Thomas ZimmerApr 7, 2023

Faced with children demanding their elected representatives protect them from being murdered in their schools, Republicans rage against and expel those who agree with the children that something must be done.

There it is, today’s Republican Party. https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/04/06/tennessee-democrats-expulsion/

Tennessee House expels two Democrats in historic act of partisan retaliation

The historic act of retaliation comes a week after they halted proceedings to call for gun control in the wake of the Covenant School shooting.

The Washington Post
Show threadThomas ZimmerApr 7, 2023
The asymmetry of the political conflict is on full display here. This is not the behavior of a party that accepts the opposition as a legitimate political opponent. Instead, Republicans see Democrats as a fundamentally illegitimate faction, not deserving of rights or respect.
Show threadThomas ZimmerApr 7, 2023
That’s particularly true for Democrats who are not white Christian men - in this case: A woman and two Black men, representing, in the reactionary mind, “Un-American” forces and illegitimate constituencies who have no right to speak up, who should be quiet and accept their place.
Show threadThomas ZimmerApr 7, 2023
This isn't new. Tennessee has a long history of disenfranchising people of color. In this sense, the fact that Republicans expelled the two Black men - those “uppity” Black folk! How dare they! - but not the white woman is perfectly in line with the state’s tradition of white supremacy.
Show threadThomas ZimmerApr 7, 2023

I’m grateful to Rep. Gloria Johnson, who leaves no doubt about why she wasn’t expelled when her two colleagues were: She is white, they are Black. This is the type of clarity we too rarely get from mainstream media, the type of solidarity we need to defeat the authoritarian assault.

https://twitter.com/acyn/status/1644160388592721921?s=46&t=1xecvNVImNo8TKt3oEvqnA

Acyn on Twitter

“Question: Why were those two expelled and you weren't  Johnson: Well, I think it's pretty clear. I'm a 60 year old white woman and they are two young black men”

Twitter
Show threadThomas ZimmerApr 7, 2023
But this isn’t just Tennessee, or just the South - this perception of the political enemy has become dogma on the Right, the idea that these “Un-American” forces have taken over the Democratic Party and most major institutions is exactly what fuels the anti-democratic radicalization.
Show threadThomas ZimmerApr 7, 2023
Contrast this clarity from Rep. Gloria Johnson with the unbearable obfuscation we’re getting from mainstream media sources and some of our political leaders: “polarization,” “erosion of civility” - that’s not what happened here, it obscures the anti-democratic forces of reactionary white nationalism.
Show threadThomas ZimmerApr 7, 2023

This perfectly captures the fallacies of the “polarization” narrative: What is depicted here isn’t polarization, and describing it as such obscures rather than illuminates what’s actually the problem - the escalating anti-democratic radicalization of the Republican Party.

https://twitter.com/ap/status/1643746667185811457?s=46&t=1xecvNVImNo8TKt3oEvqnA

The Associated Press on Twitter

“GOP lawmakers are handing out harsh punishments for their Democratic colleagues, including potentially expelling three legislators in Tennessee. Experts say it's a sign that political polarization is at its highest level since just after the Civil War. https://t.co/YlmVLULRX9”

Twitter
Show threadThomas ZimmerApr 7, 2023

Look at the evidence presented in AP piece: It’s all *one* side, Republicans, radicalizing against their political opponent - absolutely no equivalent on the Democratic side.

“Polarization” - what you say when you want to lament the state of politics but prefer to obscure who is actually responsible for it.

Show threadThomas ZimmerApr 7, 2023
I get the argument that this is politically disastrous for the Tennessee GOP: A pyrrhic victory at best, elevating Democratic politicians to national stardom. But I find little solace in that. This is so dangerous - the Republican Party fully in the hands of anti-democratic extremists.
Show threadThomas ZimmerApr 7, 2023
Don’t ever underestimate the lengths to which self-proclaimed “reasonable” people will go to naturalize existing power relations and present any critique of the status quo and traditional hierarchies of race, gender, and wealth as an unruly disruption that deserves punishment and needs to be scolded for a lack of “civility.”
Show threadJacob Kramer-Duffield
@tzimmer_history also a classic "yeah that sounds bad but what about this totally different thing I just made up?"
Apr 7, 2023 at 6:01pmTusky