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Republicans are supposed to stand for common sense, free speech, equal justice, and sane law enforcement.
Instead, Tennessee Republicans are starting to look like they’re auditioning for a panel spot on MSNBC.
Over the past few months, Tennessee has given us a bizarre run of red-state stupidity moves. Starting with a school board member facing an assault charge over a creepy comment and random shoulder touch, a man jailed over an anti-Trump meme, and another case that raises serious questions about whether Republican officials understand the difference between enforcing the law and helping the left normalize censorship, overcriminalization, and political punishment.
It’s a real mess.
It’s so bad that if the GOP keeps this kind of ham-fisted nonsense up, Republicans are going to hand entire generations of young voters right back to the Dems. All because way too many Republican officials have decided the answer to progressive insanity is copying huge parts of it.
That’s not how you push an America First agenda or conserve your country. We might as well hand the left the state of Tennessee on a silver platter and be done with it.
Conservatives aren’t supposed to be the party of speech policing, over-criminalization, feminist hooey, meme prosecutions, or turning awkward social behavior into soul-crushing criminal cases. That’s the left’s playbook. We know this because they’ve been using it against us for years.
Are you old enough to remember when Douglas Mackey got dragged through the legal system over an anti-Hillary meme?
At some point, most of us have been deplatformed, arrested, censored, smeared, or financially destroyed over jokes, online posts, political opinions, or socially “awkward” behavior that would’ve been laughed off ten years ago as a big ol’ nothing burger.
So why on earth are Tennessee Republicans now helping normalize this exact same culture?
Tennessee has a serious problem.
And the three cases we’re going to highlight for you perfectly capture how some Republican officials are becoming useful idiots for the progressive agenda they claim to fight against.
The first case involves a Washington County School Board member named Keith Ervin. He was charged with simple assault after making a creeper comment to a student board member during a public meeting.
Was the behavior awkward? Sure.
Unprofessional? Absolutely.
But criminal? Give us a break…
That’s where this starts crossing into progressive feminist territory, where every uncomfortable social interaction suddenly becomes a law enforcement matter.
Daily Wire:
Washington County School Board member Keith Ervin faces a simple assault charge after he was caught on camera touching a student board member named Hannah Campbell on her shoulder before saying, “God, you’re hot. Damn. Where do you go to school at?” After the comment, Ervin leaned over and gave the girl a side hug as a few others present at the meeting laughed before moving on.
Again, nobody is saying this was classy behavior.
But conservatives should be very careful before embracing the left’s habit of turning socially inappropriate conduct into criminal prosecution territory. Because once Republicans start criminalizing cringe, awkwardness, flirtation, bad judgment, or uncomfortable moments, the right has officially surrendered the cultural argument.
This is exactly the kind of feminism-on-steroids logic that conservatives have spent years mocking and fighting. Now, we’re enforcing it, and that’s a huge problem.
The next case is even worse because it hits directly at the free speech argument.
Last year, Tennessee authorities jailed a man over a political meme. Sounds familiar, because as we mentioned earlier, Douglass Mackey’s life was turned upside down over an anti-Hillary meme. We spent years warning that criminalizing memes and online speech would spiral completely out of control… and now, Republicans in Tennessee are helping prove our point.
Reason:
Last year, Larry Bushart spent 37 days in a Tennessee jail because he had shared a widely circulated anti-Trump meme on Facebook. Today his attorneys announced that he has agreed to settle the resulting federal lawsuit in exchange for a payment of $835,000.
“No one should be hauled off to jail in the dark of night over a harmless meme just because the authorities disagree with its message,” said Adam Steinbaugh, a senior attorney at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), which represented Bushart along with local attorney Katherine Phillips. “We’re pleased that Larry has been compensated for this injustice, but local law enforcement never should have forced him to endure this ordeal in the first place.”
The meme in question, which Bushart posted on September 20 in response to a Facebook announcement of a candlelight vigil for slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk at the Perry County Courthouse, featured a photo of President Donald Trump flanked by a quote from a speech he gave at a campaign rally in Iowa on January 5, 2024. The day before, a gunman had killed two people and injured six others at a high school in Perry, Iowa.
