TMZ tracks US lawmakers vacationing amid the partial government shutdown | US politics
As U.S. federal employees missed paychecks and the partial government shutdown entered its seventh week, Lindsey Graham, a Republican senator from South Carolina, did what any responsible lawmaker would do: ride Space Mountain and carry a bubble wand to Disney World in Florida.
Naturally, TMZ published photos of the vacationing senator on its homepage a few days later.
The celebrity tabloid empire — best known for stalking actors and entertainers outside restaurants, gas stations, courthouses and their palatial estates — has turned its paparazzi prowess to a new and perhaps equally chaotic subject: the U.S. Congress. And American lawmakers may find themselves particularly ill-equipped for the Hollywood experience.
Last week, the news outlet issued a public appeal for guidance on lawmakers’ observations as the partial government shutdown continued, leaving thousands of Department of Homeland Security employees without pay.
Graham’s excursion to Disney World earned him the headline: “Living in Fantasyland as the Government Shutdown Continues.” » Senate Majority Leader John Thune, Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, and Senator Ted Cruz also appeared in the news outlet’s dispatches, with Cruz being the site’s lead story.
But Fox-owned TMZ isn’t playing sides: It highlighted how Seth Magaziner, a Democratic congressman from Rhode Island, is heading to a Real Housewives watch party this week during the shutdown. The outlet also photographed Robert Garcia, a Democratic representative from California, at a Las Vegas casino, whom he spoke to on
That, according to TMZ founder and executive producer Harvey Levin, is the problem. The outlet had long covered politics, but it was elevated higher, it said in a statement, after interviewing a TSA worker who was not paid during the shutdown.
“This outraged us so much that we wanted to use our platforms to show how Congress – Democrats AND Republicans – have failed us,” Levin said in a statement. “We spontaneously came up with the idea of juxtaposing members of Congress on their spring break with federal workers who are losing their homes, their cars, their livelihoods.”
TMZ, which was purchased by Fox in 2021 for an estimated $50 million, has been on Capitol Hill for months with its own team (now with a producer and photographer circulating around the Capitol, Levin said) conducting hallway interviews with senators and representatives. The team stopped Tim Burchett, a Republican representative from Tennessee, outside the Capitol Hill Club in February and asked him about Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime show. This resulted in the headline: “Congressman Tim Burchett: The only bad bunny I know is my late horny pet.” »
Sara Jacobs, a Democratic representative from California, compared Congress to high school in her interview with TMZ — a clip that has been viewed 6 million times on
While interviews with legislators are gaining ground, observations of closures are increasing on social networks. Photos of Graham’s wand at Disney World have been viewed more than 5 million times on X and prompted responses from California Governor Gavin Newsom and Tucker Carlson.
Graham, for his part, told TMZ, “I voted to fully defund the government seven times. Call a Democrat.” But maybe the bubble wand said enough.
