Can a Republican member of Congress actually hold something called a “town hall meeting”? That would imply a space for civil discourse of a broad cross section of the community. Recent "town halls" have been dominated by booing and screaming Democrats. The networks could not even describe the booing screamers as Democrats.
The front page of Wednesday's New York Times carried a story by Annie Karni headlined "Nebraska Republican Feels Heat at a Town Hall: Angry Democrats Seize Rare Chance to Vent."
Rep. Mike Flood held an event in Lincoln and Karni noted "he was not even 30 seconds into his prepared introduction" before the booing and jeering began, and "it didn't let up for over an hour."
If Republicans had done this at an Obama "town hall," they would have been described as vile racist hooligans. (One congressman yelling "You lie" at a State of the Union was reviled as rude and racist.)
The Times noted Flood won his district in 2024 "by more than 20 points," but the room was stuffed with opponents. Their reporter suggested Trump's "big beautiful bill" was "broadly unpopular," but the audience wasn't broad at all.
Karni noted Rep. Bryan Steil (R-Wis.) was another rare Republican to host a "town hall" event, and was similarly assaulted with incessant booing and jeering. Morning Joe celebrated that debacle.
In Flood's case, both ABC and NBC highlighted the Monday night jeering. On ABC's Good Morning America, reporter Mary Bruce reported Flood tried to tout Trump's bill, but "the crowd was not buying it. They were frustrated and furious and did not hold back. Overnight, Congressman Mike Flood facing a barrage of pushback as he tries to sell his constituents on President Trump’s agenda."
At least ABC showed a Democrat calling Flood a fascist, and Flood shooting that down: "Fascists don’t hold town halls with open question and answer series."
On NBC's Today, co-host Craig Melvin touted the “town hall tension” as “a rowdy crowd press[ed] a GOP lawmaker on President Trump’s agenda and its impact on the economy.” Melvin said in the lead-in that “voters are expressing new concerns about the state of the economy and President Trump’s trade war” with “frustrations now spilling over at town halls with Republican lawmakers.”
Rowdy constituents, not hard-left Democrats. The labeling imbalance of the media implies the epic political battles of our time are between the ultraconservatives and the nonpartisans.
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