The Thursday edition of The 11th Hour came unhinged as Tennessee Lookout editor-in-chief Holly McCall responded to the expulsion of two Tennessee Democrats from the state House by asking if the state ever left it’s KKK past, declared the state to lead the way in “backwards and discriminatory legislation” and wondered if Gov. Bill Lee even cares about his own daughter and friends.
A third Democrat, Gloria Johnson, was not expelled and host Stephanie Ruhle was confident she knew why, “Let's lay it out there, three state representatives, all protested hand-in-hand together - two were black men, one was a white woman. Did she do anything different based on your reporting that would keep her in her position and keep these men out?”
McCall agreed, “Look, there is no coincidence that this happened in the state where the Ku Klux Klan was founded. I think that Tennessee has been backsliding if it ever left its racist history and I think it is just now the nation is seeing this. Gloria Johnson did not do anything, any different and there was pretty obviously a racial component to this expulsion and it wasn't even just the fact that Gloria is a white woman.”
Clearly, McCall brought a hyper-partisan perspective, but Ruhle still thought she was well qualified to explain Tennessee, “You have been covering Tennessee politics for decades. What did you see tonight that you want the rest of the country to understand about Tennessee?”
McCall then turned to other topics, “You know, Tennessee leads the way in backwards and discriminatory legislation. We have one of the - we have the strictest abortion ban in the state. Tennessee’s governor, Bill Lee, was the first governor to sign a ban on certain types of drag performances and drag performers.”
She never did explain what “certain types” means, as she circled back to guns, “our gun laws are almost non-existent except to create laxer gun laws.”
McCall then made it bitterly personal:
I'm going to point something out that I haven't heard mentioned on any other show, but the governor has talked openly about the fact that his own daughter shot herself in the head with one of his weapons when she was a teenager and he has talked about this publicly and the fact that that happens and his friend was killed just last week and this state cannot, like, cannot address anything, they can't even say the word gun, like I don't even know how to overcome that except with time, people, and continued persistence.
Ruhle was not disgusted that McCall would suggest she cares more about Lee’s friends and daughter than Lee himself. Instead, she asked former RNC chair Michael Steele, “Michael Steele, poor Justin got expelled from his position today, but again, I’m giving you the hardest job on television, you’ve had to stay up past your bedtime and explain your former political party to me. What are they thinking?”
Steele, who claimed he is still a member of the party, responded by declaring himself to be “horrified and ashamed.”
Addressing expelled-Rep. Justin Jones, Steele tried to wax poetic, “every last one of those bastards who voted you out will rue that moment… it makes a mockery of the very Constitution that you swore to uphold as a representative, so you continue to do you.”
No, using a bullhorn to shut down legislative proceedings makes a mockery of that oath. Not deterred, however, Steele continued, “Today, folks, what we saw was Tennessee telling two young African-American men to not get so uppity.”
This is an argument to also expel Johnson, not to not expel Jones and Justin Pearson. In any case, Johnson was likely spared because she was the least disruptive of the trio.
This segment was sponsored by ClearChoice.
Here is a transcript for the April 6 show:
MSNBC The 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhle
4/6/2023
11:09 AM ET
STEPHANIE RUHLE: I just went through it with Justin. Let's lay it out there, three state representatives, all protested hand-in-hand together - two were black men, one was a white woman. Did she do anything different based on your reporting that would keep her in her position and keep these men out?
HOLLY MCCALL: Look, there is no coincidence that this happened in the state where the Ku Klux Klan was founded. I think that Tennessee has been backsliding if it ever left its racist history and I think it is just now the nation is seeing this. Gloria Johnson did not do anything, any different and there was pretty obviously a racial component to this expulsion and it wasn't even just the fact that Gloria is a white woman.
It is also the fact that she was defended by two white male attorneys who are themselves former members of this body, so they fit in. They fit in with this body of people who were then voting for the expulsion and frankly, Gloria was only saved by one vote and that was probably the vote of Justin Pearson who was later expelled.
RUHLE: Holly, the rest of us, well, except for Justin don’t live in Tennessee. You have been covering Tennessee politics for decades. What did you see tonight that you want the rest of the country to understand about Tennessee?
HOLLY MCCALL: You know, Tennessee leads the way in backwards and discriminatory legislation. We have one of the - we have the strictest abortion ban in the state. Tennessee’s governor, Bill Lee, was the first governor to sign a ban on certain types of drag performances and drag performers, our gun laws are almost non-existent except to create laxer gun laws and I'm going to point something out that I haven't heard mentioned on any other show, but the governor has talked openly about the fact that his own daughter shot herself in the head with one of his weapons when she was a teenager and he has talked about this publicly and the fact that that happens and his friend was killed just last week and this state cannot, like, cannot address anything, they can't even say the word gun, like I don't even know how to overcome that except with time, people, and continued persistence.
RUHLE: Michael Steele, poor Justin got expelled from his position today, but again, I’m giving you the hardest job on television, you’ve had to stay up past your bedtime and explain your former political party to me. What are they thinking?
MICHAEL STEELE: Well, they’re not my former party, I’m still a member of the party and tonight I am horrified and ashamed as, you know, with yet another episode. So, let me just start by saying to Representative Jones, you stand for something bigger than what happened today on so many levels. You represent a future that America has been leaning towards for a long time. Your generation will change this country, your generation will mark this moment and every last one of those bastards who voted you out will rue that moment, whether it's in Tennessee, whether it's anywhere else in the country, your generation has an opportunity to seed something different.
What we’re witnessing now should not stand, it cannot be allowed to stand because it not only does it make a mockery of your service, makes a mockery of your leadership for your constituents, it makes a mockery of the very Constitution that you swore to uphold as a representative, so you continue to do you.
Today, folks, what we saw was Tennessee telling two young African-American men to not get so uppity.
We can't have you doing anything more than we want you to do, so you need to sit out and be quiet and when they didn’t, they tried to silence them.
So, this idea of the uppity black man, the uppity black woman is still a prevalent feature of racism in this country and today you saw it on full tilt today. You saw it on full tilt because as you just discussed, Stephanie, there was no difference amongst the three representatives in the position they took, the actions that they did, they committed, the things they said on that House floor and the only difference was these two young men are black and the white female, the woman was white and they made that very clear.
So, you continue to lead, my friend, do your thing. You've a country that watched this in real-time. We watched it real-time. We tweeted about it. We talked about it, we experienced it real-time and that I believe that has left an indelible mark, an indelible mark on this moment for a lot of Americans. So, Friday’s going to come. Monday’s going to come. Weeks will follow, but the momentum and the energy’s with you, just keep pushing ahead, because you need to change this country.
