Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., left, joined at right by Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., listens to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union speech, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2019. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

While we’ve been inundated with Trump-Ukraine news (or more aptly that news collapsing), there’s still other stuff going on in Washington and vaping is a hot topic.

One of those things was a Congressional hearing on vaping. As I wrote a few weeks ago, banning flavored vaping products (the majority of the market) is short-sighted nonsense. It will only push more people and kids toward cigarettes, which are far more dangerous. Further, the deaths related to vaping we’ve seen are a result of a trend of mixing illegal materials with it, such as THC. If I throw a flaming rag into my car and lock myself in it, I can’t then blame the car when I die.

But vaping companies have apparently not greased enough palms in Washington so they find themselves the targets of a movement ironically working to the benefit of the the tobacco industry, in which over half a million people a year die from related diseases.

Enter Rashida Tlaib, who was part of a hearing on the matter. If you guessed she’d be against vaping and in favor of overburdensome government control, congrats.

But things got much weirder than just her policy positions.

WATCH: Rep. Rashida Tlaib badgers a conservative witness during vape hearing:

– asks her if she's a "conspiracy theorist"

– alleges she's involved in a "conspiracy" because she winked at Rep. Grothman

– claims she is lying about quitting smoking with the use of vapes pic.twitter.com/XFgQplaSgJ

— Amber Athey (@amber_athey) September 24, 2019

“Ms. Porter, I was reading because I want to know more about you and your beliefs, and I respect that we all have different beliefs, but you call yourself a converted conservative and reformed Marxist? Are you a conspiracy theorist?” Tlaib asked.

“I think my politics are entirely irrelevant to this hearing,” Porter replied.

Tlaib then accused Porter of being involved in a “conspiracy” because she winked at one of the Republican members of the subcommittee.

“Okay, why were you winking at one of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle? You winked,” Tlaib questioned.

“Because I know [Wisconsin Republican Rep.] Glenn Grothman,” Porter said. “He introduced me. He’s a friend of mine.”

Tlaib responded, “Oh, I understand. I didn’t know what the winking was. I thought maybe there was like a conspiracy thing going on. I didn’t know.”

Porter, seemingly bemused by the interaction, shot back, “You think there’s a conspiracy in this hearing, ma’am?”

Tlaib became angry with Porter’s response, then accused the witness of lying about quitting smoking with the use of vapes, declaring, “you’re still smoking!”

“I’m not smoking and I’m not lying under oath,” Porter replied incredulously.

What in the actual…

You’d be forgiven for thinking Tlaib was inebriated during this hearing. Her irrational ranting and thinking there was some grave conspiracy going on because the witness winked at a friend. It’s all just so ridiculous. She didn’t seem to take too well to the witness making light of her idiocy.

How would Tlaib even know if this woman had quit smoking? Is she suggesting vaping hasn’t actually helped millions quit cigarettes? Because that’d be a really stupid thing to suggest.

The entire argument over vaping is ludicrous. The fact is that hundreds of thousands of people die a year from smoking. Taking away a virtually harmless alternative because some teenagers stupidly mixed THC with their vape is the kind of irrational, nanny-state nonsense you’d expect from our bloated, inefficient government.

Tlaib being on the wrong side of this issue isn’t surprising. She’s a nut-case and has no business being anywhere near the levers of power. But hey, I guess this is a nice break from her recent bouts of anti-Semitism. Small victories and all.

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