early and often

Congressman John Rose’s Speech Derailed by Son’s Funny Faces

Photo: C-SPAN

Step aside, toddler who interrupted Dad’s BBC interview. The internet has a new favorite kid disrupting their parent’s workday.

Representative John Rose, a Tennessee Republican, took to the House floor on Monday to passionately denounce Donald Trump’s conviction … or something. No one paid attention to Rose’s argument because just as he ended his first sentence lamenting the “terrible precedent set in our country four days ago,” his son Guy started making funny faces behind him. The AP has the highlights:

The full five-minute speech is worth watching. The 6-year-old delivers a tour de force performance, smiling, wiggling his tongue, giving hand signals, and showing off a squishy toy.

Congressman Rose was totally unaware of the absolutely adorable scene going on behind him, but later tried to make the best of his son going viral. He posted this quip on X along with the full C-Span video:

John and Guy Rose then hit the conservative-media circuit, giving interviews to NewsNation and Fox News. In a Wednesday morning Fox & Friends appearance, the congressman said Guy just graduated from kindergarten. Rose brought him to D.C., he said, because he was dividing child-care responsibilities with his wife, Chelsea, who is caring for their younger son and working full-time. (Tip: Don’t look into their backstory if you just want to enjoy this fun story.)

Guy said he was hamming it up because he wanted to get a laugh out of his 3-year-old brother, Sam, who was watching from home (Guy revealed that he was spelling out S-A-M with his hands).

The boy added that his dad “does boring stuff” all day and muttered that the congressman was lying when he tried to contradict him. Per Fox News:

“Actually, it’s a very interesting job,” Rose said. “I learned lots of things that … you learn from the constituents that you represent …”


“He’s not telling the truth,” Guy mumbled under his breath. 

Anchor Steve Doocy then gave Rose another opportunity to denounce Trump’s conviction — but Guy upstaged him again, widening his eyes as if to say, “Can you believe this guy?!”

Guy was back in Congress on Tuesday:

Elementary school can wait: America needs Guy Rose sitting in on every political interview and moderating the presidential debates.

This post has been updated.

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Congressman John Rose’s Speech Derailed by Son’s Funny Faces