April 2023 was not particularly eventful overall in the news. However, when something made headlines, it made some serious headlines. From the Tennessee Three to a Discord leaker, this month was characterized largely by acts of resistance. On top of that, several Republican-led states continued mind-boggling attacks on trans rights specifically and the LGBTQ+ community more broadly. These attacks have also increased in severity in recent months, potentially putting lives in danger in the near future. Finally, an emerging crisis about paying America’s debts has the potential to tank the global economy, and yet bickering still rules the day. These stories will be the topics for the next handful of Up To Date Entries over the next several days, barring anything drastic happening. Without further ado, let’s get started.

Earlier this month, the state legislature of Tennessee attempted to expel three Democrats in their ranks. Given the severity of such a course of action, one may wonder what the acts used to justify this were. The answer to that question is a lot more essential to democracy than one might expect from such a response, that act being a peaceful protest in the state capitol about gun control. Even before this protest, guns were once again a hot button issue in American political discourse, but after the fact, the issue seems to have stuck for a little longer than usual. Therefore, an argument can be made that the actions of Justin Jones, Justin Pearson, and Gloria Johnson were of a great benefit to the republic.

However, the Republicans that dominated the Tennessee Legislature clearly didn’t see it that way. Justin Jones and Justin Pearson were expelled by a vote of the Legislature, but Gloria Johnson squeaked past the trouble by one vote. Jones and Pearson are young Black men, and Johnson is an older White woman, thus adding a possible racialized element to these proceedings. These are Johnson’s ideas, not only mine, by the way. Luckily, a quirk in the Tennessee State Constitution left room for the counties where Jones and Pearson reside to reverse what many called an attempt to disenfranchise two whole districts’ worth of voters. The counties did just that and reinstated the expelled lawmakers soon after.

Making matters worse, the Tennessee GOP’s actions didn’t even achieve their goals. Not only could they not expel all three of the targeted Representatives, and not only did the two that were expelled get reappointed, but a GOP leader in the chamber also had a scandal of his own. More specifically, Scotty Campbell got caught sexually harassing interns. That’s wrong, if you couldn’t already tell, and he promptly resigned in humiliation. This is yet another unfortunate example of the boomerang effect, because he threw three of them from a glass house. One may have hit the ground before it reached its target, but the other two came all the way back. The first broke the glass house, and the second hit his crotch. Actions have consequences, and Scotty Campbell just found out.

Meanwhile, the group now known as the Tennessee Three will now get to meet President Biden at the White House and also build a national profile as politicians. In short, they are the winners of this battle, no doubt about it. Even if they can’t get anything done to move the needle on gun issues, they still will have had their time in the sun, and that’s just about every politician’s dream. Well, unless you have to resign because of it like the guy who tried to expel them.