Andy Ogles is a fraud.
Any article you’ve read about him bullying Muslims in the past couple of days that doesn’t mention his fraudulence is doing you a disservice. I’ve written about this before, but it’s worth reiterating: Tennessee's U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles is a fraud, and whatever he says — no matter how shitty and bigoted and mean — must be understood in that context.
Ogles calls condemnation 'stupid,' House Democrats look to censure him
So yes, on March 9, Ogles tweeted: “Muslims don't belong in American society. Pluralism is a lie.” (You can check out the Scene’s story about all the people condemning him for it here.) Let’s be honest: This is a good strategy from Ogles. He says something terrible about Muslims that he thinks Trump will like enough to get in his good graces, maybe pardon him if necessary. Republican leaders don’t dare censure him, because Trump might yell at them. So Trump gets to enjoy watching all these Republicans — who know they’re tacitly approving the statements of this evil grifter by saying nothing — squirm. And he gets to enjoy watching Ogles strive for his favor. For a man like Trump, who enjoys seeing how much power he can wield over people, Ogles' willingness to embarrass himself and the leadership of his party has to be quite a treat.
Back in June, I wrote that Ogles “wants to be seen as someone brave and decisive, willing to take a stand, in the same way he wanted to be seen as someone who eases the burden on parents suffering the loss of their child, or the same way he wants to be seen as an expert on various things.” He wants to be seen as these things, but he doesn’t want to do the work to actually be those things.
Ogles is a feckless corndog. If tomorrow morning Donald Trump gives a speech about how awesome Muslims are and how “real” Americans should embrace them, Ogles would be rolling out the welcome mat by tomorrow evening.
The idea that Ogles, a one-man plurality of lies, would type that "pluralism is a lie" is so funny to me! Even if you were the biggest bigot on the planet, if you genuinely thought that the United States should be a Christian nation of only white people, you wouldn’t let Andy Ogles within a mile of the desk where you sit to decide who can be an American, because Ogles does not appear to have any genuine beliefs.
Tennessee's 5th Congressional District representative posted a racist cartoon of New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani
In my perfect America — which is pluralistic and fair, and we all leave each other alone to live our lives how we see fit as long as it doesn’t hurt anybody — and in the perfect America of racist fascist incel jackasses, the one thing that we’d agree on is that somebody like Andy Ogles shouldn’t have this kind of power or authority. And that, perhaps, he should be in prison.
It’s not just that he lacks honor or acts dishonorably. Andy Ogles is the inverse of honorable. He’s unhonorable. People lose their honor just by being near him. If you’re in a room with Andy Ogles and you’re not instinctively muttering prayers of protection under your breath, his mere presence is tarnishing your soul. If he agrees with your cause, it makes your cause immediately 75 percent stupider. If he genuinely likes you, your kids are likely going to abandon you in your old age.
You know I’m right. Let me just name three groups of people: the voters who elected U.S. Rep. John Rose; the voters who elected U.S. Rep. Matt Van Epps; the voters who elected U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles. I would bet all the money in my purse right now that you didn’t really have an opinion about the first two groups, but I bet you cringed or rolled your eyes at the third. He’s such a sucking void of anti-honor that regular people’s bodies recoil at the thought of anyone who would vote for him.
But none of this is to say that his words aren’t hurtful. The truth is that America’s most dangerous assholes are our biggest jokes. You can see how Andy Ogles is trying so hard to construct a persona that makes him seem like a brave truth teller when he has no real grasp on the truth and everyone knows it. That’s funny.
But he also is mean, and it sucks that he says stuff like this. And it’s very scary that he says stuff like this about people who face a lot of bigotry in our country. His words need to be taken seriously.
But Ogles himself? I’m sorry. I just can’t. He’s a joke, and every time he decides to front like he actually has standards and beliefs, we should remember that his history shows he does not.
