KANEW: “TENNESSEE REPUBLICANS ARE TURNING THEIR BACKS ON DEMOCRACY”

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TENNESSEE REPUBLICANS ARE TURNING THEIR BACKS ON DEMOCRACY

On November 3rd Donald Trump lost the presidential election. I know it’s hard for some people to hear that, but that’s all the more reason it needs to be said. It was close in some key swing states, but President-Elect Joe Biden is now up by tens of thousands of votes even in those states, and Republican secretaries of state across the country are telling us there is zero real evidence of widespread fraud. 

Obviously that hasn’t stopped President Trump from refusing to accept defeat. He told us he would only accept the outcome if he won before the election, and he has followed through. He now tweets incessantly, day after day about how he has been cheated – pointing to vote counts being changed, dead people voting, Republican observers not being allowed into the counting rooms… all of which have been debunked one by one by one. Trump is tweeting about fraud publicly while his lawyers admit in court, under oath, that they are not actually saying any such fraud took place.

Simply put, there is no evidence of widespread fraud. He is lying. There is no debating that. 

What is up for debate is why. Is it simply so he can drag this out as long as possible to give himself more time to milk money from his supporters? Money which he claims is going to help him fight the lawsuits he keeps losing, but which the fine print tells us he is stuffing into his own pockets? 

Or does he really think he can take this all the way to the end and overturn this election with the help of Republican-held state legislatures, who would have to turn their backs on democracy, throw out the results of the election in their states, and assign their electors to him without any justification for doing so?

One would hope he knows the latter is an impossibility, since it would essentially mean the end of The American Experiment.

One would hope he would understand that even Republicans in his party would deem that to be a bridge too far.

But would they? If they’re anything like the Republicans in Tennessee, perhaps not. 

So far here in Tennessee, the only prominent Republicans who have been willing to acknowledge that Joe Biden is president-elect are ex-Senators Bob Corker and Bill Frist. Senator Lamar Alexander has said nothing. Governor Lee has expressed his support for Trump’s efforts, as have Senator Marsha Blackburn, senator-elect Bill Hagerty, and both chambers of the Tennessee supermajority legislature. The Tennessee Republican delegation of congressmen have also gone right along with the charade, including Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, who told a news network “what we’re seeing is fraud,” but when pressed for specifics pointed to Nevada – where the 3000 ballots in question had already turned out to be mostly military families who had been transferred.

Is this what it has come to, Republicans? One can only imagine the outrage they would be demonstrating had Hillary Clinton refused to concede, especially if she had a 5 million vote deficit in the popular vote rather than the 3 million advantage she ended up with (in fact, they did rip her viciously for even just having questions in the aftermath of 2016).

Or worse yet, imagine their reaction if Obama were doing any of this. 

Perhaps they think they’re just humoring Trump, and that at the end of the day this will have no lasting impact after he inevitably leaves the White House. But that’s shortsighted. Tennessee Republicans had a chance to stand up, finally show some leadership and backbone, and say enough is enough. Instead, they signed up to join this circus and help Trump trash our election process, a favor to our anti-Democracy enemies that ultimately means Trump’s loyal following of millions of Americans will now forever believe this was a rigged election. 

Nobody knows what lasting impact that will have in the days, weeks, and years to come, but what we do know is Tennessee Republicans have shown us they put their loyalty to Trump and their own self-preservation ahead of their commitment to the democratic process that undergirds the very notion of America, and that in itself is the opposite of patriotism.

Free and fair elections, respecting the will of the people, is what makes us who we are as a country. Republicans love to invoke the Founding Fathers when convenient, but any objective reading of their intentions makes it clear they set up our constitution to guard against efforts to drag us back towards the authoritarianism our country was established in opposition to, the tyranny they fought and bled to keep us away from in favor of the freedom to elect our own leaders and center the people’s voice. A freedom many brave Americans have since died to preserve.

This is a dark path we’re heading down, one few would have believed possible even just a few short years ago. This has already become a black eye on our nation’s history, and the further down this road we go, the bigger the stain will be on the reputations of this crop of Tennessee Republicans – a stain which will not soon come off.

Justin Kanew is the Founder of the Tennessee Holler

Rep. Green’s “DECLARATION OF WAR” Isn’t Against Dems, It’s Against Real American Values

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As the House votes to proceed with an impeachment inquiry against President Trump – a vote Republicans have been asking them to take to make it official (you’re welcome!) – and we move closer to an actual impeachment vote, the rhetoric among House Republicans is starting to grow more sinister, to the point where congressman Mark Green has just gone so far as to express support for “Declaring War On Dems”, tweeting a link to an article that says as much with a simple phrase: “What he said.”

To be clear, Republicans are not engaging on the merits of the situation. The article he links to in the tweet does nothing to undercut any of the arguments for impeaching the president or address what he has done.

