I went to a GOP congressman's town hall. The rage over DOGE is a force to be reckoned with.
I went to a GOP congressman's town hall. The rage over DOGE is a force to be reckoned with.
Over the course of 89 minutes, North Carolina Rep. Chuck Edwards endured boos and jeers from an Asheville crowd outraged about DOGE and tariffs.
Summary
Rep. Chuck Edwards’ North Carolina town hall erupted in chaos as constituents furiously protested DOGE, a Trump administration initiative tied to mass federal job cuts and Elon Musk’s growing influence.
Attendees, including laid-off government workers, jeered at Edwards over employment losses and reduced federal funding.
Constituents raised concerns about federal job cuts affecting veterans' services, national parks, and Hurricane Helene recovery efforts.
Edwards struggled to respond but remained unfazed. The GOP downplayed the unrest, calling it staged, though independent voters like veteran Martin Downie say they feel directly targeted by their own government.
Breaking: Democrats might still be electable in the future, through no virtue of their own!
You should write for The Onion.
For anyone who is not familiar, Asheville is a very Left-leaning city in a deep red state. Last time I saw that many granola crunching hippies was in my mom's photo albums of the Haight-Ashbury district in '69. I'm not saying the town hall was full of Democrats, or that Asheville doesn't have its fair share of dyed-in-the-wool conservatives. I'm just saying that the general mindset in Asheville leans much further Left than the rest of NC, and that may explain why Edwards was getting so much shit from the public. Buncombe County (where Asheville is) voted 61% for Edwards' Democratic opponent Caleb Rudow in 2024.
Here's a pic I took of some graffiti while I was up there not long ago.
North Carolina is not a deep red state. It's actually more purple than ppl realize. Especially with the influx of ppl from the Northeast moving there in mass.
Fuck it. More graffiti. Some trippy cats.
It's just the screaming of some faces being eaten by leopards. The leopards are "reckoning with" it just fine. They don't care.
But others, like Downie, aren't necessarily on the left end of the political spectrum. He's a registered independent who served under presidents of both parties during his time in the Army.
"independent"
How to say you are voting Republican but not exactly proud about it...
Nah, 100% fuck that. After I moved to where I live now I registered as an independent because after 23 years of being a democrat, I’m now embarrassed to say that about myself and I also largely disagree with their capitalist bullshit.
Nah, this isn't true. I'm a Coloradan and registered independent. I generally vote blue, and am very socially liberal and a big believer in safety nets and social programs, providing a floor, and I'm a proponent for the idea of a national basic income, universal healthcare, and free or subsidized education. I just don't feel that the Democrats have actually represented me or my interests in a very long time. I was originally a registered democrat, but have been a registered independent now for well over a decade.
If we had an actual progressive party that would be something, but this milquetoast middle-of-the-road Democratic party we have today is essentially the Republican party of my youth. The dems are very conservative these days, and only left-seeming because the Republicans have continually shifted toward insane alt-right extremism since the mid/late 2000s.
Eh, I'm sticking with it. Sure, there are of course legit independents as you appear to be. But all too often I witness someone claiming they are an "independent", they nearly immediately go on to at least "both sides" the left and the right (thus enabling the right's very worst behaviors), if they don't outright parrot some magamaniac talking points, which they often do. It's almost as reliable as someone that starts off a sentence with "I'm not a racist, but...." - "I'm an independent...." - I'm usually bracing myself for what comes next. Sure, sometimes someone proves that they are actually independent, but that's rare.
I always thought it was rather sus, but then, post-teabagger, it went off-the-chart sus, when a zillion people were claiming they were in the "tea party" (not a real thing; the teabagger party is as much a "party" as doge is a real department of government) and never even heard of this Bush guy, even when in many instances I knew they had voted for him, 2x.
Where the fuck was all this rage in November, my fellow Americans? We already had four years of Trump, January 6 insurrection, a disastrous reduction in foreign relations. But I guess that wasn't enough???
I'm told it's all the Democrats fault that the Republicans are fucking awful people trying to steer this country into a fascist dictatorship. I mean, just LOOK at what the Democrats made the Republicans do!
If the DNC and the candidates had only listened to these arbiters of wisdom, all would be well, I am told.
If you think that Chuck Schumer selling us out to the Republican double-hitler funding bill this week isn't on some level indicative of the DNC putting a ball-gag in our mouth and bending us over, I really don't know what to tell you.
These are MAGA morons, deplorables if you will, who are now upset that they're being affected by project 2025 because they had it in their heads that they would be spared as being good whites and it would only affect minorities and liberals because they're racist deplorables.
Most Americans have little clue what's going on in government. They just know they're angry about things and blame whoever they perceive as being in charge.
You do not understand the power of
the dark sidepropaganda.These were the people that voted for this.
Meanwhile, Stupidity knows no bounds. Meanwhile they will still vote for them.
We love our oppressors.
I guess it's good that non-political people are starting to get involved. Shame they didn't spend 5 minutes to check which way the wind was blowing in November last year.
Shame they didn’t spend 5 minutes to check which way the wind was blowing in November last year.
Which is especially weird, since they should've learned the importance of it from the wind in September.
2017 on line two, sir.
This was a fun one to watch. Edwards said that he was proud to vote for the budget resolution and was booed hard. He smiled in response, like a goddamn sociopath, further enraging the people. A veteran stood up, shouted louder than the crowd and was forcibly removed by police. At the end of the town hall, Edwards hid inside the building for almost an hour, waiting for the crowd to disperse. Not only were they all waiting for him outside, they surrounded his car and made him sit in the center of a parking lot protest for 20 minutes until the police broke it up. Fuck any public servant that refuses to represent their constituency.
If this is the response now, imagine the response when they crash the entire economy. Not a smart thing to do with a heavily armed population.
Help us heavily-armed rednecks. You're one of our only hopes.
Too bad there isn't a Dem that could really thrive at this moment of darkness for some good. 2016 Bernie's messaging would connect now more than ever but that time has passed. I'm glad Republican voters are mad, even if I bet it is just because they are being affected too, not really mad about the harm.
Speaking of NC... Jeff Jackson needs more attention.
Too bad there isn’t a Dem that could really thrive at this moment of darkness for some good.
AOC seems to be having a moment. And Bernie seems to be in the recruitment phase for something, at least I hope he is.
And Bernie seems to be in the recruitment phase for something, at least I hope he is.
Don't expect much from Bernie on that front. He's a good progressive Senator, but he'll never actually lead a progressive movement. I don't know if he doesn't have it in him anymore or if he's just not that kind of guy, but Bernie works a lot better as a symbol than as a leader.
Eh, probably need an old white guy. Walz or Newsome are the two who should be getting in the spotlight now. Then the Dems get a group of progressives who will back either of them to make some waves and say what they won’t. Dems need to be more unified and not go too crazy. Too many young people are MAGA inclined, no matter how left leaning they say.
But I’m just some guy. I’m sure they know better and it’s “her/his time” or whatever they want to push.
Don’t forget about my boy JB Pritzker
Now maybe if democrats could take advantage of this rage instead of being complicit.
Sorry. Book tours and all. Worthless Senate Minority Leader out front shoulda told ya.
Cunts? Because if you mean cunts you would be completely right. Cowards would be right too.
I'd be ok with calling them cunts except they lack the depth and the warmth.
Agreed. I'm pretty sure we can call them bootlickers now.