Gov. Bill Lee Offers Incoherent Defense of His Refugee Decision in Interview with Brian Wilson

 

Tennessee Republican Gov. Bill Lee hemmed, hawed, and waffled Friday as he tried to defend his controversial decision to allow more refugees to resettle in Tennessee.

This happened when he appeared on Nashville’s Morning News with Brian Wilson, broadcast weekday mornings on 99.7 FM WWTN.

Lee was incoherent while answering Wilson’s straightforward questions, including the one Wilson, a former FOX News broadcaster, started off with:

You made a decision, one of the few Republican governors who made the decision to continue taking refugees into the state of Tennesse. This was not something that pleased the speaker of the House or the lieutenant governor or many listeners to this show. Many conservatives were not happy with that decision. What led you to make that decision?

“Yeah you know, what led me to that decision was my conviction, my beliefs, my principles,  and my values,” Lee responded, before he added several vague platitudes and tried to appeal to the people who voted for him in 2018 — by invoking the name of U.S. Republican President Donald Trump, who is still wildly popular with the conservative base:

I think leadership requires that you act on your strong beliefs and principles and convictions and values. Mine are very conservative. Mine are very faith-oriented. I think about leaders that actually are getting things done and moving things in the right direction. And I see that happening. Consider President Trump.

Lee seemed to channel the spirit of a professional politician, despite bragging during last year’s campaign that he had never held elected office and was only a cattle farmer and a businessman:

I don’t think he makes his decisions based on what the latest polling or what the political wind is or what his party believes. I think he acts on his convictions. I had a strong belief. And I looked at this issue from a conservative Christian perspective. To protect our 10th Amendment rights first and foremost, yes.

First of all, I respect President Trump’s process. The vetting process that he’s put in place for this refugee program. It preserves our 10th Amendment rights. It gave me the option to choose to be in this. It also gives us the option to get out of this if we don’t like it. It allows us to continue. By the way, a federal government mandate should never be allowed.

Which this is why this was acceptable by previous administrations or not. And that’s why we have a lawsuit in this state. That should continue. And I think we should continue with a vigor that will protect that 10th amendment right regarding refugee resettlement. And finally, you know what? I have a real personal experience with this.

I’ve worked with Christian ministry groups in refugee camps in Kurdistan. I’ve been in refugee camps in northern Uganda that helped political and religiously persecuted refugees from the Joseph Kony regime up in Sudan. I’ve seen what happens. I know what the repressed look like.

I also know that the United States has a long history for generations of being a beacon of refuge for those that are religiously and politically oppressed. I think it’s part of what’s made our country great.

We should make this country great again and one of the ways we do that is by returning to policies. And if you consider refugee resettlement. Return to refugee policy that’s balanced and right and vetted and safe. President Trump put in a new vetting process for refugees.

He limited the number in this country from 90,000 to 18,000 so that this would only be a few hundred people coming into individual states. That’s the kind of policy that existed when Ronald Reagan was president. That’s the kind of policy for refugees that exists under President Trump now. And all of those things came into my processing.

Wilson tried to press the governor for specifics.

“OK, let me jump in here for a minute. Because you’ve given us a lot of information to chew on. What I’m hearing from you is that this was more of a decision from your heart than from your head,” Wilson said.

“No.  It was a decision based on a number of factors. Including my heart. Including my faith belief that we have a Biblical mandate to provide refuge for those who are persecuted and oppressed,” Lee responded, adding:

I’ve heard a lot of people talking to me about this subject. And I remind people. This is not about illegal immigration.

This is a very different subject. I feel very differently and very strongly and have been very clear about how we should have our borders secure and how we should have a whole different view about illegal immigration. This is about persecuted and repressed political refugees. So yes. It was made with my heart. It required the 10th Amendment preservation.

It required a security vetting process that President Trump has put in place to make sure we know who’s coming in. You know this particular plan allows us to exactly know who’s coming into this state and where they are coming from. So we can attach the folks that come in here to a process that we know what’s happening with them.

It was my heart, but it was also a whole lot of other facts that made this decision one that I could go with.

“Are you surprised by the reaction from the speaker of the House, the lieutenant governor and, well, many people that listen to the program?” Wilson asked.

“Yeah. I’ve realized. First of all, I came into this not being a politician,” Lee answered, adding:

I don’t try to anticipate what a party is going to say. Or leaders what leaders of a party is going to say. I don’t act based on that. I act on my own conservative principles and values. And, most of the time, 99 percent of the time those line up with the vast majority of Republicans and conservatives. There are 132 legislators.

And there’s a lot of folks that work together to get things done in this state. We’re a very conservative state. We have very conservative legislation and a very conservative governor. Most all of the time we’re going to agree on things and I think you’ve seen that in the last year. But…

But, there’s going to be disagreement. I’m not surprised by that. Also, I’m also a person that believes disagreement is fine. You agree to disagree on things so long as you make decisions on strong principals. And then you move forward. I spoke with the speaker just, I seem him regularly. We talk regularly. I have a great relationship with the new speaker. I’m excited about working with him. Lieutenant Governor McNally and I.

Wilson had to jump in — again.

“Wait wait wait. I have to ask you a question then,” he interjected.

“If you are excited and you have great respect for him, tell me why he felt like he got waylaid by this announcement? He said I didn’t have any idea that this was coming. I got no warning and no advance notice of it whatsoever. In fact, you and he had a conversation about that did you not?” he asked.

The governor appeared not to understand the question, which was why he had not taken the initiative in advance to give McNally and Sexton a heads up, and he instead blindsided them with his announcement on refugees:

Exactly. That’s exactly what I’m talking about. So he’s a new speaker. I’ve been the governor for 10 months. We’re developing this relationship. As soon as he says he was surprised by that, I got together with him. And I said, ‘Hey let’s communicate even better. Let’s figure out how you and I, I don’t want to surprise you and I don’t want you to surprise me. We’re not going to agree on everything.’

But you know what, we’re in this together. He and I are building a strong relationship. I have a great deal of respect for that man. He’s a great leader and a very principled conservative himself. We didn’t agree on this issue. We’re learning how to work together. He’s new in this job, and I’m new in this job too. Just because we had a disagreement, doesn’t mean that we’re not being on the same page.

It required a security vetting process that President Trump has put in place to make sure we know who’s coming in. You know this particular plan allows us to exactly know who’s coming into this state and where they are coming from. So we can attach the folks that come in here to a process that we know what’s happening with them.

You can listen to the full audio of the interview here.

As The Tennessee Star reported this week, Trump issued an executive order in September that asked states and cities to consent in writing if they want to continue refugee resettlements — and it was Lee’s decision to make.

Also as reported, the two leading contenders for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate to replace retiring Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) disagree with Lee’s  decision.

Readers of The Star said they weren’t having any of it.

A large contingent of our readers said earlier this month on our website and our Facebook page that they would adamantly oppose Lee taking this action, so much so they would make him a one-term and done governor.

Gov. Lee’s office did not address our readers’ concerns.

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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Bill Lee” by Bill Lee.