'The stupidity, it burns': Charlie Sykes warns Tennessee expulsions will hurt GOP everywhere
Tennessee Republicans voted to expel two Black lawmakers -- but not a white Democratic woman -- for a protest on the statehouse floor, and conservative Charlie Sykes denounced the move as "political malpractice."
The GOP supermajority expelled Democratic state Reps. Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, while an attempt to expel state Rep. Gloria Johnson failed by one vote, and Sykes condemned the partisan stunt as "vindictive retaliation."
"My problem with this whole story is the stupidity, it burns," Sykes said. "What were the Republicans in Tennessee hoping to accomplish here? They look horrible. They have made superstars out of the Tennessee three. These are three extraordinarily impressive and eloquent figures that you never would have heard of if it weren't for this vindictive retaliation by the Republicans, who decided, 'We have a supermajority and we can do this.'"
He said state legislatures in other Republican-dominated states could be emboldened to undertake similar moves.
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"Of course, that's the same story in Wisconsin, where the Republicans have a supermajority and why they're quietly talking about, 'Hey, we could impeach liberal Supreme Court justices if they make rulings we don't like,'" Sykes said. "Legislators I talked to say, 'We're not going to do that, it would be chaotic, futile and stupid.'"
However, former president Donald Trump has been pressuring Republicans to punish his enemies, and that seems to be what the GOP base wants.
"We've seen this pattern before, where the base demands this kind of action all you need is one tweet or bleat out of Mar-a-Lago where Donald Trump says, 'Why aren't the RINOs in Wisconsin expelling members of the legislature? Why aren't they impeaching justices?'" Sykes said. "What happens they cave in this story out of Tennessee is extraordinary to me because it is such a case of political malpractice."
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