Republican lawmakers have decided after a number of heated town halls in red districts that the best way to avoid angry constituents is to do just that: avoid them.
At events with voters after returning home during their first congressional recess since President Donald Trump took office, representatives in Texas, Georgia, Wisconsin, and Oklahoma were criticized for standing by while Trump and his billionaire megadonor Elon Musk eliminate jobs and cancel government contracts and grants.
Anxious to end the wave of viral videos and negative headlines that resulted, GOP House leaders have advised their representatives to stop holding public events, NBC News reported.
If they feel they have no choice, they should hold tele-town halls or at least vet attendees, party leaders reportedly said.
Last week, Georgia Rep. Rich McCormick—who had recently told CNN that kids should have to work to earn school lunches—was met by hundreds of critics who booed and yelled at the lawmaker over his support for Musk and Trump’s actions.
At one point one of the audience members asked McCormick what he was doing to “rein in the megalomaniac in the White House,” earning her a standing ovation from the crowd.
When McCormick tried to respond that former President Joe Biden was the “tyrannical” one, the audience booed and yelled, “Come on!”
When the congressman tried to discuss Jan. 6 Capitol riot, the room broke out into a chorus of “Shame, shame!”
Republican leadership is eager to end those types of viral moments, which can spread among districts and inspire voters in battleground areas, according to NBC. They also want to end the narrative about public blowback.
“The president’s policies are incredibly popular, and the American people applaud his success in cutting the waste, fraud, and abuse of their hard-earned taxpayer dollars,” Danielle Alvarez, a senior adviser at the RNC, told NBC.
Recent polling shows the president’s approval rating at between -4 and -7, according to CNN’s data reporter. Trump was also polling in the negatives on the economy, which voters have traditionally considered his strong suit.
The town hall debacle calls to mind Trump’s first term in office, when angry protesters flooded lawmakers’ events over concerns the Affordable Care Act would be repealed.
Writing off the protesters off as a bunch of angry liberals, conservative lawmakers denounced the “top down effort” to manufacture controversy and canceled their town halls, The Washington Post reported in 2017.
A year later, Democrats gained 41 House seats during the 2018 midterm elections.
