The vote by Republican legislators to expel two Black lawmakers from the Tennessee House will come back to haunt the GOP, not just in the state, but nationally, according to one political columnist.
That is the opinion of MSNBC political analyst Steve Benen who claimed that, if Republicans aren't expecting a "backlash" over kicking out members who want to stop the gun carnage in their schools, it will "soon dawn on them."
Writing, "Having broken the decorum rules of the institution, the Democratic lawmakers were soon after stripped of their committee assignments. But for members of the Republican majority — some of whom equated a peaceful protest with the Jan. 6 attack, despite the fact that no one broke into the state capitol, no one was harmed, and there was no property damage in Nashville — that level of retaliation was deemed insufficient," Benen added things looked even worse when they expelled the two lawmakers, state Reps. Justin Jones (D) and Justin Pearson (D), both of whom are Black, but allowed state Rep. Gloria Johnson (D), who is white, to keep her seat.
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"Over the course of this week, the story about the Tennessee Three made the transition from local controversy in Nashville to a national outrage," he wrote, and then added, "The Republican majority in Nashville, in other words, set out to silence the Tennessee Three. In the process, the GOP helped make the Democrats heroes to a worthy cause."
He added that the GOP's belief that they "won" will also be short-lived since both lawmakers could be back again soon.
"Local officials have the authority to appoint temporary legislators to fill the vacancies, and no one should be surprised if they choose Jones and Pearson," he predicted.
