Lauren Boebert – Memphis Flyer

“How many sexes are there in Russia, Brad?”

“Two, Steve.”

“Exactly. And Putin’s army ain’t ‘woke.’”

“Huh, huh, huh.”

That exchange came at the end of a discussion on Steve Bannon’s podcast a couple weeks ago about how Vladimir Putin’s Russian army was going to walk all over Ukraine because it was a manly fighting force that didn’t fret about wussy stuff like pronouns and wokeness. Putin was a man’s man and his soldiers would waltz in and kick ass. This would be a good thing, Bannon continued, since Ukraine was a corrupt autocracy run by a crook. (Project much, Stevie?)

Since then, we’ve seen an under-equipped Ukrainian fighting force made up of people of all ages and genders, sometimes using borrowed and homemade weapons, battle overwhelming numbers of Putin’s manly conscripts to a standstill. And now Ukraine is getting resupplied by the U.S. and “woke” countries from all over Europe. Putin’s forces may eventually capture Ukraine, but this isn’t turning out the way he and Bannon hoped it would.

Now let’s switch to Florida and take a listen to Governor Ron DeSantis waxing eloquent on foreign policy last week: “Can you imagine if [Putin] went into France?” he asked, with a sneer. “Would they do anything to put up a fight? Probably not.”

I’m not sure why DeSantis felt it necessary to insult America’s oldest historical ally and disparage the fortitude of a country whose citizens resisted Hitler’s nazis for six years (and a country, I might add, that has 300 nuclear warheads). But, hey, France, amirite? Cheese-eatin’ sissy boys. Huh, huh, huh.

What’s with all these displays of ignorant machismo emanating from the right these days? Why all the pathetic sucking up to bully-boys like Putin by the GOP and its media enablers? And when did “woke” become the official MAGA shorthand for “liberal wussies”?

Maybe it’s because “caravans are coming,” “build the wall,” “liberals will take your guns,” and “gays will force you to marry them” are played out, and the GOP needs a new boogeyman to stir up the rubes. Woke is the handy code word for everything the right hates and fears: considering more than one side of a question, thinking before reacting, acknowledging the existence of gender and sexuality issues, racial justice, scientific analysis — not to mention nuance, kindness, and empathy. It’s so much easier if you can just ignore all that stuff and go straight to painting political opponents with simplistic insults about their manliness — and hating them.

And it’s not just right-wing men. CongressClown Lauren Boebert said last week that Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has to learn to “chest-feed,” because, you know, he’s a gay man who is a father. Huh, huh, huh.

Who are the role models for these fools? Beavis and Butt-Head? Have they even done the math on some of these issues, or is that too complicated? The latest Gallup poll has the American public’s support for gay marriage at 70 percent. Another Gallup poll found that 87 percent of Americans approved of France. And around 75 percent of Americans are at least partially vaccinated, meaning they probably didn’t find having to wear a mask in certain spaces during a pandemic infringed enough on their freedom that they needed to start a truck convoy.

Seriously, how deranged is driving across the country to protest having to wear a mask two weeks after the CDC ended mask mandates? People are dying for freedom in Ukraine and these bozos are wasting thousands of gallons of fuel driving around the outer loop of Washington, D.C. — to demand what? Lower gas prices? The right to drive around in circles? It’s just more stupid macho cosplay.

Because I’m of a certain age, I am reminded of the old Saturday Night Live skit “¿Quién es Más Macho?,” in which game-show host Bill Murray asked contestants to pick which of three male actors was “más macho.” As I recall, Gilda Radner won by picking Lloyd Bridges, who beat out Ricardo Montalbán and Fernando Lamas for the title. It was stupid — and racist by today’s standards — so it may be time to bring that show back for real. Bannon vs. Boebert vs. DeSantis? It would kill on Fox.

In American popular music history, there is a long-established tradition whereby individuals with talent begin their rise to prominence in Memphis, a “roots” city in every sense, and extend their careers in Nashville, site of a monolithic music and broadcast industry. Among those who have made this journey are such titans as Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, and Johnny Cash, and lesser-known but influential studio and club mainstays like Cowboy Jack Clement and Paul Craft.

For somewhat obvious reasons, this kind of odyssey also occurs in politics, where Nashville’s prominence as the state capital is the attraction. One Hendrell Remus, ex-Memphian, could turn out to be a case in point.

Tennessee Democratic Party

Hendrell Remus

Remus’ name may ring a bill for Memphians who are close students of local politics. A former security professional here and, for the last year or two, at Tennessee State University in Nashville, Remus opposed incumbent state Representative Joe Towns in the Democratic primary for District 84 in 2012, and two years later ran in a multi-candidate field for the Shelby County Commission seat won that year by Eddie Jones, now the commission chairman.

In both races, Remus finished far behind the winner.

As a resident of Nashville, the earnest young man has had better success, having just won, as of last weekend, the chairmanship of the state Democratic Party in a field of 10 candidates. Remus, who also becomes the state party’s first Black chairman, has been vice chair of the Tennessee Young Democrats.

Among the factors contributing to his success with the 68 voting members of the party’s executive committee on Saturday were Remus’ sterling performances both in published questionnaires arranged for candidates by consultant Christy Pruitt Hayes and in a candidate forum held by The Tennessee Holler, a digital media company that closely follows Democratic Party issues.

Also telling in Remus’ favor was the enthusiastic support given him by Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris, who personally lobbied for Remus with several Shelby County and West Tennessee members of the state committee, a majority of whom sided with the ex-Memphian.

The election, held via the electronic platform Maestro, was a two-ballot affair, with 35 votes required for the winner. On the first ballot, Remus trailed former party official and Democratic National Committee member Wade Munday, also of Nashville, by 24 votes to 30. On the second ballot, aided by endorsements from two other candidates who dropped out of the running, Remus finished ahead of Munday, 36 votes to 32. Elected party vice chairs for West Tennessee were David Cambron and Jasmine Boyd.

• Steve, meet Lauren. One of the national Democratic Party’s leading progressive lights is 9th District Congressman Steve Cohen, who last week connected — sort of — with a new U.S. House member of dramatically opposite leanings.

In a news item featured prominently by CNN and other media, Cohen named Representative Lauren Boebert (R-CO) as one of the House members rumored to have conducted a “reconnaissance” tour of the U.S. Capitol for a group in the day or two before the Capitol was besieged by a violent mob.

Cohen said he could not address either Boebert’s motives nor those of the group she guided through the building, but he had a specific memory of seeing the tour in progress “sometime after the 3rd and before the 6th.” Boebert, who was elected in November, has been publicly identified with QAnon, the extremist group known for its fanatical support of outgoing President Donald Trump and for encouraging conspiracy theories at the expense of Democrats and liberals.

Boebert has denied leading any insurrectionists through the Capitol, but she has made a point of what she says is her right to pack a pistol in the Capitol complex, and attracted attention last week by refusing to abide by a new rule requiring members to pass through a metal detector on their way to the floor.

Several Democratic members of Congress have, in the wake of the January 6th riots, expressed concern that they may become targets of violence by extremists among their Republican counterparts.