Don’t be sucked in. What happened in Tennessee was a race hustle

Two members of the TN House of Representatives were expelled yesterday. It wasn’t a lark- they were expelled for violating House rules and decorum and they admitted doing so.

The so-called “Tennessee three” admitted they broke House rules and stripped of committee assignments and lost ID access to the state Capitol.

After ginning up the protests by the school-age children they sashayed into the House, fists raised

They self-admittedly then took over the House floor

‘We occupied the House floor today…’ https://t.co/55Kg9lOaZW https://t.co/jT9RXwOKWr pic.twitter.com/oVU7Ls9cDu

— Byron York (@ByronYork) April 7, 2023

They made the most of it

When the three took over the lectern in the House, Jones, who had sneaked a megaphone into the House chamber, held it to his mouth and led the crowd in chanting, “No action, no peace! No action, no peace!” He complained that the House was wasting its time on issues “that have nothing to do with the crisis at hand.” Then Pearson took the megaphone and began denouncing Republicans, the National Rifle Association, and other defenders of the Second Amendment. “We are demanding that enough is enough!” Pearson yelled. He led the protesters in a chant: “Enough is enough! Enough is enough! Enough is enough!” Then Pearson broke into “Power to the people! Power to the People! Power to the people!”

The House held a vote to expel them for their behavior 

The Tennessee House of Representatives spent Thursday debating the expulsion of three members, all Democrats, who hijacked the House floor for nearly an hour on March 30, using a bullhorn to shout at and harangue their fellow legislators in tandem with noisy anti-gun protesters who filled the galleries. House Republicans, who hold a huge 75-24 majority in the chamber, filed a resolution to expel state Reps. Gloria Johnson, Justin Jones, and Justin Pearson for “knowingly and intentionally bring[ing] disorder and dishonor to the House of Representatives through their individual and collective actions.” Thursday, they debated and voted.

Their expulsion was largely symbolic and they knew it

Both expelled members can be reappointed to their seats by officials in their respective counties, which in Nashville and Memphis are Democrat strongholds in an otherwise red state. They cannot be expelled again for the same offenses, members said during debate Thursday.

So why did they do it? There was no need. This is the key to it all

Meanwhile, Republican leaders were huddling nearby, discussing how to restore order to the House. This is how Sexton, the House speaker, described what happened:

We had protesters that had been vocal about things … and were out in front of chambers being very vocal and yelling and screaming, which we’re used to. And [Jones, Johnson, and Pearson] took at one point during session to come up out of order and tried to take over the House floor, started pulling out a megaphone and shouting at members to incite riot or violence. … You had people outside the chamber who rushed the state troopers to try to get inside the chamber. They weren’t successful. … Now we have multiple violations by those three. They’re protesting guns and shootings, saying they don’t have a voice, which is ridiculous because they talk on almost every bill anyway.

Expelling the two black men and not the white woman led to assertions of racism, which is exactly what the scofflaws hoped for.

It was all intended to go this way.  They were never deprived of a right to speak or participate. THIS was the goal

No flagpoles.
No pepper spray.
No fire extinguishers.
No smashed windows.
No beaten police officers.
No feces smeared on the walls.
No chanting of hanging people.

Just peaceful protesting.
And they were expelled.

Fuck you, Tennessee GOP.
This ain’t over. pic.twitter.com/j1S7MF9HvO

— BrooklynDad_Defiant!☮️ (@mmpadellan) April 7, 2023

Taking control of the House floor and using a bullhorn to exhort others to possible violence is not peaceful. They were interfering with official proceedings, parading and forcibly occupying the House floor. If that sounds familiar, it should. Do you have any idea how many peaceful Jan 6 protesters have been arrested, sat in solitary and still in jail without a first idea of when they might even have a trial? The DOJ is gearing up to frame another 1000 or so.

But make no mistake- this was a plan all along. They wanted national attention and they got it and will pay no real price for their actions. What I saw was Al Sharpton Jr., Jesse Jackson III and Janie Fonda II. All the boxes were checked.

It was a hustle. A race hustle.

DrJohn

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