Angry Town Hall Attendees Need To Look In The Mirror

Across red state America from Idaho to Florida, congressional Republicans are returning to their hometowns to face angry voters. Those conservative reps brave enough to attend Town Hall meetings are being met with large hostile crowds who are demanding answers about their support for Trump and his toxic agenda.

And I don’t get it.

The majority of the people attending these Town Hall meetings are Republicans. They likely voted for the representative they are now booing and probably voted for Trump. Yet here they are criticizing the person who they knew was a conservative, who they knew would support the Republican presidential candidate, and who they knew would follow Donald Trump’s lead. They’re mad at their representative, when they should be mad at themselves for their ill informed, self-defeating choices.

There’s a ton of analysis out there about why people continue to vote against their own best interests, but what does it take to get them to stop? Do they really believe a Democrat would do a worse job then their current congressperson, who they now revile? Red state Americans willingly voted for a president who was an avowed racist (a point in his favor, I guess), a misogynist, a serial liar and a corrupt businessman basically because he wasn’t Hillary Clinton or another Democrat. And then they are disappointed with the results. 

How bad will things have to get before Republican voters realize the leaders of their party have no interest in helping them or making their lives better? And how long will it take for Democrats to wake up and realize that neo-liberal, corporate-sponsored candidates like Hillary Clinton and John Kerry won’t win the hearts and minds of Middle Americans?

I know it can be hard to admit your own mistakes, but when your very survival and the survival of your children is at stake — and with Trump at the helm this isn’t hyperbole  — isn’t it time to reconsider where your loyalty lies?

Grandma and Grandpa, Let’s Be Honest. Republicans Don’t Care About You.

I am as happy as anyone with the turnouts at Republican Congressional Town Halls being held around the country (for those Republican reps who had the courage to hold one). Constituents are expressing their anger and frustration with conservative ideologues more interested in their billionaire donors than the people who elected them to congress. Seeing corporate lapdogs like Mitch McConnell, Joni Ernst, Chuck Grassley and Tom Cotton get verbally pummeled by angry Grandmas is truly heartwarming.

But, and you knew there had to be a “but,” why did so many of these same people think at one point in time that McConnell, Ernst, Grassley or Cotton were going to work for them when they never had in the past? The Republicans now in congress are the same band of money worshipping, democracy hating corporate toadies they always were, the only difference is Trump is president. Where were the cries of “Do your job” when they spent eight years obstructing Obama? Or when they wasted millions of taxpayer dollars and congressional time chasing the fictitious Benghazi boogieman?

I’m glad Americans are finally getting angry at Congressional Republicans and their destructive agenda, but they need to get a firm grasp on WHY they are angry and start rethinking their choices at the voting booth. Grandma, Republicans don’t want to help you because you have so little to offer them. They may say the love Jesus and apple pie, but they don’t love you. They do love the Koch brothers, and General Electric and off shore tax havens, but constituents? Pffft. So please, the answer is crystal clear: Stop voting for Republicans.