Rep. Jay Obernolte’s town hall in California last week was drowned out by shouts of “No king!” Rep. Glenn Grothman entered his Wisconsin town hall to boos and jeers, while Rep. Cliff Bentz of Oregon faced so much heckling that he threatened to leave.
But 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.
“It’s easy to be critical, but the people voted for change in November, and that’s exactly what they’re getting,” Obernolte said in an interview.
“It’s unfortunate,” he said, “that the other party’s chosen to turn this into a political stunt.”
Republicans were hardly chastened. Some called the protests misinformed. Others argued they were organized by liberal activists and not representative of their broader district.
“I think they were uninformed people, so I really kind of discount that,” said Grothman, who added that he suspected those upset at his event were Democrats. “I think once you’re informed you realize that we’ve got a lot of financial problems.”
The scenes that played out across the country over the House recess last week were reminiscent in some ways of 2017, when voters revolted over Republican attempts to scrap the Affordable Care Act. But this time, the anger was centered more firmly on Musk and the GOP’s willingness to stand aside as he ordered mass layoffs and other budget cuts. Some town halls also touched on concerns over cuts to Medicaid, Social Security and other safety-net programs, fears that have resonated more with centrist Republicans in Congres