They don’t want to talk about the fact that Trump’s own Ukraine expert Lt. Col. Vindman told congress he reported Trump’s conduct to his superiors twice and tried unsuccessfully to fix the doctored transcript of Trump’s “perfect” call, which was then hidden away. (translation: the cover-up)

They don’t want to talk about Trump’s own ambassador Bill Taylor confirming the “crazy” quid pro quo.

They don’t want to talk about Morrison, another of Trump’s own top national security officials, confirming the quid pro quo just yesterday.

They don’t want to talk about Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani’s associates – who were working with him on this Ukraine conspiracy, and who were on Trump’s own legal team – being charged with serious campaign finance crimes, and being linked to a Russian mob-tied oligarch Dmytro Firtash, who is close with Putin, and who himself is wanted for crimes.

Yes, Trump shared a legal team with a Russian oligarch linked to the mafia, and Putin.

The list goes on.

The truth is clear. The president did bring the force of the United States government to bear on an ally under duress, withholding key military aid and other necessary help against Putin’s aggressions to pressure them to investigate his chief political rival Joe Biden.

A quid pro quo if ever there was one.

But instead of standing up to all of that and doing – or at least SAYING – what’s right, as many other prominent Republicans are (not enough though), Green is instead joining the fight against those who are standing up to defend this country.

To be clear, the “declaration of war” article Mark Green links to makes no arguments on the merits. It’s a diatribe of whining and complaining about a situation they don’t like, because Republicans don’t want to answer the key question: “Is it right for a president to pressure a foreign government to investigate political opponents and get involved with our elections?”

Time after time, Republicans have been left looking silly as they try to dodge this very simple, very obvious question.

Instead they attack the process – “behind closed doors!” “We need a vote!” “They’re not letting us in!” – and now that all of those things have been addressed, with the inquiry moving into the public view, a vote having been held, and the revelation that Mark Green, who is fundraising off of being kept out of the hearings, WAS ALLOWED IN THE HEARINGS, because he was on the committee… they’re ratcheting up the rhetoric.

Declaring war.

One would think Mark Green would be extra careful about how he speaks about matters of “war”, considering he’ll be the first to tell you he’s an army doctor who spent the night with Saddam, and made sure to write a book about it. (So far he won’t release his un-redacted discharge papers, and has taken to calling constituents who ask him about his rumored less-than-honorable-discharge liars, but that’s a story for a different day).

The truth is, many Democrats didn’t want to take this step. Impeaching a president is not to be done lightly, even if Republicans did do it to Clinton for a FAR more trivial issue.

But at a certain point, when you have a con man in the White House using the constitution like toilet paper and the Oval Office like an ATM Machine, with scores of his allies and Russian mafia-linked henchmen behind bars and charged with crimes, somebody has to stand up for what’s right.

Or else, as Pelosi says, what do we have left? If they don’t impeach, it says everything Trump is doing is ok. And it isn’t.

Somebody has to put country first. Clearly, the Mark Greens of the world will not, as he admitted with his George Washington quote yesterday, which made it clear Green has no problem putting the president before the country.

Last we checked, the oath Green and everyone he serves with took was to protect this country and the constitution from all enemies, foreign AND domestic, not to protect a president who puts himself above all else.

But perhaps Green can relate to that sentiment?

The bottom line is this: As Democrats, many prominent Republicans, and highly decorated ex-military members of Trump’s own cabinet are doing their patriotic duty, standing up for what’s right in the face of tremendous pressure and at great risk to themselves and their families, instead of joining them, Rep. Mark Green is joining the effort to”declare war” on them.

He may think he’s declaring war on Democrats, but the truth is by “declaring war” on those who stand up to this president and the damage he’s doing to our nation, Mark Green is not declaring war on Democrats – he’s declaring war on law and order, the constitution, and real American values.

Justin Kanew is the co-founder of the Holler

(Kiran Sreepada is running against Green in 2020)

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.

 

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?

 

ROWE: Rep. Roe Can’t Pretend to Care About Veterans And Stay Silent On Military Children Citizenship Issue

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“You can be anything you want when you grow up! You might even be the President one day!”

These are words military parents whose children are born abroad will no longer be able to say. You see, one of the requirements to run for President is to be a natural-born US citizen, and that’s a requirement military children born overseas will no longer meet.

Rather than being granted “birthright” citizenship, as every child born to US servicemen and government employees serving abroad has been granted for as long as we’ve had families doing so, they’ll now have to be naturalized after the fact. This change will make them explicitly different from being American citizens by birth.

Obviously not every military child is going to grow up and run for President, but that’s just one of many ways this one decision will be a detriment to every future child born to our brave men and women overseas.

When our members are serving abroad, they face unique challenges – interacting with different cultures, integrating their families with their small piece of America that is the base, and a multitude of other factors that aren’t part of a normal citizen’s life. These are all hurdles people expect when they volunteer to serve our nation.

