Pursuant to Article 2, section 12 of the constitution of the State of Tennessee,
I hereby declare Representative Justin Jones of the 57 representative district
expelled from the House of Representatives of the 113th Assembly of the State of
Tennessee [SOUND].
>> Tennessee Republicans have just expelled
Democratic Representative Justin Jones, one of the three Democratic reps in
the state who decided to join protesters who were calling for gun regulation.
Now, the protest happened in the state Capitol, and
while the protests were happening, these Democratic lawmakers decided you know what
we agree with the protesters and we want to protest with them in solidarity, but
that made their Republican colleagues very upset, their feelings were hurt.
And so, they decided that they would vote
on whether to expel these three Democratic lawmakers.
They did it, they voted in favor of expelling Justin Jones.
They have already voted on a second Democratic lawmaker.
So, they have decided against expelling the second individual,
they're currently as we speak, voting on the third Democratic lawmaker.
And speaking on the House floor, Representative Jones called out
his Republican colleagues for punishing those who speak out against gun violence.
Let's take a look at that.
>> A week after a mass shooting plagued our community,
the most direct action this legislative body takes or
should I say my colleagues on the other
side of the aisle are taking is to expel us for
speaking about the issues of weapons of war on our streets.
We called for you all to ban assault weapons and
you respond with an assault on democracy.
>> Now, the vote to expel another Democrat Representative Gloria Johnson failed and
we're waiting to hear about Justin Pearson.
Justin Pearson is the third Democratic lawmaker in the House in
the State of Tennessee who is facing expulsion.
Which is kind of crazy wars because it's really going against the will
of the people.
I mean, voters in their districts voted them into office and
now you have Republican lawmakers just unilaterally making a decision about
whether these Democratic lawmakers get to stay or whether they should be expelled.
It's insane to me.
But what are your thoughts on this?
>> It's funny cuz, we were talking about Clarence Thomas earlier and
that anti-democratic institution that is the Supreme Court and
how untouchable this guy is.
You juxtapose that against these lawmakers in their state government.
Essentially, they're proclaiming the voices of their constituency,
that's what they get paid to do, to represent the will of the people who
elected them and those who didn't quite frankly.
And the idea that they would get expelled, not for some corruption,
not for dereliction of duty.
That they would make their voices heard is kind of the height of absurdity,
politics-wise anyway.
>> Absolutely, and I mean, for everything that we hear from the right about,
we need to protect our rights and our freedoms, is this what that looks like,
deciding to just do away with and expel politicians who hurt your feelings
because they engage in a protest that had a message you disagree with.
And by the way, you need a two-thirds majority in order to
succeed in expelling a member of the State House.
So, clearly, they had that for Representative Justin Jones.
They were unable to secure that vote for Representative Gloria Johnson.
And let's talk a little bit about the protest in question,
the protest that led to the expulsion and potentially another expulsion.
So, thousands of protesters packed into the Tennessee capital in the afternoon
of a shooting in the aftermath,
I should say of a shooting that claimed six lives just last week in Nashville.
That was the shooting that led to the deaths of three children and
three adults at covenant school, a religious school.
Many are parents who brought their children to the protest.
The crowd chanted things like what do we want, gun control,
when do we want it, now.
Popularly dubbed as the Tennessee Three,
the Democratic lawmakers spoke out in the House in support of them.
And also inside the House chamber and I'm guessing their behavior inside
the House chamber is what hurt the Republican's feelings.
Democratic representatives, Justin Jones, Gloria Johnson, and
Justin Pearson took to the podium with a bullhorn and
led demonstrators in chants supporting gun control legislation.
So, we have a tweet that shows you what the scene looked like.
The tweeter here did not take kindly to the protest.
Gloria smiling in the middle of this stand she knows they are breaking floor rules.
My God, decorum, we must maintain decorum was, I mean, come on.
>> Yeah, it's so obviously just a show of force, right?
It's that you guys don't get to have a voice in this chamber neither do
the people that you represent.
We have a monopoly on the power of this institution and
we're gonna show you just how powerful that monopoly is.
And we're gonna expel you fools.
That's all this is.
This is just a warning to anybody who would go against the power structure of
that institution that we will get rid of you for something as mundane as a protest.
Our God-given right as American citizens,
our right to protest, have our voices heard.
Like the idea that you would be expelled for that when we hear all of
the crazy stuff that politicians are doing on a daily basis,
damn there Ana, that these people would lose their jobs for this, wow.
>> No, it's crazy.
And look, I've thought about the shoe on the other foot, right?
So, let's say House is in session and Republicans decide to hijack it.
They've got their bullhorn and for
an hour straight their nonsense is stopping us from conducting the business
that we're supposed to do on behalf of our constituents.
I would be annoyed, right?
And I think that there is an argument to be made that like, ok, I mean,
how about Accenture if it bothers you that much?
And you wanna make a statement about how it's preventing you from being able to
do your job.
