NBC Today hosts Peter Alexander and Kristen Welker welcomed recently expelled Tennessee State Rep. Justin Jones on to the Saturday show by putting the ball on the tee for him to routinely denounce Republicans as racist for his role in shutting down legislative proceedings with a bullhorn.
Alexander went first and simply repeated Jones’s own words back to him, “You said this week as we heard you that this is a grave day for democracy and that it sets a dangerous precedent, the expulsion of you and one of your colleagues there. Why do you think this happened and how do you think it should be resolved?”
Jones continued to portray himself as some sort of victim, “I come to you as a representative in exile, because a majority white caucus decided to expel the two youngest black lawmakers, and it sends a message to the nation that if it can happen in Tennessee, it can happen anywhere. We have a party and a Speaker of the House, Cameron Sexton, who is drunk with power, who is fearful of opposition voices, voices of dissent, and whose role is to silence those voices.”
Welker responded by repeating Alexander’s original question, “So, Mr. Jones, just quickly to follow up, how does this get resolved?”
This time, Jones responded that he plans to run to the upcoming special election, “but what will resolve this is us challenging this attack on democracy because it's not just about us. It's about silencing the voices of those young people who were here who are protesting for their lives against the mass shootings that happened just a week ago here in Nashville.”
After Jones called Republicans “undemocratic,” Welker asked what was the closest thing the duo would ask “the Republican House speaker there says this has nothing to do with race. He says it's because you violated the House rules by staging a protest on the state House floor with a bullhorn at a time when emotions were already running so high in the wake of that mass shooting. What do you make of, what do you say to the Speaker's argument?”
Ideally, Welker would also have asked how the minority party shutting things down constitutes democracy because after Jones doubled down on the race card, he laughably claimed what he did was “good trouble” and “First Amendment activity.”
Neither Welker no Alexander followed up by challenging that absurdity, how holding people accountable for their actions is racist, or with any meaningful distinction between the actions of three representatives, instead choosing to move onto gun control.
This segment was sponsored by Citi.
Here is a transcript for the April 8 show:
NBC Today
4/8/2023
7:09 AM ET
PETER ALEXANDER: You said this week as we heard you that this is a grave day for democracy and that it sets a dangerous precedent, the expulsion of you and one of your colleagues there. Why do you think this happened and how do you think it should be resolved?
JUSTIN JONES: Again, I come to you as a representative in exile, because a majority white caucus decided to expel the two youngest black lawmakers, and it sends a message to the nation that if it can happen in Tennessee, it can happen anywhere. We have a party and a Speaker of the House, Cameron Sexton, who is drunk with power, who is fearful of opposition voices, voices of dissent, and whose role is to silence those voices.
KRISTEN WELKER: So, Mr. Jones, just quickly to follow up, how does this get resolved?
JONES: You know, looking forward, there are legal challenges. There's-- the local counsel can appoint a temporary interim representative. There's also a special election which, you know, I will plan to run in, so, but what will resolve this is us challenging this attack on democracy because it's not just about us. It's about silencing the voices of those young people who were here who are protesting for their lives against the mass shootings that happened just a week ago here in Nashville.
So, it gets resolved when we take action on common sense gun laws and we stand up for democracy, and remove these undemocratic forces from our state government.
WELKER: Let me ask you, the Republican House speaker there says this has nothing to do with race. He says it's because you violated the House rules by staging a protest on the state House floor with a bullhorn at a time when emotions were already running so high in the wake of that mass shooting. What do you make of, what do you say to the Speaker's argument?
JONES: I think you can see for yourself that the two youngest black lawmakers who were kicked out, our colleague who stood with us in the act of good trouble was not and she's white. I think you can look at what's happening in Tennessee, where the Speaker of the House, there's members of his party who have engaged in criminal activity, engaged in unethical activity who have never been expelled, but for First Amendment activity, because we're young black men, I'm 27 years old, we were expelled for standing with these young people, demanding protections for their lives, demanding an end to assault weapons, and instead the Speaker of the House responds by assaulting democracy.
