The shoe is on the other foot
My vote for the toughest job in America is a Congressional Republican who holds a town hall meeting.
Those things are getting downright nasty.
By nasty, I mean, Republicans are encountering the kinds of vicious, verbal backlash that Democrats faced eight years ago – but far worse.
Of course, there are some Republicans, led by President Trump, who’re convinced the loud protesters at town halls are getting paid.
There’s not a lick of evidence to support that nonsense.
No more than the irate Republicans who flooded Democratic town halls nearly a decade ago were only disrupting them for a price.
Republicans just aren’t accepting the fact that now, the shoe is on the other foot.
Consider the case of South Carolina’s Rep. Joe Wilson.
Wilson made mighty big headlines back in September of 2009.
President Obama was addressing a joint session of Congress rolling out his plans to reform healthcare, when Wilson shouted, “You lie” from the seats.
It was a remark that reverberated through the halls of Congress, and into the homes of a national TV audience that night.
Wilson went back home and held a town hall meeting two weeks ago.
Ironically, when he mentioned that Obama’s healthcare law is resulting in people losing their services, his constituents erupted into chants of (you guessed it) “You lie!”
The folks in the room were fully aware of the fact that the failed Republican plan that would have repealed and replaced Obamacare, may have left them with less healthcare coverage than they already have.
Wilson certainly isn’t alone in having town hall meetings filled to the rafters with irate Democrats and Republicans.
One California congressman, Doug LaMalfa, was booed so loudly during his town hall meeting last week, that when he started his presentation about healthcare, he simply walked off stage.
He returned, though, and had to put up with more boos.
He later told a newspaper that the event went “as good as can be expected.”
Texas Rep. Joe Barton got so upset about the rowdy participants at his town hall, that he yelled “Shut up.”
Whether it’s healthcare, Donald Trump’s refusal to release his taxes, or his fixation with Twitter, Republican town hall meetings have no shortage of hot topics, and heated discussions about them.
There are even some Republicans who’re openly sharing their misgivings about Trump and his antics when they face their constituents.
Rather than to blindly defend him, some are starting to fend for their own political lives.
“When Iowa’s Republican Sen. Joni Ernst (a rising GOP star) was asked about Trump’s past statements about women, and a disabled reporter, she didn’t flinch.
“I think that we have a president that has a number of flaws,” she bluntly replied.
Ernst added more.
When asked about Trump’s frequent weekend trips to his Mar-a-Lago hotel, Ernst indicated that he’d be better off staying in Washington.
She’s joined several Republicans who’ve expressed their less-than-complete support for Trump.
There’ve already been a handful of his fellow Republicans who’ve openly expressed their displeasure with his frequent, ill-natured tweets.
The tweets continue as if Trump can’t help himself.
Some congressional Republicans have become apprehensive about holding town hall meetings.
They’re opting to hold them online, in the safety of their computers.
Perhaps Arizona’s Senator Jeff Flake should have thought of that.
He recently held a 2 1/2-half hour town hall meeting in Mesa, Arizona.
It didn’t go well.
Flake was frequently interrupted by the chants of “Shame on you,” and “Do your job.”
If he didn’t know it before that day, he now knows, that at least some of the people who voted for him, and many who didn’t, are feeling less than pleased with Republicans in Congress, and the Republican president.
And for Flake, a staunch conservative, that loud rebuke must’ve stung.
According to a 2014 study, Mesa, Arizona is the most conservative city in the country, with a population of 250,000 or more residents.
If Flake can’t feel at home – at home – he’s heading for a stiff headwind, and he surely knows that.
Edward A. Owens is a three-time Emmy Award winner and 20-year veteran of television news. Email him at freedoms@bellatlantic.net