House GOP members dismiss harsh criticism from voters: 'I think they were uninformed'
Multiple House Republicans have been met by protests against proposed cuts by President Donald Trump and Elon Musk. Many of these lawmakers remain unswayed, Politico reported Monday.
“When the Republican lawmakers returned to the Capitol on Monday, few had wavered in their support for Elon Musk or his attempts to cut giant swaths of the federal government,” Ally Mutnick and Lisa Kashinsky write at Politico. One major concern among protesters is that Republicans could cut Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security in their proposed bill to enact Trump’s tax cuts.
“It’s easy to be critical, but the people voted for change in November, and that’s exactly what they’re getting,” Rep. Jay Obernolte (R-Calif.) told Politico. He was booed at a town hall last week. “It’s unfortunate,” he said, “that the other party’s chosen to turn this into a political stunt.”
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“I think they were uninformed people, so I really kind of discount that,” said Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-Wis.), who, like Obernolte, was booed at a town hall last week. “I think once you’re informed you realize that we’ve got a lot of financial problems,” he said.
“I’m used to it,” Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Calif.) said of protesters at his office. “It’s just another day in paradise.”
Rep. Cliff Bentz (R-Ore.) as well as Reps. Scott Fitzgerald (R-Wis.) and Mark Alford (R-Mo.) were also met with angry crowds. Rep. Rich McCormick (R-GA) tried to settle the crowd as they booed him and chanted “shame.”
“Yell all you want. I can’t understand ten people let alone 100 people at once,” McCormick said in a video posted to X by a Atlanta Journal-Constitution journalist last week, AlterNet reported.
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Unlike others, McCormick changed course, saying Monday that he “plans to reach out to Elon Musk to urge him to show more compassion on DOGE cuts & layoffs,” NBC News’ Melanie Zanona reported.
“The town halls were concentrated in deep-red districts where GOP members could expect to find a friendlier audience,” write Mutnick and Kashinsky. “They are not the districts that will determine the House majority, but the fact that even those events have been marked with rancor could signal a broader discontent with Musk and his actions.”
GOP lawmakers told Politico that their constituents back Musk’s cuts, despite polling that suggests his unpopularity is growing.
“I’ve not heard anybody say they didn’t want to cut anything, it’s just they don’t like Elon,” Rep. Kevin Hern (R-Okla.) told reporters. He, too, faced a tough crowd last week. “We’re moving forward with the cuts,” he said.
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