Rep. Mark Green Sums Up Republican Hypocrisy Perfectly

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It’s no secret most Republicans legislators feel it’s their duty right now not to do what they think is right, but to stand by Trump at all costs – regardless of what he’s doing to societal/constitutional norms, the law, our global reputation and our allies.

Most have stayed silent as he pressured a foreign government to interfere in our elections by digging up dirt on his opponent, which they all refuse to defend and instead are awkwardly dancing around.

They’ve stayed silent as he has lied about it repeatedly.

They’ve stayed silent as he stopped witnesses from testifying… and distanced himself from his own ambassadors who were texting abut the quid pro quo… and pretended not to know the men who were executing the plan, who were just ARRESTED – who have been seen in pictures with him, and who have been palling around with his lawyer for many months, looking for Biden dirt in Ukraine.

The only issue on which Republicans have even shown the slightest bit of willingness to part with Trump is the issue of Syria, where Trump has just recently abandoned our Kurdish allies who have helped us against ISIS seemingly on a whim, without telling the very generals in charge of the situation over there.

The damage and destruction has already begun.

It’s worth noting that Turkish officials are some of Trump’s best customers at his hotel in DC, and he himself has business in Turkey. Yet again we have a president putting his own interests ahead of the country.

Rep. Mark Green is among the Republicans who have made it a point to excuse and support everything this president does, and now Green has even gone ahead and told us as much – telling NPR that he “fully supports” Trump’s actions in Syria even when he disagrees with it.

Here’s the quote: “I don’t agree with what he’s doing… I wish it wasn’t happening… but I still FULLY SUPPORT IT.”

Fuller transcript of this answer, in which Republican Rep. Green says he disagrees with Trump’s decision on Syria, but then again compares his support for Trump with his marriage pic.twitter.com/ewWA55peXl

— Tim Mak (@timkmak) October 9, 2019

This is leadership? Green is a military man, and apparently he thinks he was elected to blindly obey this president. But congress is supposed to exist as a separate branch, there to check the bad behavior of a president gone wild.

If our founders wanted a king, the American Revolution never would’ve happened.

Meanwhile we have Evangelical leaders calling for “obedience” to Trump. The Bible is very clear about false Gods.

The question becomes: At what point does a political party become a cult? Feels like we’re already there.

The constitution anticipates out-of-control presidents, which is why the powers of impeachment exist. But what happens when an entire political party becomes just as corrupt and complicit? There are many conservatives speaking out right now – George Will, conservative lawyers, military people – some of which even worked for Trump.

But in the end it will be up to senators like Lamar Alexander to put country before party and actually do something about it, or else pretty soon what we have won’t resemble anything like the country our founders intended.

Holler at Lamar and let him know it’s time to put country first: (202) 224-4944

Manny Sethi’s Cast of Characters

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On Thursday, Republican U.S. Senate Candidate Dr. Manny Sethi released a list of 174 “grassroots” activists supporting his campaign. Spoiler alert: We’re betting his opponent, former Trump ambassador to Japan Bill Hagerty, didn’t lose any sleep last night.

For instance, the most prominent official on Sethi’s list is State Rep. Bruce Griffey (District 75, Paris) and his wife, Rebecca. The Griffeys recently made statewide news for breaking state Republican Party bylaws in an attempt to intimidate a chancery court judge and ensure Rebecca Griffey’s appointment to the bench. The judge submitted her resignation to Governor Bill Lee after nine days, citing intimidation by the Griffeys.

Rep. Bruce Griffey and his wife, Rebecca, with disgraced former Tennessee House Speaker Glen Casada.

Elected officials also include State Rep. Kelly Keisling (District 38, Byrdstown.) In 2012, Keisling used his official state email address to share the rumor with constituents that then-President Barack Obama was planning to stage a fake assassination attempt in order to stop the 2012 election.

In a press release,  Forrest Barnwell-Hagemeyer, Sethi’s campaign manager, said, “It’s clear that Dr. Manny is the choice of Tennessee conservatives.”

