Democracy ‘lynched’ in Tennessee as Republicans expel Rep. Justin Jones for supporting gun protests

Tennessee House Republicans launched an unprecedented assault on democracy by expelling Rep. Justin Jones from the country for supporting a gun protest.

wpln reports:

Republicans hold a supermajority of 75 seats in the House of Representatives and only need 66 votes to rule out the Democrats.

“The world is watching Tennessee,” Jones said in his opening statement, before speaking almost on the party line for his sacking, 72-25. “What is happening today is a farce of democracy.”

Jones argued the trial was a lynching – “not of me, but of the democratic process.”

Jones pointed out that Republicans are keeping a licensed child molester and a sexual assaulter in the House of Representatives and have not expelled them:

Wow: Tennessee State Assemblyman Justin Jones, one of the Democrats the GOP is trying to oust from the state legislature to protest gun violence, calls his peers to the ground

“One of your colleagues, a known child molester, sat in this chamber for years – no deportation” pic.twitter.com/KNDrhX3gl1

— Philip Lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) April 6, 2023

What is unfolding in the Tennessee home is an assault on democracy the likes of which the United States has never seen. Jones was elected by his district’s voters, but he was expelled for breaking etiquette by supporting a gun protest after a shooting at a Nashville elementary school killed three nine-year-old children and three adults.

Subscribe to our newsletter:

Jones has done nothing worthy of deportation other than speaking out against gun violence. It is a certainty that he would never have been deported if he had instead broken the rules of propriety by denouncing the arrest and indictment of Donald Trump.

Democracies do not disfellowship members of the minority party for expressing views with which the majority disagrees.

Republican authoritarianism has come to Tennessee, and here it is hoped that Rep. Jones will win back his special election seat because the Tennessee Constitution prohibits members from being expelled twice.

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House press pool and congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a bachelor’s degree in political science. His thesis focused on public policy with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and professional memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and the American Political Science Association