It turns out that it’s okay to disrupt democratic proceedings if you feel strongly enough about a cause.
The same Democrats and journalists who have been obsessed with January 6 for years reversed course and valorized or looked past a protest at the Tennessee State Capitol that disrupted the legislature.
The demonstrators, pushing for gun control in the wake of the shooting at the Covenant School in Nashville, weren’t violent, and the event obviously wasn’t nearly as momentous as January 6. Still, it was a mob action made more shocking by a handful of Democratic lawmakers’ egging on the agitators from the floor of the legislature with a bullhorn.
This was a betrayal of their institution and their colleagues and a violation of the rules. Unfortunately, by instantly expelling two of the members — a third participant narrowly escaped expulsion — the Republicans who control the Tennessee legislature have created martyrs who are being used against them. Censure or the loss of committee assignments would have been perfectly appropriate punishments. The default, obviously, should be that voters get to choose their representatives, no matter how unworthy, except in extreme cases, typically involving crimes.
The legislature expelled Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, who are black, and spared Gloria Johnson, who is white. There is good reason for this. Gloria Johnson was a hanger-on during the protest, awkwardly standing beside Jones and Pearson and not wielding the bullhorn herself. But, of course, the differing treatment is being used to accuse the legislature of being an instrument of white supremacy.
The White House, naturally, is not passing up an opportunity to demagogue about alleged GOP racism and extremism. Kamala Harris traveled to Nashville to rally with the expelled lawmakers, and Joe Biden has invited them to the White House. They will likely be reappointed to the legislature and run in, and presumably win, special elections to fill their seats. The GOP leadership would be wise to conclude it’s better to have them inside the tent as backbenchers than outside as newly minted stars powered by their ongoing alleged martyrdom.