What they don’t expect, however, is to have those challenges compounded by our own country’s insistence on xenophobic and otherwise cruel policies. But that’s exactly what’s happening. In addition to all the other problems being overseas presents, this reversal on birthright citizenship will force them to either go through the hassle of petitioning for naturalization of their children while overseas, or be required to get a travel visa – no small task, especially on short notice in the event an emergency arises – to bring their own biological children to their rightful homes.

The most important factor in all this, however, is who specifically this targets.

The current laws allow children born to two native US citizens (or long-established naturalized ones) birthright citizenship, regardless of their actual birthplace. In other words, this is another overt attempt to discriminate against immigrants. It places an undue burden on people who’ve pledged their loyalty to our country, and makes their lives that much harder if they want to have a family while they’re serving their new country.

This decision is blatantly anti-immigrant, by design. Any person who considers themselves a patriotic American should be appalled by such a decision. It spits in the face of all America claims to represent as a nation, and is just another way of discouraging legal immigrants from coming to our country.

The silence on this from Tennessee’s federal representatives is deafening. Even Phil Roe, the House Veterans’ Affairs chairman, has been completely mum on the subject. For all his standard crowing about all the “great things” he fights for on behalf of veterans, he seems to be prepared to let this decision go completely unchallenged. Ultimately, what matters most is not how high the country’s flag flies on the telescoping flagpole, but rather what you do for it.

This is unacceptable. Phil, on behalf of every single active duty member and veteran in Tennessee, of which I am proud to count myself as one: step up to the plate on this. You can’t pretend to care about veterans or their families ever again if you do nothing to push for a reversal on this policy. You’re an embarrassment to your seat, your post on the VA committee, and our state.

Chris Rowe is an Air Force veteran challenging congressman Phil Roe as a Democratic candidate in TN-1 in 2020. Learn more about Chris and his campaign for congress HERE.

SORRY, FORT CAMPBELL KIDS: Rep. Green Supports Taking Wall $$ From Fort Middle School

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We’ve all heard by now that President Trump has declared a “National Emergency” at the border as an end-run around congress to get money for his Wall.

As we mentioned this weekend, Senator Lamar Alexander spoke out against the move calling it “Unconstitutional”, while the rest of the Republican Tennessee delegation has been supportive despite fancying themselves *strict constitutionalists* in favor of *limited government*.

That group includes Rep. Mark Green of TN-7, an army veteran who lives just outside of Clarksville in Ashland City.

What we’re now learning is that included in the list of 400+ projects the president would be steering funds away from to build the wall is “the operation of a middle school at Fort Campbell”, which would likely be unwelcome news to our brave men and women up in Clarksville, where half the base is located.

The Clarksville Leaf-Chronicle has already made note of this, asking Green for his position on it just yesterday. Green had this to say:

“I support it because I believe it’s a crisis. My biggest concern is the narcotics. I think it’s the right thing to do. I think it’s certainly within his legal rights. I think very clearly people want the legislative branch doing legislative stuff, and the executive branch doing executive branch stuff. But the legislative branch has given authority to the executive branch in those certain circumstances where emergencies require action that Congress can’t be quick enough to respond to.”

Reading betweens the line of this “stuff”, Green has tried to make the case that this emergency declaration by Trump is not unprecedented since there have been 58 emergency declarations by presidents in the past – but not one of those has involved a president going around congress to get money for a campaign promise.

As for why the “emergency” is suddenly an emergency now when it didn’t seem to be for the first 2 years of the Trump presidency, there doesn’t seem to be a clear answer.

Green added:

“This is all within the power that’s been granted to the president.”

That will be for the courts to decide. Lawsuits have been filed, and they will likely cite the president saying “I didn’t have to do this” in the very press conference where he made the announcement as evidence for why this emergency is not actually an emergency at all.

More from Green:

“He made a promise to the American people. I think he’s just doing what he thinks he was elected to do.”

Green on the other hand was elected to look out for the interests of Clarksville, a military-heavy district, and it will be up to the residents and the soldiers there to decide how they feel about his decision to prioritize a wall on the Southern border over a school in their own backyard.

Incredibly, when asked about this, Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina actually said the kids will be better off not getting the money:

“I would say it’s better for the middle school kids in Kentucky to have a secure border. We’ll get them the school they need. Right now we’ve got a national emergency on our hands.”

It seems Rep. Mark Green agrees. We wonder if the parents up in the Clarksville area do too.

It’s funny how the people who are the loudest about their undying support for The Constitution seem to forget what it says when it gets in the way of the things they want.

Holler at Rep. Green HERE if you’re in Clarksville and have any thoughts.

In the meantime, enjoy a fun cartoon from Modman, showing that there really is nothing this president does that Mark Green won’t support: