Probe finds far-right Tennessee Republican 'economist' major got a 'C' in his one college econ class

28 February 2023

Although Rep. George Santos (R-New York), has drawn widespread criticism for all the lies he told during his 2022 campaign, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-California) has been reluctant to criticize him and is not among the Republicans who has called for the Queens/Long Island congressman’s resignation. McCarthy is leading a small single-digit majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, and he is obviously well-aware of the fact that if a special election were held in Santos' district, that seat could end up back in Democratic hands.

Now, McCarthy may have another problematic freshman congressman to worry about: Rep. Andy Ogles, a far-right MAGA Republican who was elected via Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District in the 2022 midterms. Like Santos, Ogles appears to have fabricated part of his résumé, according to New Republic reporter Tori Otten.

In an article published by The New Republic on February 27, Otten reports that the 51-year-old Ogles claimed to have studied "policy and economics" at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro. But an investigation by Nashville’s WTVF-TV Channel 5 News (a CBS affiliate) "found a résumé from 2009, on which Ogles said he majored in international relations, not economics."

"According to the transcript, Ogles enrolled in the university in 1990 and finally graduated in 2007," Otten explains. "During that time, he took only one economics class, in which he got a C. He also got a C in American history, and he flat-out failed the nine political science courses he took during his college career. Ogles did get an A in theater appreciation, though, which could explain his apparent penchant for dramatic embellishment. When he finally graduated, it was with a bachelor’s in liberal studies, a generalized degree for people who do not pick a specialized major."

Otten adds that WTVF-TV Channel 5 News Nashville also found that Ogles "exaggerated" his experience combating "international sex crimes" when he "claimed that he worked with anti-human trafficking group Abolition International in 12 countries." Abolition International, the reporter notes, "did not have operations in 12 countries during his time working for them."

Randy Stamps, former political director for the Tennessee GOP, lambasted Otten's "level of deception" during an interview WTVF-TV Channel 5 News and commented, "If he is willing to run around and say, 'Hey, I’m an economist,' who knows what else he is going to tell you that is not true?"

No one will ever mistake Ogles for a moderate or a centrist. The far-right Nashville native is vehemently opposed to abortion and same-sex marriage; after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022 with its ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, Ogles declared, "(The) next thing we have to do is go after gay marriage."

The bombastic, ultra-MAGA Ogles has promoted the Big Lie, the thoroughly debunked conspiracy theory that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Donald Trump. And he has called for President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to be impeached.

When McCarthy was fighting to be confirmed as House speaker in early January, Ogles voted against him several times — claiming that he wasn't far enough to the right — but eventually voted for him. Ogles is an ally of the far-right House Freedom Caucus.

Read The New Republic’s full report at this link.

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