A House Speaker's words have not been taken down from the record since 1984, but Tuesday, Republicans waged a war against Speaker Nancy Pelosi for having the temerity to call President Donald Trump's recent tweets racist.
Trump told four Congresswomen of color to go back to the country they came from. Democrats sought to pass a resolution saying that the tweets were "disgusting, disparaging and racist," but Republicans said doing so violates House rules.
After an hour of discussion between the two parties, a frustrated Congressman Rev. Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO), acting as the chair, responded.
"I came in here to do this in a fair way," he said. "I kept warning both sides -- let's not do this --hoping we could get through."
He said that they "never want to pass up an opportunity to escalate, and that's what this is."
He challenged "anyone" to watch videos of the scene to see if there was any "unfairness." But, he said, it doesn't matter, "because we just want to fight!"
"I'm abandoning the chair," Cleaver said, and slammed down his gavel.
Watch the scene below:
