One thing that has always baffled me: how Republicans in this state will do the most egregious shit, and then be shocked and outraged that Democratic politicians and protesters of all stripes get pissed.
Just as a for-instance, last week, Republicans redistricted Memphis out of political power — an act they claimed didn’t have anything to do with race, but also just coincidentally managed to split Memphis’ Black population into three equal parts, which were dumped into their newly apportioned districts. And then they were outraged when state Sen. Charlane Oliver stood on her desk and unfurled a sign that read “No Jim Crow 2.0” and “Stop the TN Steal.”
As reported by the Scene, Lt. Gov. Randy McNally then spoke against her:
“Senator Oliver’s outrageous and unprecedented display on the Senate floor today was disgraceful,” McNally said in a statement Thursday. “She disrespected her colleagues, her constituents and this state. There is simply no excuse for what she did. The Senate floor is for deliberative debate not calculated performative disruption. It was conduct unbecoming of a Senator — pure and simple."
Protests from demonstrators and Democrats mark heated final day of whirlwind special session
Just to be clear, carving up Memphis because an adjudicated rapist, convicted felon and pal to pedophiles tells you to, as Trump did, is apparently becoming of a state legislator. But being grossed out and pissed off is not. That makes no sense to me. It makes me feel insane, actually.
Like, this is Randy McNally — hero of the Rocky Top scandal, who wore a wire for the FBI in order to fight corruption in the state legislature. I would bet you $20 that, if we were to ask McNally if he’d stand by and let a rapist harm more people, he’d say no. If we were to ask him if he’d let a felon take advantage of people, he’d say no. He’d be on the side of the people who were trying to stop that person — until that person is Trump.
There are some politicians, like U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles or state House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville), who will dance to whatever tune Trump calls for them. But there are other Republicans whose quiet acquiescence to eating whatever shit Trump shovels at them is baffling to me. It makes no sense.
I mean, sure, there’s racism. And this whole situation is a racism croissant — racism folded in at every flaky level. But Tennessee Republicans can be racist all the live-long day on their own. They don’t need Trump’s help coming up with ideas. And every time they do racist things, they cause themselves the Justin Pearson Problem, which is where they do something egregious and end up making state Rep. Justin Pearson (D-Memphis) look cool as hell.
The Tennessee GOP has found ways of talking themselves out of worrying about anyone else in the Democratic caucus. Bitches be crazy, is how they think of the legislature's Democratic women. Or Justin Jones is an easily baited hothead, and everyone else is old or inconsequential. But there’s Justin Pearson, standing chest-to-chest with a white guy keeping him from his work. That picture. In the past few days, I’ve seen that image, taken by The Tennessean's Nicole Hester, everywhere. Leftist country artists on TikTok are singing about it. Young people on YouTube are putting it on screen and then talking about how it’s time to go all-in for him. And sure, I’ve also seen right-wing influencers talking about how he’s dangerous and out of control and how he must be expelled. But we’re kind of in the “everybody’s Andy Ogles” stage of things, where people are invoking all the racist stereotypes they can think of hoping it will have some effect, but there’s no one left to persuade. The sides are settled. And now, every time Tennessee Republicans do something terrible, they end up reinforcing the impression that Justin Pearson is the coolest cat in the state.
I was thinking, though, of Rep. Todd Warner (R-Chapel Hill) draping himself in a Trump flag on the first day of the special session. Someone made him take it off, but it was too late. We all saw it. And I got to thinking about why Warner would feel such loyalty to Trump, even over fairness toward his fellow Tennesseans.
Y’all remember 2021? Back when the FBI targeted Warner, along with former state House Speaker Glen Casada, Rep. Robin Smith and others? Here’s what Erik Schelzig told Phil Williams was weird about Warner’s situation:
Casada backed Warner, "who had spent upwards of $120,000 of his own money, which came to the surprise of a lot of folks down there because he had just declared for federal bankruptcy a few years back because he was unable to pay $20 million in debts," Schelzig noted.
This happened in January 2021 (before Biden's inauguration), which means the investigation started during the first Trump administration. Warner was never indicted, and eventually, Casada and one of his colleagues were pardoned by Trump.
The legislature is returning this week so the GOP can attempt to gerrymander Memphis — and they don't care who's impacted
So during the first Trump administration, Trump’s FBI was all over Capitol Hill. There were rumors that some legislators were wearing wires in efforts to target other legislators. There were informants. How much extraneous dirt do you think the FBI learned about Tennessee politicians?
If the Trump administration has dirt on many Tennessee Republicans, that could explain a lot about why Tennessee Republicans do this sort of shit to us and then get all weirdly prissy when people get mad about it. They’re all quietly accepting that they’re stuck in a situation they don’t like, but have to go along with, and so why can’t we?
That’s the other thing that strikes me as so funny (both funny-ha-ha and funny-peculiar) about this situation. Whether or not you agree with the Tennessee Democrats and/or the protesters, it’s very obvious that they are sincere. They are sincerely angry. They sincerely feel the weight of history on them. When Charlane Oliver talks about standing on her desk — in part, on behalf of her ancestors — I know she feels that legacy.
And it’s also very obvious that Republicans aren’t sincere at all — from standing around claiming they have no idea what the racial makeup of Memphis is to being all-in on a guy from New York. (Speaking of people’s ancestors, can you imagine these Republicans having to explain to their Confederate forebears that they all take orders from a guy from New York City? I only hope that I have been good enough in this wretched life that my lake of flames burns near to the TN GOP’s lake of flames, so that I can sometimes overhear those conversations.)
I guess they think they’re showing voters (and Trump) that they are loyal to Trump and will do whatever they can to help him. But then they keep arranging for these great demonstrations of how Trump leads them around by the nose while their colleagues on the other side of the aisle get all the iconic photo ops standing up for truth, justice and the American way.
Simping for Trump works only for as long as Trump remains popular in Tennessee. And I’d want to know how many acres farmers will be planting this spring and how high gas prices are going to go before I’d bet on Trump’s popularity being unshakable. Come summer, voters may be looking for heroes, and Republicans just spent a lot of taxpayer money giving Democrats a chance to look heroic.
