Manny Sethi and Rand Paul speak to members of the media at the 2020 T-Bones and Politics event in Lascassas

Joe Carr hosted the annual T-Bones and Politics event on July 18 at the Messick Farm in Lascassas, continuing the Rutherford County summertime tradition of celebrating conservative thought and patriotism.

The campaign of Dr. Manny Sethi made the event a stop during the candidate’s packed statewide tour as he runs for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate seat of outgoing senator Lamar Alexander.

At the event, Dr. Manny’s campaign continued to push the message that he is the most conservative choice for the Senate seat, and to position himself as a political “outsider,” someone who has “never run for anything,” Sethi told the crowd in Lascassas on a hot summer evening.

All of the proceeds from the 2020 installment of T-Bones and Politic went to the Sethi campaign.

“The people don’t want a political insider,” he said.

Sethi emphasized to the crowd his stance as pro-life, pro-gun, pro-Trump and pro-America.

“America is the single greatest country in the history of this planet,” he said.

Sethi told the story of his parents moving from India to the U.S. to seek a better life for their family. His mother and father went on to become the only two doctors in the Coffee County community of Hillsboro.

But as far as the family’s immigration into the country, he explained, “They stood in line and waited their turn,” the son of immigrants said as the crowd erupted into applause.

Slick Pig manager Matt Nelson grills up some steaks on the hot summer afternoon

“We need someone with a spine in the senate,” Sethi continued.

He went on to cover various issues of national importance, bringing jobs back to America, ending the war and charging those who have damaged, defaced or destroyed historical statues with federal crimes.

“These people burning, looting, rioting in the streets, they hate America,” Sethi says.

The physician says healthcare is a huge issue facing the nation, and, in simple terms, says he will address that issue by advocating for price transparency, getting the government out of the insurance business and encouraging Americans to focus on prevention and healthy lifestyles rather than treatment of disease.

Sethi helped launch the Healthy Tennessee organization, which travels throughout Tennessee and provides free health screenings at health fairs in partnership with other organizations and local officials to promote a healthier Tennessee, with the goal being to “help the least of these.”

The Sethi campaign continues to cast his leading challenger for the senate seat, Bill Hagerty, as a buddy of Mitt Romney—who voted to impeach President Trump and who marched with Black Lives Matter—and Dr. Manny says that he supported Trump throughout the 2016 primaries, but Hagerty was a Jeb Bush delegate and donated to Marco Rubio’s campaign.

Among the other candidates for the Republican nomination for the U.S. senate seat is Rutherford County resident Aaron Pettigrew.

U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, of Kentucky, spoke in support of Dr. Sethi at the T-Bones and Politics event.

“I’m not supporting many candidates. I’m supporting Dr. Manny because he’s a conservative,” Paul said. “We need Republicans who will vote against this monstrous debt.

Rand Paul speaks on behalf of Manny Sethi’s bid for senate at the 2020 T-Bones and Politics

“We borrow against our kids and our grandkids. It’s delusion,” continued Paul, who recently authored and released the book The Case Against Socialism.

“Many of you have had to cut 10, 20, 30 percent [of expenses] from your business in order to survive a year,” Paul told the crowd of Rutherford County business leaders, government officials and political activists and observers. “Government never does that! We shouldn’t be angry, but we should stand for what we believe in.”

He went on to say, regarding the sweeping government orders regarding COVID-19, “The governor [of Kentucky specifically, but applicable to many states] shut down the businesses. How do we get beyond that? Just pass out money? Open up the economy and let us work!” to loud applause from the crowd. “Individuals will make their own decisions on what they are comfortable with.”

Paul also indicated that he would support Republicans who made efforts to scale back the United States’ involvement in lengthy and expensive foreign conflicts, noting the U.S. military has been in Afghanistan for 19 years.

“It’s time to end perpetual war,” Paul said. “The president said in his State of the Union that great countries don’t fight perpetual wars. I couldn’t agree with him more. It’s time to end the war.”

Among the other supporters of the Dr. Manny campaign present, former U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp lauded him as “someone who will not kowtow to the establishment. . . . I believe conservatism can save America,” Wamp said.

J.T. Cooper, a musician and an Army veteran who survived the Black Hawk Down incident in Somalia, sang his patriotic tune “I’m Gonna Stand” at the T-Bones and Politics event.

“I’ve walked through the valley of PTSD,” he said. Cooper referenced Dr. Manny’s time serving patients at the VA.

“If you spend your time being a doctor for my brothers and sisters, you have my vote,” Cooper said.