Politics

Dem Rep Ripped at Town Hall by Furious Anti-Musk Voters

HOLY ANGER

“We need to hear Congress screaming into the void as well,” one frustrated constituent told New Hampshire Rep. Maggie Goodlander.

Manchester, NH - November 4: 2nd Congressional District Nominee Maggie Goodlander at a campaign event at the Manchester field office of the New Hampshire Democratic coordinated campaign. (Photo by Suzanne Kreiter/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
Boston Globe via Getty Images

New Hampshire Rep. Maggie Goodlander faced “holy anger” at a town hall in Concord on Thursday as constituents urged the Democrats to do more to oppose President Donald Trump.

More than 200 people packed a high school auditorium on Wednesday to question the congresswoman, expressing fury at Democrats’ perceived lack of opposition to the Trump administration’s agenda.

“There is no fight in the Democratic Party anymore,” said Lisa Perrone from Hillsborough, N.H., according to the Concord Monitor.

Perrone said she was calling federal offices every day to make her views known and doesn’t see her representatives leading by example.

“I am doing my part. I feel let down,” Perrone said.

Goodlander acknowledged the frustration in the room.

“What I’m hearing tonight is… holy anger. It’s holy anger, and we’ve got to harness together to get the job done,” she said.

Others in attendance stressed that Democrats needed a plan to oppose Trump and Elon Musk’s sweeping changes.

“I don’t follow sports, but I know good coaches have playbooks, and they follow them. I’m going to encourage you and the rest of your party to get a playbook together and to start following it,” retired teacher Karen Maitland told the congresswoman.

“While we’re out here screaming into the void, we need to hear Congress screaming into the void as well,” she added.

Many attendees also expressed anger at the state’s Democratic senators, who both voted for a Republican- and Trump-backed government spending bill to avoid a shutdown last week.

Goodlander, who voted against the bill, told the Monitor at the time it was “another partisan stopgap” by Republicans that included no protections for Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid.

“We have got to use every tool we have. We have to create leverage wherever we possibly can create it to fight this fight,” Goodlander told the audience on Wednesday. “Our constitution is being tested like it’s never been tested before, and we have got to be clear and completely relentless in the way that we are governing.”

Although she urged those who oppose Trump to attend rallies and write to their representatives, Goodlander expressed her commitment to bipartisanship.

“I’m going to work with anyone who will work with me,” she said.

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