A Republican congresswoman laughed and clapped gleefully while hundreds of people booed her support for Elon Musk’s DOGE cuts at a town hall meeting in Wyoming.
“I voted in favor of the continuing resolution, or CR, which extends funding…” Rep. Harriet Hageman said as the booing began. She smiled as she continued, “…for the fiscal year until September 30.”
“It keeps the lights on for President [Donald] Trump and DOGE to continue their work,” she added, as the booing reached a crescendo.
She then stopped, laughed, and then began clapping while the jeers continued. About 500 people had packed the civic center auditorium in Laramie, where a local reporter with the Cowboy State Daily estimated about three-quarters of the crowd were there to oppose her.
It was a “startling dynamic” in a state that Trump carried with more than 72 percent of the vote, according to the Cowboy State Daily. In 2022, Hageman ousted former Rep. Liz Cheney—who was a three-time incumbent—in a landslide victory in the Republican primary. Cheney lost by more than 2-1 after serving on the House committee that investigated Trump’s role in the deadly riots at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
In the front rows, Hageman’s supporters cheered and waved red MAGA hats while the congresswoman continued laughing at her constituents for more than 10 seconds.
Despite the booing, Hageman spoke for more than 45 minutes, at times telling the audience their behavior was “embarrassing” and warning they would have a heart attack if they didn’t pipe down, the Cowboy State Daily reported.
Local Democratic leaders had promoted the town hall as an opportunity for “civil discourse” with Hageman and lamented the heckling. But they also said Hageman was “condescending” to her constituents.
“I feel badly a lot of people didn’t let her speak, but that’s the way she is to us,” said one voter, who said she received the same condescension whenever she wrote letters to the congresswoman’s office.
During Wednesday’s town hall, the crowd also burst into chants of “Tax the rich!” and “January 6th!”
When audience members expressed concerns about cuts to Social Security, Hageman said, “During the continuing resolution, we are not allowed to touch Social Security, so I would request that you actually watch some accurate TV and read valid news, because that is untrue.”
In fact, Musk’s secretive cost-cutting initiative—the “department” of government efficiency—has taken an axe to dozens of federal agencies, and Musk has signaled that Social Security could also be on the chopping block.
He has called the retirement program the “biggest Ponzi scheme of all time,” and on Wednesday, the AP reported that DOGE plans to close 47 Social Security Administration offices around the country.
At the same time, the agency is putting stricter identity-proving rules in place that will require millions of recipients and applicants to visit agency field offices.
At Hageman’s town hall, the only issue that was cheered by both sides was her effort to prevent rural mail distribution centers from closing, according to the Cowboy State Daily.
If the state’s two rural centers had been allowed to close, a letter sent from western Wyoming to eastern Wyoming would have had to travel through four different states.
