NASHVILLE - The Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, got off to a rollicking start Monday for Tennessee delegates, with some attendees irate over how a mini-rebellion against presumptive nominee Donald Trump was quashed.
Meanwhile, a Muslim group and Tennessee Democrats criticized a Tennessee state senator for inviting a controversial Dutch politician, who calls Islam an "existential threat to Western civilization" to attend.
With Trump hoping to heal still-lingering wounds at the four-day gathering after the GOP's fractious primaries, the convention's first real order of business was to adopt convention rules.
It drew a convention floor challenge by anti-Trump forces who wanted a "conscience clause." Dubbed the Never Trump clause, it sought to let delegates ignore primary or caucus results in their states and vote for the presidential candidate of their choice.
The effort by delegations from initially nine states was crushed on a voice vote. While the 58-member Tennessee delegation - which has 33 Trump delegates - wasn't one of the nine states where a majority pushed for the "conscience clause," the clampdown didn't sit well with some Volunteer delegates still uneasy over Trump.
The move "did not leave a good taste in the mouths of many of the delegates who were not already on the Trump bandwagon," said Charlie Cato, a Ted Cruz delegate from Tennessee.
"The dissension that we saw suggests they're going to have a very difficult time bringing the party together," Cato said, "and even more, the way the vote was railroaded, really just made some people upset."
State Sen. Mae Beavers, R-Mount Juliet, the chairwoman of the Tennessee convention delegation and a Trump delegate, disagreed.
"Colorado had a little uprising," Beavers said. "It got squashed and that's it. I think it's just a tempest in a teapot. Some of the noise [of the Never Trump movement on voice votes] was actually coming from the public here, and they're not supposed to be saying anything."
Added Beavers: "I think everything's going to be fine. The Tennessee Republican Party is going to be fine. It's time to unify. It's time to be concerned about the future of this country. It'll come together."
U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, R-Tenn., who backed Mike Huckabee during the primary but now backs Trump, called the rules flare interesting.
"To most of us it was unexpected because all day everything has been very convivial," he said.
Asked whether Republicans will leave Cleveland united, the Ooltewah Republican said, "The answer is yes. I do think we will be able to come together."
There may be a "few bumps in the road," Fleischmann said, "but basically I think Tennesseans will come out of Cleveland reinvigorated and ready to elect a Republican."
It's either that or have Democrat Hillary Clinton become president, said Fleischmann, adding that after congressional Republicans met recently with Trump, he sees someone he can work with on national security and other issues.
Earlier Monday, another flap began developing after Geert Wilders, leader of the Dutch right-wing Party for Freedom, tweeted that he would be attending the GOP convention courtesy of an invite from the Tennessee Republican Party.
Actually, it was Tennessee Senate Republican Caucus Chairman Bill Ketron of Murfreesboro who extended the invitation after Wilders, whom Ketron considers a good friend, asked him to do so.
Ketrron said he was happy to do that.
"He's here to observe democracy at its best and maybe implement it back in his country," he said.
The senator said he doesn't dislike Muslims, noting he has a good friend who is Muslim, but does share Wilder's concerns about the potential imposition of Shariah, an Islamic body of religious codes and laws, in the U.S.
"They need to come here and assimilate and live under our laws and not come here without assimilating and try to force their laws on our country," Ketron said.
Ketron said he met the Dutch politician after a 2011 bill he introduced in Tennessee that originally sought to ban Sharia, which drew objections. It was later amended to deal with any group providing material support to terrorists and then passed.
Wilders accompanied Ketron to an earlier brunch Monday hosted by Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam and U.S. Sens. Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker.
Tennessee Democratic Party spokesman Spencer Bowers seized on Wilders' invitation, charging in a statement that "when you look at the current leader of the Republican Party, Donald Trump, it is no surprise at all that the TNGOP would invite a notoriously racist right-winger, who is currently on trial for inciting hate speech, to be their guest at the RNC convention."
Ibrahim Hooper, communications director with the Council on American-Islamic Relations, called on the Republican Party "to disinvite notorious Dutch Islamophobe Geert Wilders from its national convention."
"The Republican Party should not be importing foreign anti-Muslim bigots at a time when it should instead be addressing the growing Islamophobia within its own ranks," Hooper said.
Contact staff writer Andy Sher at asher@timesfreepress.com or 615-255-0550. Follow on Twitter @AndySher1.