Honestly, this should terrify conservatives.
The meme may have been tasteless, but calling it a “threat” was a wild stretch. Republicans are supposed to understand exactly where this road leads. The right spent years fighting against politically weaponized censorship, lawfare prosecutions, and censorship used to intimidate people into silence, only to surrender it all the first time a rude meme gets published.
You can’t spend years screaming about Douglass Mackey and then turn around and cheer when Tennessee authorities jail someone over a meme you don’t like.
And now, this man, who shouldn’t have been arrested, will rake in over 800K for his troubles.
Collin Rugg:
NEW: Former Tennessee police officer who was jailed for posting a meme after the assassination of Charlie Kirk has been awarded more than $800,000.
Larry Bushart was arrested in September 2025 and thrown in jail after posting a meme with the text “We have to get over it” next to an image of Trump.
He was originally charged with threatening mass violence, but the district attorney declined to pursue the charges.
Bushart will now get $835,000 from the county in exchange for dismissing his complaint.
NEW: Former Tennessee police officer who was jailed for posting a meme after the assassination of Charlie Kirk has been awarded more than $800,000.
Larry Bushart was arrested in September 2025 and thrown in jail after posting a meme with the text “We have to get over it” next to… pic.twitter.com/ja5miy5byn
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) May 20, 2026
The final example of Tennessee buffoonish behavior may look different on the surface, but it has the same problem: Republicans using left-wing ideology while pretending it serves conservative goals.
Andrew Branca Show:
WHAT A GREAT DAY FOR DALTON EATHERLY!
TLDR: The State’s case against Eatherly appears to be utterly lacking in ANY LEGAL MERIT WHATEVER, based upon what appears to be the official Affidavit of Complaint just made public (attached).
This in a case in which the State’s BURDEN is proof of guilt, and disproof of self-defense, beyond ANY REASONABLE DOUBT.
All of it: So, it appears the affidavit of complaint against Dalton “Chud the Builder” Eatherly has been made public, and the contents will ABSOLUTELY SHOCK many of you.
FIRST SHOCKER: THERE IS NOT A SINGLE WORD ABOUT DALTON HAVING UTTERED ANY RACIAL SLUR TOWARDS JOSHUA FOX WHATEVER, SO AS TO HAVE PROVOKED THE FIGHT AND THUS TO HAVE LOST THE LEGAL JUSTIFICATION OF SELF-DEFENSE.
NOT. ONE. WORD.
That was Dalton’s biggest potential vulnerability on self-defense, and we can now be confident that we can put that concern to rest.
But it gets even BETTER for Dalton.
SECOND SHOCKER: Even if self-defense IS NOT EVEN CONSIDERED, the Affidavit of Complaint fails to present ANY evidence-based narrative that Dalton has committed ANY CRIME WHATEVER. (But, of course, self-defense WILL be raised, only further buttressing Dalton’s legal position.)
Specifically, there’s literally not a SINGLE WORD in this Affidavit of Complaint that describes ANY criminal conduct whatever.
I’ve embedded the Affidavit in my possession, but for purposes of succinctness, the relevant portions reads:
“… Dalton Eatherly and Joshua Fox engaged in a verbal altercation in front of the Montgomery County Courthouse.”
This is not a crime, unless it’s merely the misdemeanor of disorderly conduct, which would apply equally to both Eatherly AND Foxx. And in any case Eatherly has not been charged with disorderly conduct (nor Fox, of course).
“During this verbal altercation, Mr. Eatherly turned his body in a bladed stance towards Mr. Fox …”
There’s nothing unlawful about taking a defensive stance when dealing with an angry antagonist. Certainly Eatherly is not charged with the “crime” of “taking a bladed stance.”
“… and reached for his firearm located in his right jacket pocket.”
