John Kerry fires back at GOP congressman questioning his ‘pseudoscience’ degree

Former Secretary of State John Kerry shared a heated exchange with Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) over Kerry’s college degree and his credentials on climate change during a hearing on Tuesday.

The contentious back and forth came as Kerry served as a witness for a House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing on combatting climate change.

{mosads}During the hearing, Massie, who holds two engineering degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, asked Kerry about his “science degree” from Yale University, where the former senator graduated from with a bachelor of arts in political science.

“How do you get a bachelor of arts in a science?” the Kentucky Republican asked Kerry.

“Well, it’s liberal arts education and degree, it’s a bachelor,” Kerry said.

“OK, so it’s not really science,” Massie said. “So I think it’s somewhat appropriate that someone with a pseudoscience degree is here pushing pseudoscience in front of our committee today.” 

“Are you serious? I mean, this is really a serious happening here?” Kerry asked in apparent disbelief. 

“You know what? It is serious. You’re calling the president’s Cabinet a kangaroo court, is that serious?” Massie continued.

“I’m not calling his Cabinet a kangaroo court, I’m calling this committee he’s putting together a kangaroo committee,” Kerry said.

“Are you saying he doesn’t have educated adults there now?” Massie asked.

“I don’t know who it has yet, because it’s secret,” Kerry responded. 

In the past day, Massie’s line of questioning has gone viral online, generating reactions from a number of pundits who found humor in the exchange.

Watch this for your morning laugh. @RepThomasMassie is apparently serious but this is the dumbest line of questioning in committee this year, and that’s hard to do. pic.twitter.com/QIuaPuzCbA

— Bakari Sellers (@Bakari_Sellers) April 10, 2019

Oh my god. Laugh until it hits you that people this stupid get to make laws. Then cry. https://t.co/AqCJk2P9md

— Tommy Vietor (@TVietor08) April 10, 2019

In a VERY competitive category, this is the dumbest line of questioning in YEARS. It’s incredible. https://t.co/cpQcDepHn3

— Jon Lovett (@jonlovett) April 10, 2019

During the pair’s heat back-and-forth, Massie also asked Kerry why carbon dioxide levels on Earth were higher millions of years ago than they are today.

“But there weren’t human beings; that was a different world, folks,” Kerry responded. 

The Republican lawmaker also asked Kerry if geology stopped “when we got on the planet?”

“This is just not a serious conversation,” Kerry replied.