These are coups, a hundred little ones, day after day

After the Nashville shooting students in Tennessee are tired of being the target of gun violence. They heard on the news Rep. Tim Burchett say, “We’re not gonna fix it.” The students went to the state Capitol (many didn’t have to go far) to protest. To highlight what students were saying in the galleries three representatives joined them on the floor and used a megaphone. Walter Einenkel of Daily Kos reported the Republican supermajority responded by holding votes to eject those members for something minor, such as disorderly conduct, or behavior unbecoming of a member, or inciting violence. The actual reason is irrelevant. And two of the three – Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, both black men – were expelled. The third – Gloria Johnson, a white woman – kept her seat by one vote. She said it might have to do with the color of their skin. Yeah, they were expelled for protesting gun violence shortly after the capital city experienced gun violence. After the vote the students outside the House chanted “F--- you fascists!” Yup, they’re pissed. The districts these men are from now appoint a replacement and then hold a special election. Jones and Pearson may very well win those appointments and elections. There have been expulsions from the Tennessee House before – for such things as bribery and sexual misconduct charges from 22 women. Rachel Bitecofer, a political analyst, tweeted:

Now, when I tell people the Republican Party's ulimate goal is to outlaw the Democratic Party, they'll believe me. #TennesseeThree

Brandon Friedman, occasional columnist for the NY Daily News added:

I don't understand why people still don't get this ... To be more specific: The way this works is fascists will "legally" ban, expel and silence the parties and people they don't like. Then they'll start arresting and imprisoning them. Then they'll start killing them. This is well documented. It only stops when people get in the way.

Meteor Blades of Kos discussed the gun situation, which is pretty basic. (1) There will be no federal laws passed. (2) The Supreme Court will quite likely overturn any state laws. Blades lays out his evidence quite well. He lays out the history of gun legislation (as in legislation to make citizens safer) in Congress. There was an attempt in 2013. It failed 40-60 in the Senate. Another attempt in 2023 has more support, but not enough and there are no scheduled hearings. As for the Supremes there was a ruling in 2022 overturning a New York law that could withhold a gun purchase. Justice Thomas made up some nonsense that if there weren’t any firearm regulation when the Constitution was ratified in 1791 there can’t be any now. And the first half of the Second Amendment about well-regulated militias is apparently irrelevant. Lower courts are already struggling with how to apply that decision. Two cases about state restrictions are likely to get to the Supremes in a year or two, to fill in any holes from last year’s decision. I’m keeping all that in mind as I applaud the Michigan Legislature for new gun regulations. The Globe and Mail tweeted a cartoon of Uncle Sam with a dozen guns strapped to his back and sitting under a sign saying “Addiction Counselling.” A man beside him says, “So... What bring you here?” Iyad el-Baghdadi tweeted about some unnamed situation in the Middle East. There are several he could have chosen, such as the protests of authoritarian rule in Iran or the protests in Israel to stop the weakening of the judiciary. Even so, it fits what’s going on in Tennessee and elsewhere in the US over the lack of protections from guns.

Our protestations and appeals will change nothing. Power only gives way to power. Our mantra for the next 20 years should be this: Build power. And a good place to start is to understand power.

Ken Klippenstein of The Intercept tweeted a link to a story in Huffpost with:

Idaho Passes Law To Restrict Interstate Travel For Abortion Care For Minors

They’re calling it “abortion trafficking” and it’s punishable by up to five years in prison. In response Umair, author of The New Capitalist Manifesto, tweeted:

Totally normal fascist level stuff

That prompted a response from Cool Mom Jamie, which also applies to the Tennessee legislature’s action:

this is the 2nd stage of the coup in front of us, attack from 1,000 angles legislatively ... how long til phase 3

Umair replied to that:

Yup, everyone should grasp this. These are coups, a hundred little ones, day after day. The point is to consolidate power while they can before democracy gives them the boot for generations

Ben Franklin looked over the whole situation as he tweeted:

it's already started. protest a cop facility being built? they'll shoot you. protest the shooting? they'll charge you with terrorism. protest the terrorism charges? they'll threaten to arrest you. the fascism is not a far off event it is here, happening at the state level now. they are passing extremist abortion legislation, anti gay anti trans legislation, anti anti racism legislation, restriction of internet, they are fabricating pretexts to expel democratic lawmakers, we just had a legislator mysteriously flip to the GOP after getting elected the fact of the matter is that by the time of the 2024 election, large parts of the country are going to be living under regimes that we would call unfree if we saw them anywhere else in the world. so the fascism isn't coming, it's already here it should be noted that all of the effort that is put into crushing and stopping protest before they happen is a very clear indicator that the powers that be ***do not want*** people to protest or act out. they have less control when that happens.

Sometimes these little coups have consequences. Ben Winkler, chair of the Democratic Party in Wisconsin (which just flipped the state Supremes to progressive), tweeted about his colleagues in Tennessee.

Yesterday's expulsions were vile. But there's a path to fight back. The maps creating GOP supermajorities in TN could soon be struck down—which would put many seats in play.

The tweet links to an AP News article saying Tennessee Democrats filed a lawsuit seeks to block new redistricting maps for the legislature. That trial begins in about ten days. Democrats won’t gain a majority, but they can certainly break the supermajority.