Below is my column in the New York Post on the rising rhetoric over the expulsion of two members of the Tennessee legislature. Democrats are denouncing the “fascists” and “racists” for sanctioning members who have been lionized for stopping legislative business with a bullhorn. The incident perfectly captures our amplified rage in today’s politics.
Here is the column:
This month, there was an “assault on democracy” in Tennessee.
However, it was apparently not members halting the legislative process, but rather their expulsion.
It appears that nothing says democracy like a bullhorn and obstructing legislative work.
I recently wrote a column on how American politics has become a simple matter of amplification after Democrats stopped the Tennessee House proceedings with a bullhorn to protest the lack of gun control measures.
I noted, “Today, for many, there is no room for nuance. Instead, they live in a world occupied only by ‘fascists’ and ‘insurrectionists.’ ”
Right on cue, Vice President Kamala Harris and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) proceeded to add their own amplified voices to the madness.
AOC even shared a video of protesters chanting “F–k you fascists” and promising that “Gen Z” will even the score.
I do not agree with the expulsion of the two members as opposed to other sanctions.
Expulsion should only come in rare and extreme circumstances.
While repeated disruption of the proceedings might qualify, I would have recommended censures and suspension from Committee positions.
Vice President Harris did not visit the families of the victims of the recent mass shooting in Nashville, but flew to the state to express her outrage at the expulsion of two legislators.
She praised the legislators while blaming the Republicans for victimizing the families whom she ignored on her visit.
Disrupting discourse
The full-throated support for the actions of the expelled legislators is a bizarre position for the Senate president who enforces the same rules in Washington, DC.
Yet she was disgusted by sanctioning members who refused to allow their colleagues to continue legislative business because they lacked the votes for a gun control measure.
Harris proclaimed “it’s about whose voices they were channeling. Understand that — and is that not what a democracy allows?”
Liberal sites like HuffPost gushed with praise for Harris and her “powerful message on Democracy.”
Democracy does not invite or entail the disruption of democratic process.
It is the same bizarre claim for many on the left that silencing others by shouting them down on campuses is a form of free speech.
These legislators were upset because they are in the minority and lack sufficient votes to get what they want.
They were protesting the democratic process, not advancing its principles in shutting down the floor.
For her part, AOC returned to calling the GOP members fascists and said Gen Z was coming: “Their fascism is only further radicalizing and awakening an earthquake of young people, both in the South and across the nation. If you thought youth organizing was strong, just wait for what’s coming. Gen Z don’t play.”
Others piled on: Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) decried, “This is fascism . . . expelling your political opponents . . . is disgusting.” Likewise, Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) declared, “This is fascism, full stop.” Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.) added “straight-up fascism in its ugliest, most racist form” because “there is no justification for ousting two legislators who were protesting with and for their constituents.”
Echo chamber
It is an ironic position of some Democrats who have supported calls for expelling House members after Jan. 6, including false claims that members personally assisted rioters in surveilling and getting access to the building.
The Washington Post’s Jennifer Rubin also called for expelling Republican members who voted against certifying the 2020 election.
It did not matter that members like Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) had previously voted against the certification of Republican presidents and called it democracy.
In 2004, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi heaping praise on Boxer declared, “This is not as some of our Republican colleagues have referred to it sadly as frivolous. This debate is fundamental to our democracy.”
Rubin declared, “Every Republican bears a responsibility for what happened on Wednesday, whether or not they participated in a seditious attempt to overthrow our democracy.”
January 6th committee Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) voted to challenge the certification of the 2004 results of President George W. Bush’s re-election; committee member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) sought to challenge President Donald Trump’s certification in 2016.
It did not matter that Rubin and members like Rep. Bill Pascrell demanded expulsion of dozens of members for their voting the wrong way on certification.
There were no cries of disgust from Harris or others even when Pascrell later called for prevention of 120 GOP members from being seated for signing an amicus brief that the Democrats disagreed with.
Likewise, when GOP members said something on the floor that Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI) felt wrongly portrayed Jan. 6, he called for their censure.
Dangerous hypocrisy
Now, however, Rubin and others are outraged with the expulsion of two members, objecting to “the stunning sight of white lawmakers condescendingly dismissing two young black men.”
Others packed a litany of left-wing grievances in the controversy.
One columnist wrote: “White nationalistic, theocratic, radical, ‘conservative’ movement that wants to burn this country to the ground if the masses refuse to be ruled by them alone do wish to conserve something. White (straight, ‘Christian’) male privilege and power. What happened was a very public lesson on structural racism, or even better, critical race theory.”
The media is complicit in this dangerous hypocrisy.
There is no discussion of how reckless rhetoric to rise up against the “fascists” fuels violence despite the common objections to such rhetoric from figures like Trump.
