Q&A with Rep. Andy Ogles

If elected, what will your number one legislative priority be and why?

Having had the privilege to serve the great people of Tennessee's 5th Congressional District for the last year and a half, one of my top priorities has been stopping the flood of illicit fentanyl and securing the Southern Border. We've reached unprecedented levels of illegal immigration during Biden's administration, and the detrimental impacts felt across the country are unsustainable—every town has become a border town. Deaths from fentanyl overdose are now the leading cause of death in individuals aged 18-45. This is a shocking statistic, and it cannot continue.

I've been proud to sponsor legislation aimed at directly addressing this problem, such as the Send Them Back Act, which would make all illegal aliens who have entered the United States since January 20, 2021, eligible for expedited removal from the country. Additionally, I was a vocal advocate for H.R.2 and voted in favor of its passage. H.R.2 is the most comprehensive border and immigration solution proposed in decades. It was passed in the House last year, but Senate Democrats have been sitting on it since then, refusing to take action.

Are you willing to support former President Donald Trump during his campaign to retake the White House? If elected, which of his policy platforms are you looking forward to supporting him on?

I am the Trump-endorsed candidate. In fact, I was one of the very first public officials to receive President Trump's endorsement this cycle. Additionally, I have wholeheartedly endorsed and supported President Donald Trump during his campaign to retake the White House. I sat with President Trump in the New York courtroom and watched how they persecuted him. President Trump has sacrificed everything to fight to Make America Great Again. The entirety of our DOJ has been weaponized against him, and he has literally just taken a bullet for his country. His devotion and dedication to making this country great again is unparalleled.

Some of the obvious reasons to support President Trump include his uncanny ability to understand factors that will revitalize our economy. Tennesseans are fed up with Biden-flation. It is becoming more and more difficult each day to purchase necessities. Under President Trump, we had one of the most prosperous economies this country has seen in decades. Additionally, with the potential to replace a few Supreme Court Justices over the next four years, it is absolutely crucial we have someone like President Trump overseeing that appointment process. We've seen how the Supreme Court has been weaponized against conservatives over the past few decades to circumvent the normal legislative process and enact societal change through nine unelected individuals. President Trump will ensure that strong, textualist justices are placed in those seats, thereby maintaining the proper checks and balances within our federal government.

Finally, I'm thrilled at the prospect of President Trump returning to office to tackle the issue of excessive federal regulations. During his first term, Trump spearheaded a groundbreaking initiative to slash red tape, boost economic growth, and ease the regulatory burden on American businesses. This effort, formalized through Executive Order 13771, introduced the innovative "two-for-one" policy, mandating that federal agencies eliminate two existing regulations for each new one they proposed. The results were remarkable. The Trump administration didn't just meet their target – they shattered it, reportedly eliminating 8.5 regulations for every new rule introduced. This deregulation drive was part of a larger strategy to streamline various economic sectors, with the aim of cutting regulatory costs by approximately $50 billion. The long-term impact was projected to be even more significant, with estimated savings of $220 billion once all major deregulation actions were fully implemented.

🐍 Things Are Getting Weird No, I’m not talking about the president who hasn’t appeared since he exited the race, or his new habit of patching his voice into campaign pressers like the Wizard of Oz from behind the curtain. Nor am I referring to Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle’s inability to answer a single question regarding the attempt on Trump’s life during her hearing in front of the House Oversight Committee. I’m talking about a snake, a golden ticket, and hazardous waste, all bundled into a strange series of Tennessee news stories that have piled up over the last few days.

A python is on the loose in Hermitage. After it was found coiled on top of a gas pump at the Phillips 66 on Old Hickory Boulevard last Sunday, the large reptile was set free into the wild— a mistake the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency has yet to rectify. Meanwhile, 40 miles down the road in Murfreesboro, a gas station attendant almost swiped a million-dollar lottery ticket. Yesterday, a customer walked into a Shell station, bought two Diamond and Golds, and asked the clerk, 23-year-old Meet Patel, to scan the bar codes and check if they were winners. As it turns out, the customer had won a cool million, but Patel decided to keep it to himself. Instead, he pocketed the golden ticket, but was later caught while trying to redeem it. (It’s hard to tell which part of the story is more made for TV— Patel’s villain arc, or the fact that someone actually won a million from a scratch-off.)

