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Times Opinion: How high will Fleischmann jump for Trump?

Staff photo by Matt Hamilton/ Rep. Chuck Fleischmann speaks during a press conference outside Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly's office in City Hall on Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026.
Staff photo by Matt Hamilton/ Rep. Chuck Fleischmann speaks during a press conference outside Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly's office in City Hall on Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026. Staff photo by Matt Hamilton/ Rep. Chuck Fleischmann speaks during a press conference outside Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly's office in City Hall on Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026.

In the cult that is the Donald Trump-led Republican Party, there is a strictly enforced party discipline that is intolerant of any dissent toward the president. Step out of line, and you’ll go the way of outgoing U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis or former U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.

But even within this toxic culture, which leaves no room for ideological independence, Chattanooga’s U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann somehow stands out for his irrational and sycophantic devotion to the president.

In a visit to Chattanooga City Hall on Tuesday, the representative’s subservience to Trump was laid bare for everyone to see.

(IN THE NEWS: Chattanooga city officials thank Fleischmann for federal funds)

When asked about U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi’s congressional hearing on her mishandling of the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files — an hourslong diatribe of senseless rants from her Democrat burn book and irrelevant touting of stock market gains — Fleischmann deflected, taking a page from House Speaker Mike Johnson’s “I don’t know” playbook.