When witnesses recently called for an investigation into government censorship efforts, Democratic members denounced those calling for greater transparency as “Putin lovers” and apologists for insurrectionists and racists.
The reason appears to be the very rationalization of Vice President Harris: “It’s about whose voices they were channeling.”
Preventing legislative proceedings because the majority denied the “right” result is now democracy itself.
AOC’s promise of a radical reckoning is of little surprise.
The self-proclaimed socialist has long objected to aspects of our constitutional democracy, even questioning the value of having a Supreme Court.
Because she disagrees with the rulings of the Court, she asked, “How much does the current structure benefit us? And I don’t think it does.”
It all comes down to “whose voices are being channeled” as opposed to what the law or democracy may dictate.
It is all part of Politics BYOB (Bring Your Own Bullhorn).
This is a distraction from the fact a trans woman shot her way into a school shot and killed three 9 year olds and three adults.
Do not forget that little fact.
Glenn Greenwald’s take on Ms. Harris in Nashville is worth a few minutes, if you have them, especially his observation that recasting the narrative as racist effectively erases the deaths of the three children and three adults from the news and tacitly includes the shooter as a victim. I seem to remember an incident in Waukesha in which a car was used to kill and maim scores of people during a Christmas parade. Biden didn’t go to offer his condolences then either, and Harris did not bother to visit the families of those murdered by a person now recast as the victim of transphobia.
This is not the America I once knew, which, for all its faults (and they were many), had a great many virtues as well. But then, I’m old . . . .
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2023/04/10/greenwald_the_nashville_christian_shooting_has_been_erased_from_memory_because_its_an_inconvenient_narrative.html
In response to one of the comments, the reason this blog seems increasingly to be about politics is, I suspect, in part because one political party has decided to use the law to suppress speech it does not like and to go after its political opponents, blurring the distinction between the political and the legal sectors of society.
Why aren’t there any paragraphs in this piece? You’d get an F in freshman composition for this. It’s intentionally illiterate.
Never mind the question of whether additional gun control measures would be Constitutional or even effective.
My understanding, gathered from an interview with my State Representative is that both these individuals have a history of bad behavior and being disruptive. Thus I disagree they should have been removed from their seats.
I remember when this site used to be more about the law and less about politics.
Who got to the one TN legislator who voted at last minute to give Democrats and their media the “narrative” that it was racism that expelled the two black legislators and not the white woman? Who manipulated the legislator who changed their vote to not expel the white woman? It was a political hit job giving Dems the “it’s racism!” talking point. Dirty politics going on, indeed.
“ Who got to the one TN legislator who voted at last minute to give Democrats and their media the “narrative” that it was racism that expelled the two black legislators and not the white woman?”
Maybe it was a racist legislator who didn’t want a white woman to be expelled by really wanted those two black legisators to be punished. Racists are like that and it was obvious by the fact that the legislattors didn’r really push back on the racist narrative. Tennessee is not exactly Alabama, but they seem to share the same racist notions. Just an observation.
The legislator who saved the white women was Clear on his reasons.
They had a strong case against the other two.
But not against her. He wanted to vote to remove her two, but NOT without much stronger grounds.
This is all very well documented.
Minority republicans voted to remove all 3.
It was a White Republican male that cast the deciding vote that did not expel the woman.
And he said he absolutely wanted her gone, but not by violating the rules.
All through were charged with bills of particulars.
The Two blacks admitted and were caught on video doing what was claimed.
Most of the claims against the woman failed – because she did not shout, hold signs, use a bullhorn, or most of the claims in here bill of particulars.
Looking ahead, I suspect that Democrats will be organizing marches on State legislative chambers to intimidate legislators. Republicans in Washington DC need to start talking consistently about “left-wing fascism.’
The democrats have been on a tear for about 3 decades. The election of 1932 swept FDR into power and then followup elections in 1934 and 1936 cemented the democrats control. He threatened the Supreme Court into legitimizing much of his program that was questionable constitutionally. And then he and Harry Truman controlled court appointees for 20 years 1932-1952. Nearly all states legislatures were controlled by democrats and their ability to gerrymander was unchecked. The Republicans could elect Senators and Presidents but from 1932-1994 the House was Democratic except for a rare congress. Slowly the courts started to change with Eisenhower, then Nixon and finally Reagan but only slightly since Democrats controlled the senate most of the time. When the Republicans finally went went after state legislatures in the 1990’s and started to undo the Democratic gerrymandering, The Republican Party got on equal footing and congress has been closely contested ever since. The biggest failure for Democrats, though, has been losing the Court system where they could push through programs that they could not legislate. That is one of the main reasons they have lost their minds. They actually have to work in legislatures and get votes. Actually the repeal of the Roe vs Wade decision was a partial victory for them since they could legislate by state to control abortion or not. But half a piece of cake is not the whole cake and so they are not satisfied.
