Maher prompted Couric’s remarks by commenting on the breach of the U.S. Capitol on January 6, saying: “As much as I’m worried about these loons who break into government, I’m actually more worried about the loons who did get elected, because, I mean, what do you do about these people? There’s 147 Republicans in Congress who still don’t concede that Trump lost the election. What do you do about people who are in the government who don’t believe in our way of government?”

Couric intimated that members of Congress might have colluded in the mob’s action on January 6, claiming, “It is so shocking, not only are they not conceding, Bill, but there’s thoughts that there might have been some collusion among members of Congress. Some are refusing to go through magnometers, or whatever you call them, to check for weapons; they’re not wearing masks during the siege. I mean, it’s really bizarre, isn’t it, when you think about how AWOL so many members of this Congress have gotten.”

“But I also think some of them are believing the garbage that they are being fed 24/7 on the internet, by their constituents, and they’ve bought into this big lie,” she continued. “And the question is: How are we going to really, almost deprogram these people who have signed up for the cult of Trump?”

Couric’s rhetoric echoed that of Washinton Post’s Eugene Robinson who said Republicans need to be “deprogrammed” while reacting to the aftermath of the ransacking of the Capitol.