Longtime Tennessee Rep. Steve Cohen, who served his Memphis-area district for two decades but ended his reelection bid due to redistricting, broke down in tears speaking to NewsNation host Chris Cuomo, calling Donald Trump a “walking crime” who sees the White House as “his business.”
“I don’t want to quit. I’m not a quitter. But these districts were drawn to beat me,” Cohen said Friday.
“I’m upset by this,” Cuomo said. “I think it’s really bad for the democracy and I’m a fan of yours, so I don’t like it. I don’t get the criticism of ‘stand and fight’ — why would you fight when they changed the district and there aren’t enough votes for you to win? That’s silly.”
“Well, the House of Representatives is the people’s house and theoretically people are elected from districts that are compact and have common interests and that a representative can serve,” Cohen answered, “because the areas and sometimes they have to be longer because of smaller population bases — but they should have districts that have things in common. What the Republicans did and the Democrats did a little bit in response is to try to get an advantage this year. Mid-decade redistricting is almost never done and Tennessee had a statute making it illegal since 1971.”
That statute came crashing down after the U.S. Supreme Court significantly weakened federal Voting Rights Act protections for minorities. Tennessee was the first state to approve new congressional voting districts in response to the ruling.
“This is the most criminal behavior we’ve ever seen in the White House,” Cohen also said. “I think you take all the criminal behavior before in the history of presidents it doesn’t equal what Donald Trump has done just in this term. I mean with crypto with investing, with the Middle East or with the Saudis, the man is a walking crime. He looks at the White House this his business, and the government’s business, and he doesn’t accept any checks and balances.”
Cohen grew emotional as he and Cuomo spoke, something the latter said was due to the Congressman know “what your service meant to that community and that they needed it especially in that state and it was taken and it was unfair.”
Cohen answered, “I’ve got a great district. Wonderful people. They’ve supported me so well. You know it’s amazing thing that African American communities supported me for 20 years like they did and the Republicans don’t see it and they just tear it apart, because they have no perspective of caring about African Americans or caring about people getting together and anything nice that happens. It’s a tough sport and they play it tough.”