But the expulsion is really another level and
you're right, it's a way of communicating.
Don't ever try this again.
Anyone on the left, any Democratic lawmaker know your role, shut up,
sit down.
And it's really is a form of intimidation and
it goes against the will of the people.
I love the way that you put that because it's absolutely right.
Now, the rhetoric coming from the right-wing lawmakers in the state of
Tennessee is really mind-blowing.
They've referred to what the Democratic lawmakers did as an insurrection,
which is insane.
[LAUGH] Also- >> [LAUGH] You need to expel that word
from the discourse forever [LAUGH].
>> I guess everything's.
Okay, fascist and insurrection.
The two overused words in the context of politics in America.
Like, I mean, is there anyone the left doesn't think is a fascist?
[LAUGH] But like, but no, and then on the right, really, this was an insurrection.
How insane is that?
So, here's a GOP state representative Gino Bulso arguing that
the actions by these Democratic lawmakers equated to mutiny.
>> The gentleman shows no remorse.
He does not even recognize that what he did was wrong.
So, not to expel him would simply invite him and
his colleagues to continue to engage in mutiny on the House floor.
A mutiny which to this body under this state has been unknown
in its 227-year history since we adopted our constitution in 1796.
>> And by the way, this comes after they had already stripped the Democratic
lawmakers of their committee assignment.
So, they had already been punished for protesting on the House floor.
And just to really put this into context,
the expulsion hearing has only been used twice Since the 1800s, twice.
But apparently, they felt that that protest rose to the level
of conduct that is worth considering an expulsion for.
[LAUGH] It's just crazy.
>> 227 years Ana of precedence of honor in the Tennessee State House,
you can't go against that tradition.
Come on now [LAUGH].
>> Republicans also control the 99-member house with 75 of the seats.
So, they've got a strong majority in the State House and
that's why they're able to do what they're doing.
And I feel terrible for the voters who elected these individuals into office and
now their preference, now their part in this democratic process has been erased.
At least partially by the Republicans forcing their will on the people.
That's what they're doing.
They don't believe in democracy, they don't believe in change.
And they more importantly, this is really at the heart of it.
They don't like to be called out for their unwillingness to do a damn thing
to keep their own constituents safe from gun violence.
They hate being called out for that.
And so that's what that's about, they're embarrassed,
they don't want to deal with it anymore.
So, instead of actually having the courage to stick up for your terrible decisions,
they've decided let's just erase the people who are criticizing us,
we don't wanna have to answer to them or answer to anyone.
So, this is what's happening.
So, we don't know what will happen with the third Democratic lawmaker.
We're waiting to see that hearing is currently taking place as we speak.
But we will fill you guys all in on the update as soon as we know what
the details are.
For now, though I do wanna ask if you have any final comments on this was
before we move on.
>> Yeah, my heart goes out to these legislators and their supporters,
I hope that they're able to land on their feet somehow.
And I'm reminded of the fact that if this was some
right-wingers who they made us think about election fraud or
what are their pet projects about keeping trans kids out of swimming or
whatever, they would have a gravy train of the right-wing martyrdom.
Speaking engagement tour that these folks would be paid up until Timbuck II, Ana.
We don't have that on the left for our martyrs, unfortunately.
>> Yeah, you're right about that.
Republicans in the Tennessee State House have now voted in favor of
expelling both representatives, Justin Jones and Justin Pearson.
Two Democrats who joined in on a protest demanding for
gun control legislation in the State of Tennessee.
The only Democrat who took part in those protests and
did not get expelled is Representative Gloria Johnson.
Yes, I will note that she is white,
the two other Democratic lawmakers who were expelled are not white.
So, that is now getting a lot of attention.
But I just wanna be clear, none of them should have been expelled.
Not a single one of them.
I don't think they did anything wrong.
They were elected into office to represent their constituents.
They felt they were doing that and it wasn't as if they were interrupting
house proceedings for something ridiculous and frivolous.
They interrupted it for something incredibly important,
which is the need for legislation to mitigate the insane number of
Americans who die as a result of gun violence every year.
Wosny, any thoughts on this?
>> It's just horrible.
It's even worse than before this update came in.
I don't even know cuz I don't even know what the recourse is,
especially in a state as red as Tennessee.
Tennessee is I don't know how those people get justice.
I don't know how this situation gets redeemed.
I wish we had some answers as bleak as that sounds.
I don't know how any of this gets made better when the Republicans
over there can just gash anyone who comes up against them.
>> Yeah, that's true.
And I mean, I'm sure they'll feel emboldened by this and probably won't
stop here as long as Republicans have a supermajority in the House.
Who's to say they wouldn't vote to expel other
Democrats over other perceived issues?
It's just, this is not a democracy.
You can't have one party make decisions like this unilaterally.
And unfortunately in Tennessee,
they have the system where they are allowed to do it, it's insane.