Thread by @ConstanceUndone

(Thread) Rep. Chuck Fleischmann’s Phony Town Hall
#WeAreTN
#OneVoice1

On 10/23/19, Rep Chuck Fleischmann held a phone “town hall”. I had been wondering for some time why he wouldn’t hold real town halls where his constituents could talk to him directly, face-to-face. (1)

Then, it became painfully clear. He spent most of the time patting himself on the back for his work in securing grants for various interests, bashing “Democrats” while ironically calling for an end to partisan divisiveness, and parroting GOP-issued talking points dripping (2)

with disinformation. He sounded like a wannabe Matt Gaetz. There was no hint of genuine concern for the thoughts/needs of the people he had been elected to serve.
If you had a❓for Chuck, you could press *3 and talk to an operator who asked for your name, etc. and your ❓(3)

In other words, they appeared to be cherry-picking who actually got to talk to the representative. He only took maybe 5 or 6 ❓s, and only 1 of those was from someone who was not trying to stroke his ego. I guess he had to at least try to pretend he could handle a differing (4)

point of view. He failed though because he responded with outright fallacies about the Mueller report and the memorandum of the Ukraine phone call. Anyone who read them and has any kind of basic U.S. civics knowledge would know Chuck was misleading us during that part. It was (5)

very disappointing, as was how brief the Q&A portion of the call was. My questions of course never got addressed, so I will say here what I would have said to Fleischmann on that call:
First, I would have reminded him that he took an oath of office to protect the (6)

Constitution from all enemies, foreign and domestic. His actions (and inaction) since taking office do not reflect a person overly concerned with protecting the Constitution. Instead, he falls in lockstep with whatever the GOP tells their members to do even if it means (7)

violating the Constitution directly; for instance, when the system of checks and balances is thrown out the window and Republican representatives attempt to thwart a lawful investigation of the president’s possible abuse of office.
Next, I would ask him about his thoughts on (8)

election security. The Mueller Report detailed Russian election interference in the 2016 election and warned that interference is still going on. Why then has Chuck consistently voted against legislation to protect the integrity of our elections? He has voted against every (9)

bill written this year to secure our elections, including HR 4617 which would require campaigns to report offers of assistance by foreign governments. How could Chuck vote against that?! Our Founding Fathers were adamant that our elections be protected from foreign (10)

interference: George Washington said in his 1796 farewell address, "Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence ... the jealousy of a free people ought to be constantly awake, since history and experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of (11)

republican government." Chuck also voted against HR 1 which would require all states to authorize automatic voter registration and make Election Day a federal holiday. Considering that Tennessee is ranked 49th in voter turnout, one would think making it easier for us to get (12)

registered and get to the polls would be a pretty high priority for our House representative.
Finally, I would have challenged his supposed “pro-life” stance. If he truly believes in the sanctity of life, why did he vote against HR 1585-VAWA? TN is ranked 4th in the nation (13)

for domestic-related homicides of women by men. Aren’t women’s lives important too? If Chuck is truly pro-life, why would he push to defund Planned Parenthood, an important healthcare resource for women and men alike that provides a myriad of services ranging from family (14)

planning to cancer screenings? Planned Parenthood SAVES lives. If Chuck thinks women should be forced to give birth, shouldn’t they have all the resources they need to provide for a child? If so, why did he vote against HR 7-Paycheck Fairness Act? Why has he pushed to repeal (15)

the ACA which provides important protections that can save patients’ lives, such as eliminating pre-existing conditions exclusions/limitations?
The truth is Representative Chuck Fleischmann is not interested in using his time in DC to serve us here at home. Anything we say (16)

falls on deaf ears. His master is the Republican Party, and that is that. He can dangle grant money wherever he wants and pretend that it’s doing something for Tennessee’s economy. However, the fact is: the rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer, & those of us (17)

in the middle class are really just the working poor. TN deserves so much better than this. We deserve to have someone who puts people before party, and represents us instead of spreading disinformation or protecting a president. And we deserve REAL TOWN HALLS with people (18)

who actually listen to all of us constituents, not just those who agree with them. Hopefully, we'll do a better job of electing someone like that next time. (END)

*Thread is a condensed version of an opinion piece I wrote to send to local news websites. 💙