What was the point TN was trying to make by expelling them?

[BigmanPigman]

Honestly, I'd like to know what the purpose of this political exercise was? What were they trying to accomplish? Is it a power wielding agenda or are the TN GQP just really, really disorganized and dumber than dirt?

[LuckyCharms]

1. To exert their perceived power over "uppity black men".

It's going to backfire on them in a big way.

[Bev54]

2. They were trying to put those black men in their place, and threaten anyone else that spoke up

IMO they were not expecting the entire country to be watching so closely and it totally backfired on them.

[Marius25]

3. To put an uppity black man in his place and remind him the white people are in charge

Just your typical authoritarian, racist power play by the GOP.

[Walleye]

4. It made them feel big and powerful. I predict Justin Pearson will speak at the next Dem convention

[moonscape]

5. No point. Just raw hatred.

[WhiteTara]

6. We're white and you're not

and we make the rules so shut yo' mouf.

[Ocelot II]

7. To show them that they could do what they want because they have a supermajority

and in particular, they wanted to remind those uppity ------s of their proper place at the back of the bus. It was one of the most blatantly racist official acts I've seen in years. They also proved absolutely that they are not only racist but stupid and mean.

[MyOwnPeace]

15. Orvil Faubus and George Wallace.......

would have been proud of their 'good old boys!'

And they did it in an 'environmentally conscious' way - not a single torch was lit - not one cross was burned.

[ExWhoDoesntCare]

33. George Wallace at least showed some remorese

For his segregation forever phase, enough to renounce it. I don't think he became an anti-racist, by any means, but he did back off the worst of his views.

[stevil]

8. Two ideas

First - Red meat for the base, firing black people.
Second - Retaliation for the Jan. 6th arrests, convictions.

JMHO

[vanlassie]

9. Just dumb and mean as junk yard alligators.

[RockRaven]

10. "Know you place or we'll SHOW you your place"

Naked exercise of power, for the sake of asserting that power, to (try to) intimidate others into giving up on even resisting. Bullies don't want to win fights, because there's always a risk they might lose when they fight; bullies want the bullied to submit without fighting.

[Srkdqltr]

11. Because they could.

[live love laugh]

12. Test balloon 🎈 to see how far they can go with blatant racism.

They’re not “there”.

Yet.

[a kennedy]

13. All of the above......I'm still so pissed off about it, but extremely happy one's back and

the other is potentially back on Wednesday. IT SHOULD HAVE NEVER HAPPENED.

[tulipsandroses]

14. What everyone else said

Hateful bigoted fools. They are so drunk on power, they never even thought about how awful the optics would be. T

But you know what, I do want to thank them. They have helped elevate the importance of voting in local elections.

[MyOwnPeace]

22. I hope we can apply that lesson!

For years the Repukes have been preaching/practicing the idea of 'TAKING CONTROL AT THE LOCAL LEVEL' - and they HAVE!
Look at the messes we've seen after the 2020 fraud claims by the PUKES - and how potentially close they actually COULD HAVE stolen the election!

We MUST have 'power' in EVERY state legislature. If not 'control' - at least not allowing a veto-proof majority. They can do more harm than we have realized.

AND school boards! Have you been following the 'book-banning' mess? THE SCHOOL BOARDS control that! Do you want idiots/zealots like that deciding YOUR CHILD's educational program?

You are right - LOCAL ELECTIONS ARE IMPORTANT!!!!!!

[tulipsandroses]

29. Dems should challenge every race. Republicans won 22 local seats in FL because no one challenged

them. Heard that on MSNBC this morning. That statistic floored me. We have to be In every race.We won’t win everyone, heck in FL, we may not win any of those races, but we should not give them an automatic win.

[MyOwnPeace]

32. We don't know if we won't win......

IF WE DON'T TRY!!!!!!

YES, we NEED somebody to WANT THE JOB and RUN THE RACE! With REAL support from the local party - ANYTHING can happen!

[dalton99a]

16. To instill fear

[Sky Jewels]

28. I hope they feel like Yamamoto after Pearl Harbor:

I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.

Add abortion bans and lack of gun laws and global warming non-action and wealth inequality to the mix of rage that Gen Z is feeling.

[FakeNoose]

17. I guess it was the way they disagreed with "authority"

It was a disruptive protest and they participated in a way that upset the old establishment racists. Mainly they made their feelings known about gunz - too easy to get - too easy to kill our children - not enough background checks - etc.

Yes it was a disruptive, emotional protest but understandable given what's happened in Tennessee in the last week. Ejecting these two lawfully elected Representatives was a way over-reaction. The fact that they were Black and from the inner-city made it even worse.

[Danascot]

18. All of the above but also

these RWNJs literally lose their minds on the issue of guns.

[AngryOldDem]

19. They're still back in the slave era.

Putting people in their place.

Those days are OVER. If this didn’t ram that lesson home, more reckoning is coming. People are not putting up with this shit anymore.

GOP is overplaying its hand —badly.

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

20. same reason DeSantis pushes all his pointless, hate filled laws

[brush]

21. Go, DU. Amazingly everyone who responded had a similar reaction.

Racists trying to put 2 Black men in their place.

It didn't work and the Tenn. state legislature was exposed to the nation and the world as a racist body trying to go back to pre-civil rights days.

[BlackSkimmer]

25. Well, in case the OP was curious about the reason GIVEN for the expulsion,

that is how I answered.

[gratuitous]

23. And Republicans will have another go at it if they don't pay a price

I think these troglodytes are mildly surprised that their little power play got so much pushback. If some of them lose their seats in the next election, it might teach them a little lesson.

[peacebuzzard]

30. TN Reds don't care; this is daily crap in the state.

they all group together, look alike, eat alike, talk alike, same crap different day.
I just hope it stays in the national spotlight for awhile to expose these varmints for the idiots they are.

[BlackSkimmer]

24. It was a result of the three participating/leading an anti-gun protest.

Apparently, they also let the protesters inside the chamber...shouting ensued, some people said things were thrown...

Also apparently, there are rules about who can be admitted, procedures, checks, etc., and of course these were not followed. So technically they broke the rules, and that was the ostensible reason for the expulsion.

That's the reason/excuse they gave.

[maxsolomon]

37. You're the only one on this thread to bring up the actual reason they cited.

They interrupted House proceedings by leading a protest IN THE CHAMBER. The supermajority had the ability to expel them, so they did. "Teach them Dems a lesson".

It sure changed the topic from Gun Control, which they have no intention to address except to weaken it.

They should have been consistent and expelled Gloria, too, but ONE rep who voted yes on the Justins voted no on her expulsion.

[nakocal]

26. The racists that expelled the two

are republicans. Which means that they are fucking stupid and out of touch with reality. They did not understand that these two heroes would be re-instated.

[CincyDem]

27. Doesn't this shorten their term vs initial election? n/t

[maxsolomon]

38. They need to run in a special election now.

They're only restored in the interim.

[peacebuzzard]

31. you guessed correctly in your post.

just really disorganized and dumber than dirt is right.

[LeftinOH]

34. No point.. just knee-jerk, reactionary whitelash.

[sarcasmo]

35. Old whites acting like it's the 1950's.

[jcgoldie]

36. They are racists reacting irrationally

Listen to their comments before the vote. The tone is that these young black men should consider themselves lucky that they were even allowed to sit in their statehouse. They were genuinely appalled that the Justins had the gall to protest given how patronizing they had been treated.