Last week thousands gathered in Nashville outside Gov. Bill Haslam’s State of the State address to protest Donald Trump's unconstitutional travel ban on Muslims from seven countries.
Like many out-of-touch Republican lawmakers, Tennessee State Senator Paul Bailey was just sure the protesters had to be paid. He had it on good authority that they were paid!
When asked about his laughable, evidence-free “paid protesters” comment by a local news station, he doubled down.
“I do have a reliable source that had reported to me, in regards to protesters that were here on the capitol grounds Monday night, that they were being paid to be here. At this time I cannot reveal that source because of security reasons,” the Sparta, Tennessee, lawmaker told News 2 reporter Chris Bundgaard.
Ohhh…..top secret security reasons. Sure, buddy. Sure. This paid protester gig must be pretty sweet! Can anyone of our readers connect us to the secret jobs board where these millions of jobs are being listed? Is there a LinkedIn for protesting? Nevertheless, Sen. Bailey did finally release (and later deleted) this video of so-called evidence that “paid protesters” were being bused in by charter bus.
Unfortunately for Sen. Bailey, the Nashville Scene preserved the video and blew apart his paid protester theory:
There's just one big problem with Maynard's claim — the "paid buses" are actually Nashville Downtown Partnership parking shuttles. And the reason those shuttles were parked at the Capitol last Monday night was not to ferry protesters to and from their cars, but to ferry legislators to and from the Ryman, where Metro lobbyists hosted a reception featuring members of the cast of Nashville. Which means the buses were "paid" — and that money came from the tax dollars of Nashvillians, not billionaire Democratic donor Soros — but it also means that neither Maynard nor Bailey bothered to read the signage on the buses.Thanks to the Nashville Scene for grabbing and preserving the "evidence."
Watch Sen. Bailey try to defend his ludicrous theory and see some of the more than 100 protesters who reached out to the station to reiterate they are not paid protesters and they are Tennessee residents who have had enough.
