(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Leaked audio reveals Tenn. House Republicans are upset about how they made themselves look`racist' [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-04-13 Reps. Justin Jones, Gloria Johnson and Justin Pearson raise their hands outside the House chamber after Republican lawmakers voted to expel the two black men A week ago, Tennessee House Republicans voted to expel two young black representatives, Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, but failed by one vote to expel Rep. Gloria Johnson, who is white. Jones and Johnson have since been reinstated in the legislature. All three Democratic representatives had joined student protesters who entered the Tennessee Capitol to demand gun safety legislation in the wake of a mass shooting that killed three adults and three children at a Nashville school. Immediately after the vote, Pearson didn’t hesitate to tell it like it is: “You cannot ignore the racial dynamic of what happened today, two young black lawmakers getting expelled and the one white woman does not. That is a statement in and of itself.” Johnson, a retired schoolteacher, also suggested race was likely a factor as to why she wasn’t expelled, telling reporters it “might have to do with the color of our skin.” On Thursday, the Tennessee Holler, an independent reader-supported website, released leaked audio of a closed-door meeting of House Republicans after the expulsion votes. They angrily confronted one of their colleagues, Rep. Jody Barrett, who had unexpectedly voted against ousting Johnson after pledging that he would. x ⚡️NEW LEAKED AUDIO: TN House Republicans infighting over #TennesseeThree votes. CEPICKY: “You gotta do what’s right even when you think it might be wrong.”🤔 Leadership says Barrett made them look racist, Cepicky says they're at "war", etc. must-listen. pic.twitter.com/mUkzwWXvav — The Tennessee Holler (@TheTNHoller) April 13, 2023 His Republican colleagues turned on Barrett, saying he should have put aside his reservations rather than make the party look bad. Rep. Jason Zachary said that for the last three days all he’s heard from Democrats is “how this is the most racist place … even white supremacist. Good lord, we have to realize they (Democrats) are not our friends ...They destroy the republic and the foundation of who we are.” And he told Barrett: “Man, you hung us out to dry. … This would’ve been bad anyway, but good God … it brought the racism into it because you didn’t stay with us.” Barrett said he was “pissed off” at the suggestion that he had lied to his colleagues. He defended his sudden change of heart, saying that after reading the expulsion resolution he didn’t feel it made the case for Johnson to be removed. He did Barrett explained his thinking at the time as follows: “I’m concerned I’m going to vote yes on a resolution that I know is wrong” and added that he didn’t want to “put my name on something I knew was gonna be in the annals of history as being wrong.” Barrett did vote to expel Jones and Pearson. In an NPR interview last week, he pointed out that Johnson was the only one of the three representatives facing expulsion to be represented by legal counsel. He said her lawyers pointed out deficiencies in her expulsion resolution and House leaders failed to establish what it was that she did to rise to the level of expulsion. Rep. Scott Cepicky told Barrett he should have raised his concerns about expelling Johnson with party leadership which “would’ve given us the opportunity to not throw the party under the bus.” Cepicky was particularly upset that Tennessee Republicans were being made to look racist. Well, even before the expulsion votes, Tennessee GOP lawmakers had already built a record of making racist remarks and passing racist legislation. A clearly angry Cepicky said, “I’ve been called a racist, a misogynist, a white supremacist more in the last two months than I have my entire life. And by golly, I’m biting my tongue. And I’m telling you, all due respect, those days are wearing thin right now.” And lest anyone have any doubts, he declared that Republicans consider themselves to be at war with Democrats. “If you don’t believe we’re at war for our republic, with all love and respect to you, you need a different job,” he told Barrett. “The left wants Tennessee so bad because if they get us, the whole Southeast falls. And it’s game over for our republic. This is not a neighborhood social gathering. We are fighting for the republic of our country right now And the world is staring at us — are we going to stand our ground.” Just listen to how upset these Republicans are that some of their members made them look racist. And then Cepicky blurted out a racist remark. “I’m going to have to swallow this seeing Mr. Jones back up here walking these hallowed halls that the greats of Tennessee stood in. And watch them disrespect this fu-king state that I chose to move to. And by golly it’s got to stop.” And then he made this remarkable comment which sums up the political cynicism of the current Republican Party. “You got to do what’s right, even if you think it’s wrong.” That, of course, means what’s right by GOP standards. Here’s what Jones had to say after listening to the leaked tape. He told CNN: “it was just very surreal to hear the commentary — and to hear from them that they really are reenacting the Civil War. …. So you hear this mentality that is very extreme and very alarming. We’re dealing with people who … don’t believe that someone like me or Rep. Pearson, young black lawmakers, even deserve to be in the legislature. “But you also hear them fighting amongst each other. I’ve heard from Republicans who are calling on the House Speaker Cameron Sexton to resign. There is a lot of division in their caucus. You heard in that recorded conversation just the infighting and the dysfunction in the Republican Party here in Tennessee because they’ve been controlled by these extreme forces. … And it shows that they’re not free to think for themselves either, that If you diverge from their caucus leadership then you’re seen as an outsider like Rep. Barrett is being seen now.” [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/4/13/2163832/-Leaked-audio-reveals-Tenn-House-Republicans-are-upset-about-how-they-made-themselves-look-racist Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/