The Daily Populous Monday September 1st, 2025 morning edition
Authored by motherjones.com and submitted by PlayaSlayaX

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It hasn’t been a great last week of the August recess for Republican members of Congress. At town hall events across the country, attendees booed, laughed, jeered, and demanded answers as their GOP representatives tried to defend President Donald Trump’s agenda.

The list of issues angering their constituents is long—everything from the Trump-backed cuts to Medicaid and other impacts of the so-called Big Beautiful Bill, to the deployment of the National Guard to Democratic-run cities, to the lack of transparency over the Epstein files.

On Thursday, Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) held a town hall in which attendees booed as he touted some of the Trump administration’s work; they demanded he “release the Epstein files.”

“We don’t want to hear your propaganda!” one attendee reportedly yelled.

Boos during a rowdy town hall for @RepDanCrenshaw in Texas this evening. People on hand were yelling “Epstein files” at Crenshaw who appears to be flustered in the video (toward the end of the clip). Video sent to me by somebody who was at the event. pic.twitter.com/QK6t50V9jm — Jim Acosta (@Acosta) August 29, 2025

In a subsequent post on X, Crenshaw blamed the commotion on “about fifty leftists” who he alleged “would not stop interrupting with shouting and incoherent chanting.”

“They demanded that we raise everyone’s taxes, give free paychecks to able-bodied adults, and sneered at the success of the flood mitigation projects we’ve done that have saved lives and property,” he added, claiming that the protesters did not live in his district.

The day before, Rep. Barry Moore (R-Ala.) fled his town hall through a back door, video obtained by NBC News shows, after constituents shouted “shame” and questioned him about the lack of due process afforded to immigrants and others whom the Trump administration has detained. (“Due process for a citizen and a noncitizen are different,” Moore claimed.)

A 40-minute livestream of the event posted to Facebook by a local chapter of the advocacy group Indivisible shows attendees booing, chanting their questions, and laughing at Moore as he tried to defend the Trump administration. Appearing on a conservative radio show on Thursday, Moore, who is also running for Senate, claimed the event was “hijacked” and disputed the notion that he had snuck out.

U.S. Rep. Barry Moore faced a hostile crowd Wednesday night at Daphne City Hall, drawing boos and cries of “shame!” as he defended President Donald Trump’s agenda and his own record. pic.twitter.com/pVvf3fNHxT — AL.com (@aldotcom) August 28, 2025

“I’m proud of everyone tonight,” local resident and progressive activist Johnston Tisdale told AL.com. “I’m not proud of him.”

Kayleigh Godwin, another attendee, told the local news site: “We came here knowing we would not get any answers and that we would just try and shame him for the policies he supports.”

On Tuesday and Wednesday, town halls hosted by Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) featured attendees demanding answers to questions around Medicaid cuts and Trump’s immigration crackdown, local news outlets WLWT and the Journal-News reported. The local news site the Heartland Signal posted videos to X showing attendees laughing and booing as Davidson tried to defend the work of DOGE and Trump’s deployment of the National Guard in cities. Davidson subsequently called some of the attendees “disruptive.”

Rep. Warren Davidson (R-OH) shushes his consistuents after they jeer at him for defending President Donald Trump's deployment of the National Guard to Washington D.C.

"Is there a librarian in the room? Shhh." pic.twitter.com/m0kKVwvvMw — Heartland Signal (@HeartlandSignal) August 29, 2025

Rep. Mark Alford (R-Mo.) tried to buck the perception of GOP lawmakers hiding from their constituents by holding five town halls this week. But he still met the same fate as many of his colleagues. At a Monday event, one attendee told him to take his “head out of Trump’s a– and start doing your representation of us,” the Daily Beast reported. On Wednesday, attendees booed and jeered when Alford insisted that Trump “has the best interest at heart,” according to the Missouri Independent. And local news site KOMU reported that that evening’s event ended with some constituents complaining about Alford’s “complacency” and lack of answers to attendees’ questions. Others told Alford they appreciated his willingness to address constituents, and he responded to protesters calmly, the Associated Press reported.

Rep. Josh Brecheen (R-Okla.) went further than Alford, hosting 20 town halls in four days this week. Video from local outlet KJRH shows attendees booing and demanding answers, and some attendees told the station they did not like that he limited questions to five people. At other events, attendees questioned him about Trump’s false claims of lowering drug prices by more than 1,500 percent and Medicaid cuts.

Constituent: Can you tell me what specific bills we have passed or worked on that would lower grocery prices?

Brecheen: Ma'am, you are talking about things relative to state level. You are mixing federal and state. pic.twitter.com/xwuUgxCzXO — Acyn (@Acyn) August 26, 2025

All this helps explain why a memo the National Republican Congressional Committee distributed last month—titled “Making August Count”—made no mention of hosting town halls. Back in March, the committee’s chair, Rep. Richard Hudson (R-N.C.), told a closed-door meeting of House Republicans to stop hosting town halls in the midst of backlash from voters, Politico reported. Most appear to have taken that to heart: By mid-August, only 16 of the 219 House Republicans had held at least one in-person town hall event, NPR reported.

WardenEdgewise on August 31st, 2025 at 19:24 UTC »

Because American politics is like people cheering/booing for the “bad-guy” WWE wrestler. Americans vote like they cheer for their favourite football team.

LaMarr-Bruister on August 31st, 2025 at 19:12 UTC »

They also keep getting reelected. What a screwed up nation.

ConversationVariant3 on August 31st, 2025 at 19:10 UTC »

Then why won't people vote them out??? Dang .