Washington Week with The Atlantic

Geoff Bennett: Well, let's turn now to the extraordinary moves by the Tennessee's House Republicans who voted to expel two of their black Democratic colleagues, you them there, from the statehouse this week for breaking decorum and floor rules.

That vote came after congressmen, or rather Representatives Justin Jones, Gloria Johnson and Justin Pearson joined gun safety demonstrations from the Tennessee House floor days after the Nashville elementary school shooting.

On Thursday, Republicans expelled Jones and Pearson but Johnson survived the expulsion efforts by one vote.

It is the latest and most high-profile example of Republicans in red states taking extraordinary steps to exert control over Democrats in elected positions.

Peter, what is the potential for all of this to backfire on Republicans?

We've seen how the electorate has responded to perceived overreach, radicalism, extremism in the 2018 midterms, the 2020 election and the 2022 midterms.

Peter Baker: Yes.

I covered the state legislature for years before coming back to Washington.

And you are seeing Washington now trickle down into the states, right?

The sort of the polarization, the anger, the partisanship, the performative sense of outrage is all now translating itself in state counties, what didn't really used to exist.

I mean, there's always partisanship but not like this.

But the problem or the risk for Republicans here is, of course, when they are in charge, fine, they can kick somebody out, decorum ought to be maintained on some level.

You can understand how any legislative body needs to do that.

But actually kick somebody out all together for that means that you can be kicked out yourself, right?

What happened in Congress when the president of the United States gave a state of the union just not that long ago?

People were shouting at him and calling him a liar on the floor.

That's a break of decorum.

Did those Republicans get expelled from Congress as a result?

I mean, this really is one of a slippery slope where you begin to cause yourself some real problems.

Geoff Bennett: And the White House is really picking its targets here.

Because, as we said, the White House has said really nothing about the Trump situation, but President Biden tweeted this.

He said, three kids and three officials gunned down and yet another mass shooting.

And what are GOP officials focused on?

Punishing lawmakers who joined thousands of peaceful protesters calling for action.

It's shocking, undemocratic and without precedent.

Today, the White House said that President Biden met remotely with those three lawmakers.

And, of course, we know that Vice President -- you see the picture there, Vice President Kamala Harris is on the ground right now in Tennessee meeting with them in-person.

It looks like the White House is trying to align itself, Francesca, with the energy among those who are advocating for greater gun safety.

Francesca Chambers: But it is also sought to elevate the issue at a time when because of congressional gridlock.

The White House hasn't been able to do more on this issue.

And with regards to the vice president going down, this really varies two issues the White House has sought to focus on, both gun reforms but also to better engage young black men.

And the vice president, in particular, has been putting in a lot of work on that front, and I think that that is very important point about what she did today, obviously.

Geoff Bennett: And that's why she went to Fisk?

Francesca Chambers: And that is why she went to Fisk, which is a historically black college and university.

Geoff Bennett: All right.

Well, at the end of this historic week, as we said, I thought it would be instructive to do a quick lightning round and for each of you to give us either your prevailing thought or really interesting piece of reporting that you happened upon this week.

And we'll start with Hugo.

Hugo Lowell: I really just want to come back to Trump's appearance in court because it was so striking, and kind of Jackie touched on this earlier.

But I didn't have a pretty good view of Trump walking and in and walking out.

I was the last one in the courtroom because I was late to the line.

But I could see his facial features very clearly.

And I had been in that courtroom before when Steve Bannon was arraigned in the We Build the Wall scheme.

It's a very bleak courtroom.

It has kind of white walls.

Typically, a federal court has these big portraits on the wall and like it's very colorful, it's very kind of ornate, and this was very bleak.

And I don't know if that made his facial features look worse.

But he came across as very unflattering.

And he came across really as looking afraid in a way that I had never seen him before and it was kind of disguised by the sense of indignation, but it was a really striking moment, I think, for Trump to be finally hit with the sense that he was a criminal defendant.

Geoff Bennett: We've got a minute left.

Who's next?

Francesca Chambers: I'll go.

So, the GOP is facing a huge identity crisis right now, and they're having to choose between some of this old school politics, of the fiscal conservativism, if you will, that you're hearing Asa Hutchinson and Chris Sununu and others talk about, and also this -- Geoff Bennett: And you went to meet Chris Sununu this past week.

Francesca Chambers: Yes, and also Asa Hutchinson.

And so they are facing this crisis between that and sort of the things that you see, the cultural flashpoints, like the Ron Desantises focus on.

And now we are seeing those play out nationally for the first time and it will be very curious to see in this election cycle if the GOP potentially re-strategized on those social issues.

Geoff Bennett: Jackie, what are you watching for as this New York case, in particular, comes together?

Jacqueline Alemany: Yes.

Well, I don't want to give away any potential scoops, so I will put it back to my daily beat congressional investigations, definitely looking at Jim Jordan, the judiciary committee, the weaponization committee and the House Oversight Committee, and how they beat the drum on attacking Alvin Bragg and his team.

They issued another records request a few hours ago to Matthew Colangelo, someone who is actively working on the case for Alvin Bragg.

They issued a subpoena for Mark Pomerantz yesterday, curious to see how Pomerants responds.

I don't think he responded today.

He was advised the general counsel for Bragg's office not to cooperate with Jim Jordan's investigation into the indictment but we will be keeping a close eye on that next week.

Geoff Bennett: And, Peter Baker, we are out of time but you our White House correspondent without Peter, so he would tweet it.

We can all go to your Twitter account and see it.

Francesca Chambers, Peter Baker, Hugo Lowell, Jackie Alemany, a huge thanks to the four of you for being with us.

So, we will leave it there for now.

Thanks to my panel for joining us on this evening.