When General John Kelly defended President Trump’s phone calls to Gold Star families, he used the term “empty barrel” to describe Representative Frederica Wilson’s loud talk that says nothing.
Now, Wilson and Democratic crony Joy Reid, among others, are calling the term “empty barrel” racist!
Wilson told CNN that Kelly had used a racist term, but didn’t explain why it was racist. Other Democrats like Reid are calling the General racist because Wilson happens to be black.
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Hilariously, even the Clinton News Network is saying Wilson is full of crap!
More from CNN’s Chris Cillizza:
On Thursday afternoon in the White House, chief of staff John Kelly laid into Florida Democratic Rep. Frederica Wilson in harsh terms.
“A congresswoman stood up, and in a long tradition of empty barrels making the most noise, stood up there in all of that and talked about how she was instrumental in getting the funding for that building,” Kelly said.
In an interview on CNN’s “New Day” Friday morning, Wilson alleged that “empty barrel” is a “racist term.” She didn’t explain why.
A search through the Internet shows that the origin of the line is somewhat fuzzy — although it is commonly credited to Plato in this form: “An empty vessel makes the loudest sound, so they that have the least wit are the greatest babblers.” (One interesting thing: There is no citation of what work Plato wrote those words in.)
In the 15th century, a translation of “The Pilgrimage of the Life of Man” done by John Lydgate contains a variation on that theme: “Or by som noyse in cómpleynyng/A voydë vessel, pype, or tonne.”
The phrase — or an iteration of it — was used twice in Shakespeare’s work. In “Henry V,” a character says this: “I never heard so loud a voice issue from such an empty heart. It’s true what they say: ‘The empty vessel makes the greatest sound.'”
One theory: MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell devoted almost 20 minutes of his show on Thursday night to Kelly, Wilson and “empty barrel.” O’Donnell suggested that due to Kelly’s boyhood in a Boston neighborhood that was still largely segregated, his choice of words to describe Wilson was intentionally “dehumaniz(ing)” to the congresswoman.
Kinda streeeeeeeeetching for this one, aren’t they?
Maybe “empty head” would be a more accurate term for Wilson and her minions.
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