Tennessee Redistricting Protest Called an “Insurrection”?

Added: 2026-05-18

[00:00:00]I was told that behavior like this was called an insurrection. This week when Tennessee decided to redraw their congressional maps, a whole bunch of Democrats got really upset, so they stormed the capital and they verbally assaulted police officers and they also caught paper flags on fire.

[00:00:17]>> Let me see if I can help you understand the difference between a demonstration and an insurrection. You see, a demonstration is an event where people express their views in a public setting.

[00:00:26]A demonstration is always lawful because it's an exercise of first amendment rights. Granted, actions in a demonstration can get out of hand and become criminal conduct and that's when people get arrested for things like disorderly conduct or destruction of property or other crimes. An insurrection is different. It's an uprising that aims at violently overthrowing the government. An insurrection is never lawful because the intent of an insurrection is to overthrow the constitutional order. Now, what happened the other day in Tennessee? That was a demonstration. Do you know how we know? Because the rallies and the marches didn't stop, slow down, or in any way interfere with that special session vote designed specifically to silence black voters.

[00:01:04]This is not storming, it's walking. It's protected by the first amendment.

[00:01:08]Verbally insulting police is also protected by the first amendment and lighting up a flag of any kind, protected by the first amendment.

[00:01:16]Lawmakers in Tennessee weren't hiding.

[00:01:17]They weren't scared. In fact, they were laughing at the demonstrators. And that's because the intent of the demonstrators was clear to everyone, express their opposition to the new law.

[00:01:27]But January 6th, oh, I don't know if you remember, it was a very, very different.

[00:01:32]Do you know what happened back then? Let me put it this way, it was so different from what happened in Memphis last week that I can't even say it under the terms of service of this platform. And look, I know that for some people it's easy to look at the people in Memphis gathered to protest and call it an insurrection just because you disagree with them. I know it's easy for some people to look at someone doing this with a flag and thinking that it's the same as dozens of men with zip ties running after federal lawmakers. There's a huge difference between an insurrection and a demonstration, but I'll let it slide this time. After all, the new Tennessee district maps are clear. In that state, it's a crime to express an opinion while being black.