What in the world has happened to Bill Hagerty?
Tennessee’s junior senator has a distinguished background, going back to his days as an Eagle Scout. He earned both a bachelor’s degree and a law degree from Vanderbilt University, served as a White House fellow in the administration of President George W. Bush and earned bipartisan respect for his tenure as commissioner of Tennessee’s Department of Economic and Community Development under Gov. Bill Haslam.
His politics were conservative, but he appeared to be a business-minded, Chamber of Commerce-type Republican. He was a national finance chair for Mitt Romney’s 2008 presidential campaign and a delegate for former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush in 2016, before Bush dropped out of the Tennessee presidential primary.
Then, Hagerty entered former President Donald Trump’s orbit, and now he’s on a national news network validating baseless and racist claims amplified by Trump that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio are killing and eating family pets.
On Sept. 11, the day after the presidential debate between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, Hagerty joined CNN’s Kaitlan Collins to unpack the event.