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“EXTREME” REP. MARK GREEN RECKLESSLY EQUATES DEMS HELPING REGULAR TENNESSEANS WITH THE VIETNAM WAR

Tennessee Republican congressman Rep. Mark Green (TN-7) is a radical extremist well known for “leading the fight” against Medicaid expansion in Tennessee, keeping 300,000 uninsured while saying programs like Medicaid “Keep people from a saving knowledge of God”.

He’s also a former U.S. Army flight surgeon who was nominated for army secretary by Trump but couldn’t even get a hearing from a Republican-controlled senate, possibly because of his hateful anti-LGBT views and comments about Muslims, but also possibly because of whatever is at the root of why he won’t make his redacted discharge papers un-redacted and public, which he is clearly very sensitive about.

Green also ran cover for the insurrection, minimizing it, parroting the Big Lie, and voting to throw out the results of a free and fair American election, which one would think would cause Green to take a breath before equating the efforts of Democrats to win elections and pass popular progressive agenda to… Vietnam –A war that left 58,000 Americans dead – 1.4 MILLION casualties total. But since he fancies himself quite the military expert, and has a habit of telling anyone who’ll listen about his night with Saddam Hussein – he even wrote a book about it – it should probably come as no surprise that that’s the prism through which he sees most things.

His article for The Daily Signal, a Conservative news site backed by the Koch-tied Heritage Foundation , takes things to a whole other level though. He titles it: “Ready, Aim, Fire: Left Fired Too Soon and Created Its Own Tet Offensive”

In it, Green compares the efforts of Dems to score political wins to pass a transformative, wildly popular (even in West Virginia!) budget that helps a lot of people an “insurgency” that seeks to “spark an uprising” – ironic considering Green’s lies literally did just that.

He then whines about the left “controlling the propagation of information” (on a site from a right wing think tank, which exists in a nearly impenetrable right-wing media ecosystem), and of course can’t help himself from complaining about “censorship” of those who “counter the progressive narrative” – which a recent report shows is the opposite of the truth:

“Similarly, we have seen censorship rise to new levels on social media, as those who counter the progressive elite’s narrative are silenced. The selective canceling of anyone who doesn’t engage in groupthink undermines the core of what makes this nation great.”

As a reminder, Green’s favorite corrupt president wasn’t kicked off Twitter because he’s not progressive. He was kicked off because he incited an insurrection with his lies and is attacking democracy at every turn.

But Green doesn’t stop there. He then openly accuses “the left” of “conventional warfare”:

“Once enough people have been indoctrinated, the third phase starts: direct conventional warfare. The left has moved quickly into this third phase since President Joe Biden’s victory one year ago—but perhaps too quickly.”

Green is clearly too in love with himself to handle criticism, but any reasonable person would understand using violent, charged rhetoric like this is dangerous and can and has gotten people killed. He’s not even being subtle about it. He literally compares Democrats to the North Vietnamese:

“From taxpayer-funded abortions on demand to defunding the police, from their $3.5 trillion social engineering boondoggle to indoctrinating our children with critical race theory, the Democrats—like the North Vietnamese in 1968—tried to move into phase three too soon. They struck before enough people have been indoctrinated.”

He calls the November 2nd elections “the liberal progressives’ version of this Tet Offensive” (and includes the Virginia governor’s race, which is interesting considering Mcauliffe was not exactly a progressive). Considering January 6th was quite literally an act of war against our capitol by Green’s own people, the gaslighting here is outrageous.

Green then closes by calling the political fight in America a literal “war”:

“Regardless, because of the left’s premature and extreme overreach, the American people were awakened and thus able to end their efforts to create their socialist utopia, for now.

But as in Vietnam, we won a great battle through their premature move to phase three of their insurgency. However, the war is not over—and our fight for this great nation must and will continue.”

Rhetoric like this is dangerous and irresponsible. Our elected leaders should be bringing us together, not dividing us further. People died on January 6th, and more may soon die again if he keeps this up.

