In the days after the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump, Commercial Appeal published candidate profiles on the three Democratic primary challengers to Representative David Kustoff (R-TN-8), two of whom took the deeply divisive tone that Republicans were to “end democracy.”
As reported by The Tennessee Star, one of those candidates, Leonard Franklin, doubled down on his dark rhetoric in an exchange with The Star.
Sarah Freeman (pictured above) is running to be her party’s nominee in the race.
In the Commercial Appeal profile, she said went as far as to compare Republicans to Nazis:
I am an extremely dedicated and patriotic American and cannot stand by as the dark, greedy, undemocratic, and inhumane forces of what once was the Republican Party seize our Constitution and rip it to shreds. These are real and serious threats, and I am not willing to allow authoritarians to govern the country of my children, grandchildren, and future generations. This must be stopped now. As a professional historian, I have studied fascism and the history of Europe in the 1920s and ‘30s. As a southern historian, I know well the methods of bigots and their use of racism and hate to gain.
She did not respond to The Star’s comment request until Friday.
“I stand by my statements,” she said.
The Star asked a few follow up questions, including:
- What do you think about the attempted assassination of former President Trump?
- Given your knowledge of history, was that good or bad for democracy?
- In other words, do democratic nations typically attempt to depose leaders using violence?
- [Or] was this an anomaly?
Freeman has not responded to those questions at the time of publication.
Franklin, too, doubled down on his rhetoric when questioned by The Star. He told Commercial Appeal that he was running “because of the strenuous, aggressive and relentless movement to end our democracy.”
“My answer is no. I am not worried but, I am always concerned about the gravity of my speech,” he told The Star. “I certainly don’t want to be a contributor to such behavior. I am convinced that there is a movement to dismantle our democracy. I further think that anyone who is a sympathizer/supporter of any person or entity that is struggling to dismantle our democratic experience, is complicit, wittingly or unwittingly.”
But he backed off when asked for specifics, including:
- What, specifically, is this “movement to dismantle our democracy?”
- Who exactly are the leaders of this movement?
- Who are the “sympathizers/supporters” of this movement specifically?
- What should be done to those “sympathizers/supporters”?<
- Should they be banished from polite society? Jailed? Even killed?
- If this movement is actually going to destroy democracy, how do you stop them?
“I’ve offered all that I will at this time,” he said.
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Pete D’Abrosca is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on X/Twitter.
Photo “Sarah Freeman” by Sarah Freeman.