In addition to the Griffeys and Keisling, those conservatives include:

  • State Rep. Dan Howell, (D22-Cleveland,) whose legislative accomplishments have included voting for Governor Lee’s education voucher scheme, voting to authorize adoption agencies to deny adoption to parents who don’t comply with the agency’s religious beliefs, and voting to allow Gov. Lee to submit a waiver of Medicaid in favor of block grants to “cover” healthcare.
  • Former (Nashville) Metro Council Member Duane Dominy, currently a plaintiff in a lawsuit alleging Metro violated its own laws in the pending deal to place a Major League Soccer stadium at Fairgrounds Nashville.
  • Former Metro Council Member and current TNGOP Executive Committee Member Robert Duvall, who supported the legalization of gun carry in Metro Parks during his time on the council.
  • Dr. Ming Wang of Nashville, lasik eye surgeon.
  • Rick Williams, Nashville, former 5th Congressional District chair of 2016 Trump for President campaign.
  • Helen “Tootie” Haskins, longtime Tennessee legislative aide.
  • Fred Decosimo, Chattanooga, board member of the Beacon Center of Tennessee and treasurer of Lee’s gubernatorial campaign.
  • Marshall County Trustee Scottie Poarch, who in 2017 was nominated by Congressman Scott DesJarlais as the 4th Congressional District’s Statesman of the Year.
  • Dr. Omar Hamada, former chair of the Williamson County Republican Party.
  • Cyndi Miller, state GOP Executive Committee member (D23-Williamson County), who has advocated for the sale of the public Williamson County Medical Center.

For a full list of Sethi’s grassroots cast of characters, go to the Tennessee Journal.

Illuminating TWITTER THREAD: Biden Vs. Trump – by Susan Hennessey

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We wanted to share this TWITTER THREAD by @Susan_Hennessey with you that sheds some light on the basic points about Trump’s hypocritical, baseless, destructive, impeachable mission to pressure foreign governments to go after his political opponent.

Hunter Biden profiting off of the Biden name is not something anyone should be happy about, but it’s also not illegal, and it doesn’t excuse Trump manipulating the entire apparatus of the American government to do his political bidding, Also, the Trump family is the last family in the world that should be attacking him for it considering how the Trump kids have been doing the same and worse – and Trump has been profiteering off the Oval Office since the beginning.

Meanwhile another whistleblower tells us Trump is meddling with the IRS to keep us from seeing his taxes. What a mess.

Here’s SUSAN’S THREAD on why Biden actually followed the rules and norms that Trump has not.

All presidents and vice presidents and cabinet members have family and friends whose jobs might be impacted by policy. That’s why we ask them to observe transparent ethics processes and norms. That is what Biden did. That is what Trump doesn’t do.

To begin with, we ask that presidents and vice presidents divest from personal business holdings. That is what Biden did. That is what Trump didn’t do.

Then we ask that presidents and vice presidents disclose tax returns and financial records to ensure transparency. That is what Biden did. That is what Trump refuses to do.

Then we ask presidents and vice presidents to observe the laws and norms against nepotism in government, by not hiring their family members. Biden observed those norms and laws. Trump refuses to do so.

Even when presidents & VPs divest from personal conflicts, disclose finances & avoid nepotism, sometimes questions still arise. Some things they can’t recuse from & will impact their own financial interests or family/friends. Things like tax cuts, foreign policy, military action.

And so we expect them to observe the norms of process in order to bolster legitimacy. By working through places like State Department, relying on interagency recommendations. It creates reassurance that decisions are being made in the national interest and not personal interest.

What Trump has done is refused to divest from his business, refused to disclose tax returns and financial documents, handed his children government jobs, and then circumvented regular process in the face of opposition from the executive branch and Congress.

Because Biden observed all ethics rules and norms, and was acting on behalf of the US with international support—a position reached through robust and transparent process—we can have confidence in his actions, even in situations in which someone identifies a possible conflict.

This is why past presidents and vice presidents have voluntarily observed these rules (at least most of them and usually). Because they know they may need it to preserve political legitimacy. But Trump doesn’t care about legitimacy. He is openly unethical and self-interested.

Here is a piece I wrote on exactly this problem in January 2017 and why ethics rules are essential to national security.

And here is a book I wrote with Benjamin Wittes which has a whole entire chapter devoted to the subject, chock-full of fun historical examples!

 

VIDEO: Trae Crowder Dismantles TN GOP Senate Candidate Bill Hagerty

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Some HIGHLIGHTS of the great Trae Crowder’s glorious TAKEDOWN of TN GOP Senate candidate Bill Hagerty’s entirely predictable, disingenuous pandering. His opponent: Iraq War Veteran James Mackler.

 

VIDEO: Mary Gauthier & Emmylou Harris Support James Mackler For Senate in 2020

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Grammy-nominated Mary Gauthier & Grammy-winner Emmylou Harris support James Mackler for Senate in 2020.

REP. FLEISCHMANN: “I Think There Are Enough Laws On The Books Dealing With Guns”

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In an interview this week, Rep. Chuck Fleischmann made it clear he won’t back any common sense gun safety regulations as he spouted NRA talking points. Fleischmann has an A-rating from the NRA and as Ramsey Cohen says “Has taken thousands of dollars from them in the past”.

Watch and share the video below, and holler at Chuck HERE.

