Gill recalled thinking, “tell me your favorite method.”

The question wasn’t designed simply to shock. It forced the witness to abandon abstractions and confront the concrete reality of what she was advocating. When she refused to answer, that refusal proved more revealing than any prepared statement could have.

Listening to Gill describe the exchange, it became obvious that he doesn’t think of hearings the way most members of Congress do. Many lawmakers view their five minutes as an opportunity to deliver a speech that happens to include a witness. Gill treats the witness as the point of the exercise. The hearing is valuable precisely because the person sitting across from him is under oath, the cameras are rolling, and millions of people can watch ideas tested in real time.

And they just can’t do it.