You have to get the kids out of the public schools and colleges and the regain control of the education system but they will fight it all the way. Our state legislators need to have steel in their spines and push hard.
I disagree again with Prof Turley. These legislators needed to be expelled. They asked for it and got their wish.
If an employee did this at work, they would be summarily fired. These legislators are employees of the people.
I’m in agreement with the professor.
This is no more insurrection than Jan 6 was. Both are riots. Both are civil disobedience.
Setting fire to buildings and looting in D.C. during the summer looks far more like an insurrection. Or at least terrorism.
The criminals who damaged the capital should have been treated exactly like the arsonists. I don’t recall any arsonists being put in jail for many months.
Two tiered justice system.
The Democrats are like a Greek chorus — they pipe up right on cue. And the word of the week is “fascism.”
The best comparison is the occupation of the Wisconsin State Capital by Democrats and their union bullies shipped in to stop Gov. Walker’s Act 10. Media were attacked outside especially Fox, the “Moaning Grannies” occupied the building for months/years { not sure whether they are still there as I was delighted to leave the state}, tried to recall Walker. So much for the Democratic Party’s view of Democracy.
The protesters were just tired of kids getting killed by crooks and muggers and carjackers and gang members.
Remember when some gang member shot a bunch of kids in Newton school in Sand Hook, Conecticut? And people were more concerned about the civil rights of gang members than the lives of kids?
Why do we tolerate those like the ACLU, the Black Lives Matter, and the NRA, who simp for the crook and the carjacker and the mugger and the gang member?
At risk of sounding crazy we are going through a revolution. Citizens are rejecting and seeing right through this bullhorn mentality. Today the 3rd state Democrat from Louisiana just switched parties. We now have the majority rejecting and disapproving of these tactics silently while the extreme left with media help shout loudly because their party stands for nothing.
i know
“For her part, AOC returned to calling the GOP members fascists and said Gen Z was coming: “Their fascism is only further radicalizing and awakening an earthquake of young people, both in the South and across the nation. If you thought youth organizing was strong, just wait for what’s coming. Gen Z don’t play.””
LOL!
Please!
The same group that wets themselves if you use the wrong pronoun?
What are they going to do? Hold their breath?
Jonathan, is ‘Paying Cash’ a form of Free Speech?
Please take up the charge, We need someone to Lead this cause, The defense of Cash.
Tulsi Gubbard is sounding the alarm but there is no Legal Traction (Defense of Cash) formulated.
https://twitter.com/TulsiGabbard/status/1645744167770005505?cxt=HHwWgoDR8bvm7dYtAAAA
Help, I don’t say this lightly.
George Soros & Son have no problem using their Cash to express Their Views (To Speak).
“Just Wait for What’s Coming” – They (The Media and Activist) are drowning Us out while the Thieves grab every last Dime and leave Town.
The Shadow State doesn’t want you to hear the truth. Central Banks armed with “central bank digital currency (CBDC)’ will pave the way to rule Us with Feudal Law.
OMG, two words.. Harlan Crow..If Soros paid 1/2 for one trip by Justice KBJ and her husband, you would be on top of the roof yelling Impeach that Black wretch..
Ike, what are you talking about? Make sense will ya please.
I’m sure that Vice President Harris has ordered a rainbow-colored Bullhorn for her desk in the Senate chambers.
Sure, this makes sense. It has worked on campuses across the land. Now do it in all legislatures that you don’t control. Remember Kamala said about rioting in 2020 that it shouldn’t and wouldn’t stop. Here we are again with a new tactic.
Democrats the party who is at Civil War with America…their 2nd…are Fascists…using the play book of 1920’s-30’s German Socialist, Russia 1937 The Great Purge or the Great Terror, Mao’s Cultural Revolution 60’s and 70’s China.
They are centralizing power, perfecting fraud in elections(ballot harvesting), a Central DOJ, FBI…which NOW is completely weaponized against republicans…non-RINOs. They USE government as a their political machine!
Fight now…before it is too late.
Only solution…is for republicans to cut federal spending by 50%. End funding for colleges and cities…which are little more than Democrats money centers…
Amplified rage?? Hardly!!. It is clear from the video of his return that he is very much enjoying and engendering the ‘kindergarten’ histrionics’ of the street mob on Spring Break.. If that is what his constituency will have representing them in the legislature then so be it. Unless the electorate demands otherwise, look for it to continue. The goal is to seize power and control, and retain it.