The GOP is catching hell at Town Halls. They should be. From Trump on down they are resorting to tropes about “agitators”, complete with them being funded by George Soros. However out there in that wide swath of small town/rural America are people who KNOW each other. Sure, there are people who will drive in from out of town for such an event. A couple of decades ago I lived in the eastern panhandle of WV, and drover over two hours to Johnstown, PA for a John Murtha campaign rally. One thing that I recall from that day suddenly popped into my head this weekend. I arrived well early and had lots of chats with a large number of people in crowd that would number in the thousands. I learned that while I wasn’t the only out-of-towner the bulk of people were from right there in Johnstown. So it is I’m sure with most of these Town Halls. Locals make up the bulk of the audience and they often live in small enough places they know plenty of other locals in the room.
I get the sense there’s an attempt from GOP leadership to try and get their elected officials to ‘Whistle Past the Graveyard.’ If so that’s a mistake, or we at least have the chance to turn it into one. Trump isn’t the first big GOP leader to assume that because he/they cheat and pull dirty tricks as a matter of course that “Well, we do it so the Democrats must do it too.” This flows from the NOT ‘grassroots uprising’ but Koch Brothers funded Tea Party which was organized to flood Democratic Town Halls with GOP voters to give Democrats holy hell over Obama’s health care initiative. So again I say the environment is there to sell many of their people on the notion that “We did it to them, so it stands to reason they are now doing it back to us.’ There’s a flaw in that concept however. The GOP and those willing to do the Town Halls aren’t correctly reading the room!
Blithely assuming it’s just ‘outside agitators’ can come back to bit them. If they, or their staff pay attention to the minutes after as reporters are talking with attendees, and pay attention to local Party and business leaders who’ve spoken up on camera they should damn well be worried. These are people who make it clear they are lifelong Republicans (something that even if some Congress Critter doesn’t bother to learn who runs things at the county level can check out) and support Trump’s agenda of cutting taxes, deregulation and even some trimming of ‘waste, fraud and abuse’ don’t like what they are seeing. Especially Elon Musk running wild! They want more of the Trump of the first Trump term – NOT the crazy sh*t that’s going on from day one of the second term. Out in self-professed ‘Real America’ there is a whole lot of ‘WTF is going on?’ talk.
Farmers are getting screwed. So are small businesses which might ‘talk the talk’ on “illegal immigration” but pointedly look the other way when it comes to using undocumented people in their labor forces. Medicaid might during ‘talk the talk’ get trashed as providing help to the ‘undeserving’ but in reality is crucial to small-town/rural America – and keeping countless small (40 to 70-80 beds) open. Often such hospitals are the largest employer in some communities! For damned sure from rank and file conservative voters to local/county Party and business leaders they don’t want ANYONE screwing with Medicare or Social Security! Yet that seems to be all their Trumpty and his sidekick/co-President Musk want to be doing. Screw with everything these conservatives, even in ruby red places want left alone.
So these days when given a chance they are showing up and with near unanimity shouting down GOP elected leaders. Worse (for the GOP) for elected leaders following the “Don’t do Town Halls” advice events are being held where conservatives can (and do) show up and rail at a cardboard cutout of the elected official who doesn’t have the guts to meet with them. Attendees tell stories of being blown off when they contact the Official’s office. Yeah, there’s a lot of anger out there and it doesn’t seem to be dying down. So WE need to stoke it! We don’t need to do what the Tea Party did, nor should we. Infiltrating huge numbers of Democrats into these events isn’t necessary because conservatives themselves are pissed off at what’s going on. At most, holding an event headlined to the effect ‘Since the GOP Rep. won’t talk to you and listen to your concerns I/We will’ is quite enough. They flyers/ads should only have a picture of the Representative or Senator who won’t show up, and only the names of any potential 2026 challenger (Republican or Democrat) who will. Because it’s abundantly clear that even in conservative as hell places people not only don’t like what they see happening, they are speaking out. PUBLICLY.
