Liberals are getting rowdy at GOP town halls. It’s become so intense that it appears that some of them are avoiding these events altogether, especially Republicans who are considered vulnerable in 2018. That’s still not good. This is part of their job and they just can’t flee like scared wombats when a group of liberals confront them. Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI) has been dealing with these protesters, diffusing some of the tension with humor—but uncompromising in his positions. Cortney wrote about how Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) also voiced his support for people who attended one his town halls, even though they probably hate his guts. In a previous post, I wrote about how one group—Indivisible—which was launched by ex-Democratic aides, shows one of the reasons why this so-called movement will fail: it’s not organic. Ex-Republican aides didn’t start the Tea Party, but before we get into whether the Democrats have a liberal Tea Party—let’s not forget that the Left tried this with Occupy Wall Street. They stuck around for a bit, but it ultimately failed. I feel that rowdy town halls will continue to be rowdy, but it will do next to nothing to change the composition of the next Congress. Case in point, Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) had a rather intense town hall, but he was re-elected with almost 74 percent of the vote. I doubt he’s going anywhere if even more liberals vote against him in the next election. Yet, one area that the GOP needs to get a better grasp on is what they’re going to do with Obamacare, which has been one of the main rallying cries with this group of people, but I digress.
Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) was on MSNBC with Hallie Jackson who was adamant that these are organic protests, though he cited the Women’s March as his main example and admitted to Jackson that liberal activists were organizing these town hall protests.
Rep. Ted Leiu: These are organic, grassroots protests you see from across the country. On January 21, there was that amazing Women’s March all over America. You’re seeing this huge reaction to the policies of Donald Trump. And it’s also showing up in the polling data. Over the weekend…Hallie Jackson: But congressman there are groups though. I mean, you don’t deny that there are groups of more liberal activists who are helping to organize some of these protests at town halls
Rep. Lieu: Well, yes, there are groups that are organizing people to show up at town halls, but these are people who are constituents of these members of Congress. That’s what people do. They show up at town halls and they give their voices to these members of Congress and you’re seeing this huge reaction to Donald Trump’s extreme and cruel policies.
Okay—so that’s another reason why Republicans probably shouldn’t panic with these town hall events, especially congressmen like Chaffetz and Amash who won in landslide re-elects. These are liberals who have probably never voted for you anyway—they’re just more vocal about it. At any rate, the GOP majority is fine thanks to the party’s dominance at the state level, which keeps the congressional maps drawn in their favor. Second, more Democrats are living in urban areas than ever before, so liberal organizers will have to tap into that well to bring havoc to the heartland in their campaign to stop Trump. The well of support is rather depleted on the Democratic side in rural America.
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The GOP should continue to hold town halls and engage with these people. It’s not like liberal anger was going to be a factor once Trump beat Hillary Clinton. In all, to say that this movement is wholly organic, as some have suggested is well—simply not true. Congressman Lieu admitted it.
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