More recently, during his Veterans Day speech in New Hampshire on Nov. Capitol, Trump sometimes embraces the extremists themselves. Trump, with four criminal trials in the next many months, even continues to embrace the policy positions of these right-wing extremists on issues such as immigration, elections and political opponents. While the local election in Franklin, along with the recent off-year elections in Kentucky, Ohio and Virginia, have handed Trump and the GOP a succession of defeats, both Trump and neo-Nazis organizing in Middle Tennessee have embraced increasingly violent rhetoric. ![]() These tensions also foreshadow a kind of conflict that could rock most any red-leaning corner of the United States ahead of the 2024 presidential election, when Democratic President Joe Biden is likely to face a rematch with former Republican President Donald Trump.ĪLSO READ: A neuroscientist explains how - and why - to get inside your political enemies’ minds This past Saturday, teenagers in town for a religious retreat roamed through downtown to evangelize, and they mobbed one of the buskers, a college student, who was taking a break after playing a song by LGBTQ-friendly country artist Tyler Childers.īut social tensions in Franklin are real, culminating last month with Hanson’s neo-Nazi-backed campaign. On weekends, the two-block stretch of downtown Franklin billed by a local foundation as “America’s favorite Main Street district” is chock-a-block with youthful buskers plying a fresh-scrubbed version of Americana that includes fiddle tunes, folk songs and contemporary country music. Colored Troops monument on the city's public square. It’s offset by a less prominent bronze sculpture of a Black soldier to tell a more complete story about the city’s history by recognizing the contributions of the United States Colored Troops who helped repulse the Confederate advance.Ī girl studies the history of the Civil War in Franklin at the U.S. America’s cultural contradictions in microcosmįranklin’s contradictions can be seen in the Confederate monument that soars from a tall plinth at the center of the public square, commemorating the city’s role as the site of a historic battle near the end of the Civil War. ![]() While Democratic-leaning Nashville recently elected a progressive mayor, the far right has targeted Franklin and surrounding Williamson County. While Nashville is the undisputed capital of country music, Franklin has become a hub of the Christian music recording industry, and the region has attracted a growing roster of conservative influencers such as Candace Owens, Ben Shapiro and Matt Walsh.Īs such, Franklin, one of the wealthiest cities in the country, plays a crucial role in American mythmaking. Indeed, the cultural contradictions of America in the era since MAGA has taken a stubborn hold on national politics are contained in Franklin, which is part of the region anchored by Nashville. Their absence - like Hanson’s overwhelming defeat earlier this month - served as a silent victory for democratic principles and political moderation in this Tennessee city that’s emerged as ground zero in conservative communities’ often awkward fight against right-wing extremism. It was a convivial scene replicated throughout the day with boisterous teenagers on soccer fields at Pinkerton Park and patrons at Kimbro’s Pickin Parlor playfully bantering on the music hall’s front porch during an LGBTQ happy hour.Ī coalition of neo-Nazi groups had threatened to march Sunday on Franklin after interjecting themselves in the city’s recent mayoral election, which descended into ever-increasing depths of strangeness as far-right candidate Gabrielle Hanson embraced them and amplified their conspiracy theories.īut throughout the afternoon, as police cruisers circled the roundabout near City Hall, and undercover officers with earpieces scanned the public square and cradled cameras with telephoto lenses from the top of a public parking garage, no Nazis showed themselves.ĪLSO READ: Revealed: Bomb-loving neo-Nazi is now menacing children ![]() ![]() Diners lined the sidewalk to snag one of the coveted tables at Puckett’s Grocery on Sunday as this small city south of Nashville hummed through one of the last perfect days of autumn.
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