Then again, Green showed us he doesn’t actually care about human suffering through his opposition to Medicaid expansion, so maybe we shouldn’t be surprised.

Also, as a reminder, Green’s party lost the White House, the Senate, and the House under Green’s “General” – even Youngkin kept Trump out of Virginia to secure his win – yet “Extreme” Mark Green continues to blindly follow him, and doesn’t seem willing to take any lessons from losing those *battle* in the “war” he thinks he’s fighting, while Tennesseans suffer.

GOP Members are Defecting to the “Big Tent Party”

“The GOP is not a Party I can align with.”

Chair of the Williamson County Democratic Party, Kelly Baker, joined #HollerHour to talk about all of the ex-GOP members who are defecting and how to welcome them into the “Big Tent Party.”

PODCAST available on Apple Podcasts, and wherever else you like to listen.

Rep Vincent Dixie on the GOP Disrespecting the Right to Vote

“People that look like me have died for this right, now you’re saying it’s not really worth the paper it’s written on. It’s hurtful.” – Rep. Vincent Dixie talks about the danger of the GOP undermining our election process on #HollerHour.

PODCAST available on Apple Podcasts, and wherever else you like to listen.

Democrats Need to Deliver for Young People

“If the Democratic Party wants to win over the loyalty of young people it had better act right now and in a pretty big way.”- Jonathan Smucker drops fire talking about the Democratic Party’s future on The Intercept’s #Deconstructed podcast.

Full Podcast.

Biden and Harris Win!

The Presidential race was finally called in favor of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris this past Saturday morning in a resounding rebuke of President Trump and his reign these past four years. Catch a couple of highlights from their victory speeches below.

INTRODUCING “A Case of the Mundays” with Wade Munday

Host Wade Munday talks with public defender Keeda Haynes on the first official episode of A Case of the Mundays. Fresh off her campaign for Congress in District 5, Keeda talks about what went right and what went wrong in her race, and what she’s thinking of doing next. Keeda managed to receive over 40% of the vote in a difficult race against longtime incumbent Jim Cooper, so if she decides to run again she’ll be a force to be reckoned with.

Learn more about Free Hearts.

FULL PODCAST available on Apple Podcasts, and wherever else you like to listen.

INTRODUCING Porch Politics with The Equity Alliance

Porch Politics hosts Tequila Johnson and Charlane Oliver, Co-Founders and Co-Executive Directors of The Equity Alliance, are here to bring you the sweet tea in their first episode of Porch Politics. They get real and go deep in their discussion about the hard but rewarding activism that they’re doing through The Equity Alliance, and they give their honest perspectives on the state of Tennessee Democratic politics.

Be sure to fill out The Equity Alliance’s Our Fair Share survey if you or your small business has been affected by COVID19.

FULL PODCAST available on Apple Podcasts, and wherever else you like to listen.

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

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)

SOTU REACTIONS: TN Republicans Big Fans, TN Dems Not So Much

Last night President Trump delivered the 2019 State of the Union address to rousing applause and enthusiasm from the much whiter, male-er Republican side of the room, while the response from the Democrats was a bit on the tamer side.

No surprises there.

As for the Tennessee delegation, the split was about as one would expect. Republicans were effusive with their praise…

Rep. John Rose touted Trump’s leadership:

Rep. Chuck Fleischmann talked about Trump’s “bold agenda”:

Rep. Mark Green meanwhile made a point to rip the “shocking childishness” of the response of Democrats, (apparently forgetting how the previous president was treated – do the words “You LIE!” ring a bell?)

Meanwhile on the other side of the aisle, Rep. Steve Cohen was less impressed, not even bothering to show up for the address in person and calling the president a “disgrace”.

Only Democrat Rep. Jim Cooper offered a reaction with any kind of balance, crediting the president with an “effective” speech while also making sure to point out that it was a departure for him.

Bottom Line: No real surprises from any of Tennessee’s elected officials, but Rep. Mark Green appears to be suffering from memory loss.