That’s why it’s a mistake for the GOP to use their “outside agitators” mantra this time around. Virtually the entire room(s) have people booing, shouting, openly criticizing Trump, Musk, DOGE and even calling out things like lack of respect for the rule of law! Attacking these crowds with statements that it’s all “staged”, that’s it’s “outsider ‘activist’ Democrats” filling up those Town Halls is a mistake that if WE play it right we can whomp Republicans upside the head with. These people out there in “Real America” as I said often know each other. They can look around and see not just family but friends, co-workers, fellow church members etc. And that those folks are as upset, even angry as they are. GOP politicians might be scared to death of Trump but for (it seems) an increasing number of conservative voters there’s safety in numbers. And they are increasingly willing to attack the very people they voted for!
It took me a while to think of why I’ve thought the GOP is making a mistake this time claiming it’s mostly outside liberals in these Town Halls. Which brings me to “Green Teeth” in the title. I wasn’t a huge fan of Charlie Daniels but oh so many decades ago I enjoyed the hell of a song called Uneasy Rider that got a lot of play on the radio. It’s a talk song, telling his story of being a long-haired, peacenick pot smoker driving cross country to LA when his hot-rod Chevy has a flat tire in Mississippi. Waiting in the redneck bar he made it to he finds himself about to get his butt kicked by a group of rednecks that came in, one of whom he’d described as a “fella with green teeth.” He goes on offense saying he “Reached out and kicked old Green Teeth right in the knees.
Then he jumps up on a chair and accuses “Green Teeth” of being a government spy sent to infiltrate the Klan, who voted for McGovern, ripped Wallace stickers off cars etc. He even accuses him of having a “commie flag” on the wall of his garage. Green Teeth has recovered enough to respond, saying “You know he’s lyin – I been livin here all of my life!” There’s more about being a faithful follower of “Brother John Birch”, belonging to the Antioch Baptist Church and my favorite – “And I ain’t even got a garage – you can go ask my wife!” That turns the mood back and the rest of the song is about his escape.
My point in going into all this is that while the people I see shouting down GOPers at these Town Halls might not be “Meal Team Six” looking rednecks -“Green Teeth” – types they are longtime members of their communities. Conservatives, in conservative places. Again, they KNOW each other and seeing hundreds of others, many of whom they KNOW doesn’t square with their Representative, or Senator or even Trump saying they all nothing but a bunch of Soros funded liberal “plants.” Most who read Politizoom are progressive, but you know what? There are traits that progressives and conservative share, one of which is they don’t like being lied to!
This could become important folks. Even if these conservatives don’t talk about it that much (for now) it’s got to rankle a lot of them. Like “Green Teeth” they won’t just protest to themselves, they’ll complain to others over being lied about. Think about all those Town Hall attendees and their friends they talk to about the one they attended and the anger in the room. Think about them saying ‘You KNOW me. ‘I’M a lifelong Republican and conservative. I voted for Trump. Twice. Who the hell are these top Republicans to be calling me and people I know who were at that Town Hall “liberals”. Funded by Soros!’
I’m not a professional political messenger but there are people who are that can work with that. Take clips of the Congress Critters being booed/shouted down and pans of the crowd. And ask the question ‘Were you or someone you know at that Town Hall? How do you, as a lifelong Republican like being told you’re a Soros funded liberal? Just because you don’t want Trump and Musk/DOGE screwing with your Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid, throwing friends and co-workers and maybe YOU out of your jobs and onto the street as the economy crashes?’ Granted, that takes some truly professional political messaging but it’s got to be doable for those with experience crafting national messaging. What’s needed is enough pressure to get them to start working on it!
These masses of people, hundreds (in some cases more) in number at these Town Halls held for conservatives aren’t dumbass redneck “Green Teeth” types but they share one thing with the character from the song – “Now just wait a minute Jim, you know he’s lyin – I been livin here all of my life! So one last time, we need to push our own leaders to recognize this and start using the fact that from Trump on down GOP officials are attacking their own voters!
