Look, we all know Ajit Pai—FCC chairperson, former Verizon attorney, amateur film star, and Parks And Recreation superfan—is a total stooge. After all, he just led the FCC in a charge to lift net neutrality regulations that were in place to keep corporations from making their already crappy internet services even worse. But in case you needed any more evidence of just how big a stooge—a total dickhead, even—he is, we humbly present this disgusting little exchange between Pai and his fellow FCC commissioner, Mignon Clyburn, after she finished delivering a rousing 20-minute defense of net neutrality:
Yes, that fucking weasel responded to her impassioned argument with a smug little joke, laughing off scathing critiques of internet deregulation and the process Pai took to get there before handing the floor over to his fellow Republican, Michael O’Rielly. He probably shouldn’t have learned political etiquette from Parks And Recreation’s city council scenes.
Clyburn, a Democrat and the longest serving commissioner on the FCC, has been incredibly vocal in her support of net neutrality in the weeks leading up to today’s vote. She spoke at pro-net neutrality rallies. She wrote an op-ed in The Guardian. Her Twitter account even dropped a nasty burn on Pai, posting an “edited” version of his proposal to repeal net neutrality:
The dissenting speech Clyburn delivered during the hearing was a long, impassioned, and brutally honest one. She broke down the potential impact this repeal could have on marginalized groups and upstart businesses. She attacked Pai’s attempt to speed through this repeal process and his dismissal of calls to suspend the vote after millions of anti-net neutrality comments on the FCC website were discovered to have been fraudulent. Most of all, she called out this agency’s unwillingness to simply represent the interests of the citizens it’s meant to protect. “What saddens me the most today is that the agency that is supposed to protect you is actually abandoning you,” she said.
Her statement closed by reaching back to the 2015 hearings that led to the creation of the net neutrality rules and “taking ironic comfort” in Pai’s dissenting opinion in which he complained about the partisan nature of how the net neutrality regulations were passed. “Amen to that, Mr. Chairman,” Clyburn added, taking aim squarely at Pai before he hyucked it up like the permanently punchable assclown he is.