Samantha Bee blames 'smug' Democrats for the terrible mess of the 2016 election

Sam Bee reminds Democrats that the current mess is largely their fault

(Image credit: Full Frontal)

last updated 1 March 2016

"Presidential elections are like children: They're all the most important," said Samantha Bee on Monday's Full Frontal. If you listen to the Republican presidential candidates, 2016 is no different, meaning it is the most important election in at least decades. "But actually, the most important election in modern times already happened," she said, teasing her audience with footage of Barack Obama's first presidential victory. "Calm your smug tits, Democrats, the most important election of your lifetime wasn't 2008," she said when the audience cheered. "It was two whole years later, and you didn't vote in it."

Because Democrats — especially young and minority voters — sat the midterms out, Bee said, "2010 swept 87 Republican freshmen into the capital, including a host of ill-qualified and temperamentally unfit newbies" who stopped anything from happening in Washington, including immigration reform, giving us Donald Trump. "That's right — if you didn't vote in 2010, you built that," she said. But "that is nothing like what happened in the states after moderates and progressives hit the snooze button in 2010," giving Republican state lawmakers free rein to mess up things that "directly affect your life a million times more than the presidency." Watch the brisk scolding below. There's some mildly NSFW language. Peter Weber

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.