Around the same time, a few hours drive to the East, a truck spilled hydrochloric acid down Knoxville’s North Peters Road; as a result, the city’s police and fire departments have been patrolling the area in hazmat suits. Yes, hydrochloric acid is dangerous, and we hope it gets cleaned up properly— but, in the event that someone does make contact with the substance, we hope he or she gets Meteor Man-like powers. MEGAN PODSIEDLIK

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🥁 Marching Orders Yesterday, Mayor Freddie O’Connell added his name to the growing list of Democratic politicians who have pledged their allegiance to Kamala Harris. Not only do endorsements keep rolling in for Madam VP, according to reports, she may already have the delegates needed to become her party’s presidential nominee. Yesterday morning, nearly 300 members of the Democratic Mayors Association threw their weight behind Harris, issuing the following the statement: 

As Mayors, we are the closest to the people and understand better than most that too much is at stake for our communities to endure another Donald Trump presidency. Our rights, freedoms, and very democracy are on the line,” reads the statement issued by the association yesterday.  “Democratic Mayors enthusiastically endorse Vice President Kamala Harris as the next nominee and are ready to support her vision of delivering opportunity for all Americans. MEGAN PODSIEDLIK

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❌ Hate for me, but not for thee In one of the great headlines of the year so far, NewsChannel 5’s Phil Williams authored a story titled, “Confronting the hate, Phil Williams tells neo-Nazis: 'When I look at you guys, I do not think master race.'” Phil Williams writes that Phil Williams bravely confronted the neo-Nazi menace by sticking a mic in their faces and letting them talk about their beliefs. Williams actually did a half-decent job profiling the group, going into the bios of some of the members. But that doesn’t change the fact that were it not for hysterical journalists like Williams, such groups would not get any publicity at all—the stated purpose of them coming to a city like Nashville.

Across town, the Tennessean’s opinion editor David Plazas penned a piece applauding councilmember Zulafar Suara for her strict adherence to “non-violent principles” in the face of attacks from hate groups. Plazas centers the presence of neo-Nazi groups in Nashville as indicative of Nashville being overwhelmed by the red hinterlands surrounding it. Plazas then reminds readers that “White Replacement Theory is dangerous” before pointing out that “Demographic data from the NashvilleNext planning document show the city is expected to be majority minority by 2040.” 

Suara, for her part, has been taken to task for her anti-Christian and anti-Jewish rhetoric starting the day she was sworn into office; this was epitomized by her ceasefire resolution, which contained language taken word-for-word from the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights, a tax shelter for Hamas and the IslamicRevolutionary Guard Corps. Suara also has a relationship with Michigan Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, who was censured late last year by the House for her language regarding the Israel-Palestine conflict. Back in 2019, Tlaib proudly proclaimed, “[Trump’s] afraid of women of color… because we’re not afraid of him and we’re not afraid to speak up and say that we have a white supremacist in the White House who has a hate agenda.” Nice.

Don’t get me wrong, seeing Nazi flags on Broadway is jarring, and I’d probably cross the street to avoid them, but I think you would have to be delusional to believe that these groups have any real influence over the direction of the country, or that the right is their exclusive domain. DAVIS HUNT

DEVELOPMENT

• High-profile Music Row recording studio to be demolished (NBJ)
• Summer 2025 completion eyed for Five Points-area project (Post)
• Congregation pays $4.5M for east side historic building (Post)

✹ THIS WEEK IN STREAMING (July 23rd)

Land of Bad (Netflix) Liam Hemsworth gets stuck behind enemy lines in the Philippines after an ambush. His only hope is Reaper (Russell Crowe), a grizzled Air Force drone pilot back in the States benched from the field thanks to his problems with authority. What could have been another B-grade action flick ends up a tense-as-all-hell ride with plenty to say about American military decline while showing Crowe is more than ready for his own career renaissance. 

Presumed Innocent (Apple TV+) We may be at that Mid-TV moment where remakes of 90s Harrison Ford court dramas based on former bestsellers are fodder for prestige series, but at least this one boasts a career-best Jake Gyllenhaal as a Chicago prosecutor caught up in a murder investigation of a colleague. It’s the perfect melding of the classiness and local color that creator David E. Kelley brought to his previous juggernauts The Practice, Boston Legal, and Big Little Lies.

Cameraperson (Max) Kirsten Johnson spent a decade and a half as a cinematographer for documentary all-stars like Kirby Dick and Michael Moore. However, her 2016 directorial debut serves as a harsh rebuttal to the one-dimensional polemicism and artless style that have plagued the genre in the 21st century, Consisting of footage from her dozens of projects behind the camera, Cameraperson is an unorthodox archival film that spans continents and subjects on its way to becoming a deeply personal memoir as well as a dissection of documentary’s presumed infallible authority.

THINGS TO DO

View our calendar for the week here and our weekly film rundown here.

📅 Visit our On The Radar list to find upcoming events around Nashville.

🎧 On Spotify: Pamphleteer's Picks, a playlist of our favorite bands in town this week.

👨🏻‍🌾 Check out our Nashville farmer's market guide and yearly festival guide.

TONIGHT

🎸 Shlomo Franklin, Leo Crafft & Houston Lace @ Dee's Lounge, 7p, $5, Info

🪕 Bluegrass Reunion feat. Alicia Blue @ City Winery, 7p, $15, Info

🎺 Todd Day Wait @ The Underdog, 11:00p, Free, Info‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌
+ Honky Tonk Tuesday afterparty, down the street

🎸 Honky Tonk Tuesday @ American Legion Post 82, 8p, Free, Info‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌
+ two-step lessons @ 7p, The Cowpokes @ 8p