Again, there’s nothing unlawful about reaching for a firearm in one’s pocket in preparation for possible necessary self-defense. Note that Eatherly is not charged with the “crime” of “reaching for a firearm in located in his right jacket pocket.”
“Thereafter, a physical altercation ensued.”
Note the passive voice. The “altercation ensued.” There’s no claim that EATHERLY initiated the “altercation.”
Indeed, if anything, to the extent the affidavit has detailed Eatherly’s conduct, the absence of any representation of his conduct to indicate that it was EATHERLY who initiated the altercation, we can only infer that it was instead FOX who initiated the altercation.
This would, of course, make Eatherly the VICTIM of Fox’s unlawful attack upon him.
The next paragraph: “Mr. Eatherly discharged his firearm, striking Mr. Fox multiple times.”
There’s nothing inherently unlawful about discharging a firearm and shooting someone multiple times. Thousands of shootings that fit this description occur every year, and qualify as perfectly lawful self-defense. Of course, now self-defense need actually be put on the table.
Then there’s a discussion of Fox being flown to a hospital, followed by: “In addition, at the time shots were fired, there were several innocent bystanders in the area. Surveillance video fo the incident shows a ricocheting projectile hitting nearby walls.”
Again, there is nothing inherently unlawful about firing shots that miss the intended target. Police involved in lawful shootings of suspects routinely miss about 70% of the shots fired. Those shots ALSO go flying about the neighborhood until they hit something. None of that is a crime, absent evidence of recklessness–and the affidavit provides no statement of recklessness. Indeed, not a word of recklessness.
Note that if the shots were fired in lawful self-defense, as a matter of law they were not fired recklessly.
I would also note that there’s not a word in this affidavit that even contests, much less contradicts, even a single legal element of Dalton’s anticipated claim of self-defense. Not Innocence, not Imminence, not Proportionality, not Avoidance, and Not Reasonableness.
Not a single element. Not a word of it.
If this were a civil case, I would argue that this complaint fails to state a cause of action.
Indeed, it’s hard to recall the last time I saw an Affidavit of Complaint so utterly lacking in legal substance whatever.
At this point I have to say that I’ve never felt more positive about Dalton Eatherly’s claim of self-defense, at least based upon the representations of this apparently official “Affidavit of Complaint.”
If these facts provided in this Affidavit of Complaint are all the State of Tennessee has on which to prosecute Dalton on the attempted murder, aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, and malicious firearms possession charges brought against him, I simply don’t see any prospect to any reasonable degree of legal certainty of prosecutors securing a conviction on any of those charges beyond a reasonable doubt on the legal merits.
HEY! IF YOU LIKE THIS KIND OF USE-OF-FORCE LEGAL ANALYSIS, and would like to know more about how to be HARD TO CONVICT if YOU are ever compelled to defend yourself, your family, or your property against criminal predation, consider picking up a FREE copy of my best-selling plain-English book, “The Law of Self-Defense: Principles” (we only ask that you cover the S&H).
WHAT A GREAT DAY FOR DALTON EATHERLY!
TLDR: The State’s case against Eatherly appears to be utterly lacking in ANY LEGAL MERIT WHATEVER, based upon what appears to be the official Affidavit of Complaint just made public (attached).
This in a case in which the State’s BURDEN is… pic.twitter.com/1obWwZ749N
— Andrew Branca Show (@TheBrancaShow) May 20, 2026
Conservatives can’t scream about lawfare when it happens in a blue state, then shrug when a red state starts playing the same unfair game with someone politically off-putting.
This is exactly how red states lose their identity. These are the moves Republicans make now, and later, everyone wonders how a red state went purple, then blue. This is the playbook, folks.
When Republicans start pushing the left’s ideology on speech, policing, social behavior, gender nonsense, and government power, we’ve already lost the game. And if that keeps happening, the state won’t stay ours for much longer.
S
Conservatives shouldn’t be trying to become “slightly less annoying progressives.” We’re supposed to stand for something much different.
That’s why there’s a huge problem right now in Tennessee. And if Republicans don’t address it and change course, we could lose yet another red state.
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