Angry constituents confronted Republican Rep. Mark Alford of Missouri during a town hall on Monday evening, accusing the lawmaker of being more loyal to President Donald Trump than the people he represents in Congress.
“I am pissed and I am pissed at you,” Fred Higginbotham, a resident of Bolivar, said to Alford. “Get Trump out of office. The man is a dictator. He knows nothing about what he talks about.”
“You need to take your head out of Trump’s a** and start doing your representation of us,” Higginbotham said to a round of applause from the crowd.
At times, the town hall was contentious, with some people yelling at Alford to express their disappointment.
“Your job as Congress is to check and balance our president,” one man told Alford. “There’s been no checks and balances at all.”
I think you underestimate how strong the interpersonal ties of the rural Midwest are. He got 71% sure, but this is significant. In deep red Missouri people are getting fed up and speaking ill of Trump. That’s notable. On an individual scale maybe not, but this is the sort of thing that can pick up a lot of steam very fast.
It should have been long ago that they turned on their republican representation, but I’ll never discourage positive behavior.
I like your optimism in thinking the people will change.
I’m not optimistic that the people will change necessarily. They’ll still jump over each other to be the first to berate someone for being LGBT+ and have them thrown in a jail cell for subjecting their youth to sinful lifestyles.
I have slightly more than zero optimism that they’ll change their vote though. If the rep and Trump continue to piss them off over the next couple of elections, I could see a good majority of them voting independent or for a republican challenger and splitting the vote. These people care about 2 things more than any political issue and if you start fucking with them, you’re out. They are God and money. Hopefully some have started to realize Trump is incompatible with Christianity, but I know some have seen his grift and how it costs them money.