Thread by @TaylorPopielarz

An ICYMI thread ⤵️

Last night, Ohio's senior U.S. senator, @SenSherrodBrown (D), was called "a complete ass" by his colleague Sen. @tedcruz (R-Texas).

The reason?

Brown asked @SenDanSullivan (R-Alaska) to keep his mask on while presiding over the Senate during the pandemic.

This started with @SenSherrodBrown speaking on the Senate floor Monday evening.

Here's his full exchange with @SenDanSullivan, who told Brown, "I don’t need your instruction."

Since at least June, @SenSherrodBrown has been one of the few U.S. senators to keep a mask on while speaking on the Senate floor.

In October, Brown expressed frustration that Senate workers who sit in the chamber are at risk of exposure from senators who take their masks off.

As Monday's exchange went viral, @tedcruz tweeted it was "idiotic," that @SenSherrodBrown was "being a complete ass," & that Brown was wearing a mask "as an ostentatious sign of fake virtue."

Cruz apparently missed Brown's point about the Senate workers sitting near Sullivan.

Also:

@SenSherrodBrown's wife, Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist @ConnieSchultz, has chronic asthma.

Being extra cautious, Brown has avoided flying for months.

We even stayed masked and distanced while shooting an interview outside their home last month.

https://twitter.com/ConnieSchultz/status/1315632985555820544?s=20

Spoke with @SenSherrodBrown this afternoon:

“When I saw [@SenDanSullivan] take his mask off, I said — and saw him speak into the microphone with four people sitting below him that didn’t deserve to have his, sorry, his spittle on them, inevitably when you talk, I spoke out."

More @SenSherrodBrown:

"Does stopping at a stop sign make you less free? Does wearing a seatbelt make you less free? Does practicing Christian values to look out for your fellow men & women, does that make you less free? So why should a mask, wearing a mask, make you less free?”