You know how the interstates follow a path roughly parallel to old highways? I-40 and U.S. 70 go pretty much the same places. I-24 and U.S. 41A north of town and U.S. 41 south of town? I-65 and U.S. 41 and U.S. 31?
Actually, Nashville, I’ve driven with you long enough to know that you don’t actually know this, because you will sit out on 40 in a dead standstill while those of us cued into this occult knowledge zip along on Lebanon Pike. But look at a map! It’s true.
So now here is a philosophical question. It seems easy enough to answer, but give it some thought before you do. If you and I are both going east, and I’m on Lebanon Pike and you’re on I-40, and our stated goal is to end up having dinner at Demos’, are we headed the same direction? Are we going the same place? What would it take for you to believe that we were going to dinner together?
Blackburn, Lamberth and other powerful Republicans were at Friday's 'Rally to End Child Mutilation.' So were the Proud Boys.
OK, now let’s say you’re a white supremacist terrorist. Is Gov. Bill Lee headed in the same direction as you? Is he intending to end up in the same place as you? Do you think he’s traveling together with you?
I think the two-roads metaphor is useful when thinking about this. Gov. Lee certainly does not appear to be on the exact same road as white supremacist terrorists. But even if he’s traveling the scenic route and they’re speeding out on the interstate, are they headed to the same place?
Last weekend, Gov. Lee traveled to the Texas border to rail against the feds. The day after his press conference, a Montgomery County man was arrested for plotting to travel to the Texas border and kill feds. He was the second Tennessee man to be arrested in conjunction with this plot.
One of the below statements was spoken by the governor, and the other was spoken by one of the plotters.
“We know that ya'lls (sic) watched people come across the border that are trafficking drugs. You know, it’s not acceptable anymore. If ya’ll cannot take care of this border and shut it down then we will be forced to come in and do it ourselves.”
And:
“The open-border experiment has catastrophically failed America, and people across the nation are experiencing the devastating consequences of rising crime, drug trafficking and human trafficking. This crisis will only become worse if immediate action isn’t taken. That’s why governors are working together to do what the federal government won’t do, and that is secure our nation’s southern border.”
What’s the difference? Other than the fact that Lee took the scenic route in his rhetoric and the terrorist wannabe got to his point as quickly as possible?
Though the timing of the Montgomery County man’s arrest might make it seem like Bill Lee and this guy both were headed to Texas at the same time, and thus might make you think that he was inspired by Lee’s words, it’s actually worse. According to stories from the Texas Tribune and at NBC News, the group that this Montgomery County dude was in had been talking this way and planning this thing for months. In other words, these jokers aren’t echoing Lee’s sentiments; he’s echoing theirs.
(And listen, I don’t want to get too off-track here, but if you are just objectively a dumbass — like, if you have to live in a trailer on your ex-wife’s property because you do nothing but make bad decisions — when your kid tells you someone’s a fed, listen and believe.)
How often are we supposed to see Gov. Bill Lee headed toward where white supremacists are hanging out (there’s a border crisis; we need to get rid of “government” schools; trans people are somehow a threat to your children) before we assume it’s not just a coincidence and that he and they have the same end goals?
GOP legislators are mad at Justin Jones for declining to lead the Pledge of Allegiance, while Gov. Lee travels to the Texas border
Which leads me to my problems with the FBI and the U.S. Attorney's Office in this case. OK, you got a fool who wanted to "start a war" with Border Patrol to sell you a silencer. So what? If you arrested him as the governor was returning from Texas in order to embarrass the governor, I’m having a satisfying chuckle at that. But our governor gets public thank-you notes from Nazis. And he just quietly accepts their gratitude. If you’re looking to stop potential violence at the border, is the dumbass from rural Montgomery County who never went to Texas more of a threat than the feckless Tennessee governor who did?
Not that I’m calling for the FBI to arrest Bill Lee. I’m just saying that this situation with the Montgomery County man is a drop in the bucket of our extremist problem, and maybe we need to find ways to make things more uncomfortable for the people with power who have those same views.
