The is a lot of competition for the title, but Representative Rashida Tlaib (D-Jihad) is making a strong case for herself as the most disgusting member of Congress. During the public testimony by Michael Cohen, she dehumanized a black woman who was sitting behind Rep. Mark Meadows, calling her a "prop" — an infamy that denies the possibility of human agency to a black woman who disagrees with her. You see, in this worldview, black people are so stupid that they can't come to their own political conclusions and must be pawns of white people if they disagree with her.

It looks to me as though the black chair of the committee, Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), was startled and quite possibly offended by this stereotype of black people.

When asked by Chairman Elijah Cummings to clarify her position, she said:

"I am not calling the gentleman, Mr. Meadows, a racist for doing so. I'm saying that in itself, it is a racist act." Meadows responded: "There's nothing more personal to me than my relationship — my nieces and nephews are people of color. Not many people know that. You know that, Mr Chairman. And to indicate that I asked someone who is a personal friend of the Trump family, who has worked for him, who knows this particular individual (pointing to Cohen), that she's coming in to be a prop, it's racist to suggest that I asked her to come in here for that reason." Cummings, trying to diffuse the situation, thanked Meadows and called him one of his best friends on the committee. "I know that shocks a lot of people," he added. He also said that he did not think Tlaib meant to call Meadows racist. "I can see and feel your pain. I feel it. And I don't think Ms. Tlaib intended to cause you that, that kind of pain and that kind of frustration," Cummings said. Tlaib then apologized "if that's what it sounded like. But I said 'someone' in general," she said. "I'm pretty direct so if I wanted to say that, I would have," she said. "Again, I said 'someone' and again was not referring to you at all as a racist."

The woman she slandered as a "prop" has a name, Lynn Patton, and she responded:

"What I'd like to ask the congresswoman from Michigan is you know, why does she take the word of a self-confessed perjurer, and criminally convicted white man, over a black female who is highly educated, rose up through the ranks of one of the most competitive companies in real estate, spoke before 25 million people at the Republican National Convention and now works in one of the most historic administrations in history?" Patton told Fox News on Thursday. "That's more racist than being put up there as a 'prop,'" she added.

Apparently, after thinking it over, Tlaib decided that she would double down. Appearing yesterday on MSNBC, she wrapped herself in the cloak of "woman of color." (If Arabs are people of color, then wasn't Steve Jobs a person of color? And let's pause for a moment to consider the Arab slave trade — historically and currently — but I digress.)

Rush transcript via Grabien: