I can’t figure out whether this was that rarest unicorn—a hearing question sincerely aimed at gathering information—or if he somehow believed she wouldn’t actually be able to list many things. Both seem fairly incredible. https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1384898233902800898

I guess I omitted an obvious possibility—my own failure of perspective-taking on display: Kennedy thinks all the provisions she listed are fine & reasonable, and imagines that most listeners would share his reaction. https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/1385227935649501184

Yeah, on another watch, he’s not going for “aha, she can only point to a couple things”; he’s going for “aha, none of those things are *explicitly* racist….” And probably that would indeed be the reaction of many viewers.

With the intended audience in mind, the framing is actually rather canny. The setup is “you’ve called this law racist.” But then the question isn’t “why do you think X would be racist in effect?”; it’s just “list the provisions you object to.”

Asking for a list means you don’t stop to explain each one: There are a lot to get through, and to her the disparate effect is self-evident. But Kennedy is assuming it won’t be self-evident to his intended audience; it will sound like a non sequitur without explanation.

The fact that she can list so many provisions she objects to isn’t a goof on his part; it’s the point. The audience is supposed to think: “Wait, how are shorter runoff periods racist? And that other thing too? Geez, this lady thinks EVERYTHING is racist…"

He prods her to get on to the next item, which ensures a viewer who hasn’t already heard the argument doesn’t have time to pause & think about why some facially neutral regulation might have a racially inequitable effect.

HIs “I get the idea…” isn’t cutting off her unexpected list of horribles in panic; it’s a smug victory lap: “Well, I guess we can all see you Dems will call pretty much everything under the sun racist."

Sure, maybe that’s not how the exchange reads to you. But the performance is not primarily intended for your consumption.