NEW: “I think there are enough laws on the books dealing with guns.”@RepChuck Fleischmann won’t support magazine size limits, universal background checks, etc. – instead spouts NRA talking points.

RELATED: Chuck has an A-rating from the NRA, as @ramseycohen points out here. pic.twitter.com/Xu2oQridsU

— The Tennessee Holler (@TheTNHoller) September 5, 2019

Rep. Mark Green Denies Less-Than-Honorable Army Discharge, Calls Constituent a “Liar”

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Last night Freshman Republican Congressman Mark Green (TN-7) responded to Facebook commenters on a Holler post, denying that his discharge from the army was a “General Discharge” as opposed to an “Honorable Discharge”. Commenting from his personal Facebook account, Green called a constituent a “liar” and “fake news”, and said the woman he was replying to had “probably never served in the military”.

Rumors have swirled around Congressman Mark Green’s military record for some time, particularly in the wake of his failed bid to become Army Secretary under President Trump, a bid that came up short of even a senate confirmation hearing under an entirely Republican-controlled congress. Most attributed his failed bid to the radical, ugly things he said about the LGBT community, but some speculated there was more to it than that, and that the real reason he couldn’t be Army Secretary was because of something in his military record.

As Roz Latchman says, of all the things that have been said about Green “THIS is what gets his attention”.

Green’s comments came underneath our post yesterday about concerns of Fort Campbell families about a new Trump policy which makes it harder for military families stationed overseas to make sure their children are considered American citizens.

The Holler has obtained Green’s publicly available discharge papers, but unfortunately the key parts are entirely redacted, leaving these questions unanswered.

Again, it’s noteworthy though that of all the things people have said about Green – and there have been many – THIS was something he felt the need to respond to publicly on our Facebook page. The good news is, just like with Trump’s tax returns, there’s one simple way for Green to clear this all up and put the rumors to bed: Release your UN-REDACTED DD 214 papers, congressman.

If your record is as “exemplary” as he says it is, there would appear to be little downside in doing so. You clearly have no problem patting yourself on the back for the conversation you had with Saddam Hussein – you even wrote a book about it (although we admit we haven’t read it) – so it’s not as though you prefer to keep your military triumphs to yourself.

Why stop now?

 

VIDEO: BETO COMES TO NASHVILLE

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Video from Beto O’Rourke’s rally here in Tennessee this week. Beto was impressive, and the energy was great. We appreciate his optimistic message about immigration, and we also appreciate that he came to see us and spent time in the community.

We hope all the other presidential candidates will do the same.

VIDEO: Rep. Jim Cooper Fires Up The Crowd At The CLC Lunch

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This week Rep. Jim Cooper visited the Central Labor Council lunch in Nashville and spoke to a rapt audience about the need for unity and togetherness in the coming election, when the labor movement would be a key part of a “winning strategy” in the hopes of preserving key programs like Medicare and social security.

Cooper spoke about rampant inequality the likes of which we haven’t seen since the Gilded Age, acknowledged that the system isn’t fair, but reminded everyone that “the rich people are out there voting”.

Watch the HIGHLIGHTS:

LAMAR ALEXANDER: “I Believe Climate Change Is Real, Caused By Humans”

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With so much going on right now, we almost missed Lamar Alexander saying something few Republicans will these days: That climate change is real, and caused by humans.

This is not something you hear Republicans say every day.

Donald Trump hasn’t admitted it. Most Republicans have spent their time recently mocking and misrepresenting Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal, which attempts to address the realities of Climate Change in ambitious ways, but without offering ideas of their own.

Meanwhile President Trump has appointed a former coal lobbyist as the head of the EPA.

As a reminder, much of the dark money that funds these climate change denial efforts can be traced back to the Koch Brothers, who have a strong presence here in Tennessee.

In a Politico article today Alexander seems to be attempting to address that:

“I believe climate change is real. I believe humans are a major cause of it, and I think a new ‘Manhattan Project for Clean Energy’ is something that most Republicans could support, and I would hope most Democrats could too.”

The article also points out that more and more Americans see climate change as a major issue:

“Polls back up the importance of the issue for 2020. Likely Democratic caucus-goers in Iowa, home of the nation’s first presidential caucus, now rank climate change as the second-most important topic facing the nation.”

Just last week high school kids across the globe walked out in an attempt to highlight the problem – a problem even Exxon’s own scientists have been warning them about for decades.

It remains to be seen how far Alexander is willing to go, and since his time is almost at an end it seems unlikely he’ll be able to see anything through, but it’s nice to see the ice around climate change denial begin to thaw even a little. Especially since the warnings lately have been extremely dire.

If you agree, holler at Lamar HERE.