**********
Zoomers, we can always use a little help from our friends. If you can donate, please do. If you have already, accept our heartfelt thanks. In all events, please keep coming here to read. We’ll get through this together. Ursula
It wouldn’t be that hard for them to actually “read the room”. All they need to do is, like yourself, have their staffers talk to the audience before the town hall starts. Find out who’s really local and what they think and feel. Then again, that would be too much like doing their job and may actually contradict DonOld.
If I had to guess I’d say they are making the same bet Scalia (and Thomas) convinced other conservative Justices to take on abortion – the “There will be some initial outrage but in a couple of months it will die down” belief. That, combined with what so many of these cowards have felt since Trump first emerged from the slime into a fully formed political creature – that someone else, and especially Democrats would set forth with the “Vorpal Sword” and slay the Jabberwock we know as Trump. (and now Musk too) Their problem is that although barely in the House and slight in the Senate THEY hold the majorities! House rules don’t afford the minority Party the same tools that exist in the Senate (not just the filibuster) to force changes in legislation. And Democrats in the Senate are led by someone I’ve always considered weak compared to his predecessor. Chuck Schumer is not and has never been Harry Reid tough and formidable. If for a bit he seemed to back in Trump’s first term it was only because then Speaker Nancy Pelosi had the chops to stand in front of Trump and kick him in the nuts!
So there are way more than enough votes in the GOP ranks to tone down and even reject much of what Trump has done and will continue to do. They are simply too afraid of crossing him (and Musk) so they are hoping for a miracle. ‘Going along’ to avoid being primaried isn’t working out the way they have hoped. Many GOPers will be safe no matter what, especially in the Senate but plenty will be vulnerable because the very people that voted for THEM as well as Trump are pissed off. And likely to become even more so.
They are stuck in the trash compactor like in Star Wars with the walls closing in on all sides. However they are NOT Leia, Luke or Han. Dozens could well wind up crushed and I have zero sympathy for any of them because they are in a situation of their own making. As is the entire GOP. They’ve lied for decades to their voters, and only now are their voters starting to realize that Reagan was full of sh*t and that Govt. was NOT the problem – at least in an awful lot of instances that matter to their daily lives.
This country is NOT the country of my parent’s and grandparent’s willing to make the collective national sacrifices and endure the hardships that allowed us to lead the world to victory in WWII. Not even close and I include most Democrats in that too. Trump might think, and he and his top folks have said as much that people are going to have to endure some pain. Almost all of the WWII generation is dead and buried and so are an ever increasing number of their kids who heard firsthand accounts of that awful time in human history. I’m a senior citizen myself now and a lot of people I grew up with are already dead. Trump is more than ten years older and he might THINK people nowdays would put up with what Americans put up with during WWII are the norm I believe he’s badly mistaken.
I might be wrong about that. We won’t know unless we can hold the line enough to have a reasonably free and fair (gerrymandering notwithstanding) midterm in 2026. However Democrats need to get their own sh*t together post haste and be laying the groundwork – something I don’t see happening. At least nowhere near on the scale that it needs to be. But opportunities are there. That was the point of my article. The GOP is handing us things on a silver platter but if we stick it away in the back of the fridge it won’t do us, the country or the free world any good.
If only Charlie Daniels had maintained the personality that wrote “Uneasy Rider” and “Long Haired Country Boy”…..
As I said I was never a real fan but I really liked Uneasy Rider. It was fun then and still fun to listen to. Having been in my share of those kinds of joints like the Dew Drop In it’s easy to imagine a scene like that unfolding. (Btw, I’m from southern Illinois about 40 miles from where so much of In the Heat Of the Night was filmed. That sleazy diner? Not in Sparta but up north of it along one of the travel routes between my town and St. Louis and yes, it was pretty scuzzy just like in the film. But I’ve been there and had a soda pop and used the head more than once. Too bad it burned down) I agree that over time Daniels became easy to dislike, but even before that when I had a chance to see him (the annual DuQuoin State Fair was huge each year and drew major acts) I didn’t bother. But in the spirit of things for those that might want a little fun, here’s the actual song: