Maine Writer: Read about Tennesseans involved in January 6th Capitol insurrection

Senators Blackburn and Hagerty are complicit in the Trump insurrection on January 6, 2021, an echo opinion published in The Tennessean, in Nashville, Tennessee.

Front page of The Tennessean on January 6, 2021: 22 people with ties to Tennessee are among those involved in the insurrection.

U.S. Senators Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty sat in stark silence Wednesday night as they received a master class on how to be a senator during the debate over objecting to electoral votes.

Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah spoke about the importance of telling the truth to voters about the election results. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky implored the Senate to fulfill its constitutional duty. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina explained how he can disagree with a court ruling but still accept it because that is the American way.

These and most Republicans joined Democrats in soundly quashing an ill-fated effort to nullify the will of the people in the 2020, presidential election –an effort that Blackburn and Hagerty initially supported.

Until they didn't. Oh, what an insurrection will do to make some senators take their oath of office seriously! Planned to appease Trump until the angry mob showed up, Tennessee's senators played games with democracy and perpetuated false allegations of mass voter fraud, a cover-up by tech companies and the press, and a stolen election –all to fit President Donald Trump's narrative that he was (falsely!) cheated out of a second term.

On Wednesday morning, Blackburn and Hagerty even tweeted welcome messages to Tennessee protesters who came to Washington, D.C., to support the president's lies. Toward the end of the day, they tweeted desperate pleas to stop an attempted violent coup against American democracy while talking about the merits of peaceful protest.

They later decided to withdraw their objections, with Blackburn merely tweeting in the evening: "I will vote in support of certifying the electoral college results". But, Hagerty said nothing. No explanations, though Tennesseans deserve them.

In 2020, when Hagerty ran for the Senate with Trump's "complete and total endorsement", he cast Black Lives Matter protesters as an angry mob. But, the angry mob didn't manifest itself as Black men and women demanding social justice. Instead, it appeared as a horde of angry white men and women carrying Trump and Confederate flags as they stormed the U.S. Capitol, desecrating a sacred institution. Blackburn and Hagerty helped propagate the messages that led the rioters to insurrection because they chose to not tell them the truth.

Five people are dead, including U.S. Capitol Police Officer Brian D. Sicknick.

Dozens more were injured. Police officers put their lives on the line for members of Congress. Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty are complicit! What kind of legacy will Tennessee's senators leave? Those who choose to continue to support (Trump's) dangerous gambit by objecting to the results of a legitimate, democratic election will forever be seen as being complicit in an unprecedented attack against our democracy, Romney said Wednesday night. They will be remembered for their role in this shameful episode in American history. That will be their legacy. Tennessee has elected senators in recent history who created proud legacies of achievement, leadership and decency including Howard Baker, Estes Kefauver, Jim Sasser, Al Gore Sr. and Jr., and Bill Frist.

What kind of legacy will be left by Blackburn and Hagerty? And for that matter, by Tennessee's Republican House members –Reps. Diana Harshbarger, Tim Burchett, Chuck Fleischmann, Scott DesJarlais, John Rose, Mark Green and David Kustoff –who all objected to one or more states' electoral votes, even after the authorities quelled the insurrection?

The senators were like children playing with matches who only showed remorse after they set the house on fire. That is not what a member of Congress is supposed to do. They take an oath to defend the Constitution, not to any one person.