Republicans Send Goons After Voters, Dodge DOGE Questions. Another Town Hall Roundup!
Also, a plea to Democrats: Be like John Lewis, please!
Republicans and Democrats continue to get an earful from their constituents at town halls in their own districts. Voters want representatives from both parties to stop Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s coup against America, although the messaging is a little different in each case: They’re telling Republicans they aren’t going to stand for this madness, and begging them to remember their duty should be to their country, not to Dear Leader and his weird dipshit lapDOGE. Voters are mad at Democrats too, but from a slightly different perspective: They know Democrats don’t need to be convinced that democracy is in peril, but they want to see more concrete action to stand up to the coup that’s happening in real time. Either way: Mad as Hell, Not Gonna Take it Anymore.
Idaho: Illegal Plainclothes Goons Drag Away Uppity Woman
In north Idaho, where the Kootenai County Republicans have long been flirting with far-Right creeps and election ratfucking, a town hall Saturday at Coeur d’Alene High School went sideways when a woman who heckled Republican state legislators was dragged out of the meeting by unidentified plainclothes security goons. Teresa Borrenpohl, who has run as a Democrat for the state House a few times, refused to leave her seat when Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris told her to leave or she’d be arrested. According to Borrenpohl, Norris turned to three men in identical black jackets and said, “Guys, get her.”
The goons, showing no badges or other indication that they were hired security, grabbed Borrenpohl and forced her from her seat. Borrenpohl repeatedly asked them who they are, at one point shouting “Who the fuck are these men?” and also asked, “Sheriff Norris, is this your deputy?” Neither the men nor Norris answered her, because They Are The Law. They eventually zip-tied Borrenpohl and dragged her through the aisle of the high school auditorium.
As the men dragged her down the aisle, Borrenpohl lost her shoe, and at one point, her shirt nearly came off. […]
Borrenpohl said she bit one of the men who was dragging her from the auditorium.
“I didn’t know if I was being detained by what I now knew to be the sheriff’s office or if these were private hired guns,” she said. “I was so confused, and I didn’t know if I was being arrested by the sheriff’s office or if I was being kidnapped.”
While that was going on, “moderator” Ed Bejarana, a website developer so you know he’s nearly as smart as Elon Musk, riled up the crowd, calling Borrenpohl and other hecklers “just crazy people” and mocking, “That little girl is afraid to leave! She spoke up, and now she doesn’t want to suffer the consequences.”
Because that’s how a great big powerful Republican man talks.
Norris very credibly said Sunday that he didn’t know the men — who happened to just be there, dressed identically, and with zip ties, and who came to remove Borrenpohl when he gestured to them — and also denied having any knowledge of the event’s security arrangements. Nonetheless, he insisted everything was done by the book, which we’ll assume was either The Handmaid’s Tale or Kafka’s The Trial.
Norris said his handling of Borrenpohl was in line with protocols that were set before the town hall began, though he did not explain what the protocols were or who had set them.
“(Borrenpohl) was asked to leave,” he said Sunday. “She was asked to leave.”
Eventually, it turned out that the goons worked for “LEAR Asset Management” in California, a private security firm. In a heck of a coincidence, Sheriff Norris was a lieutenant in the LA County Sheriff’s office under now-shitcanned creep (and felon!) Lee Baca, and continues to collect both retirement and disability income from that job, which you can do if you’re a cop, but not if you’re a teacher, we hear. (Certainly not the retirement pay, at least.)
Borrenpohl was initially cited and released for misdemeanor battery because she bit her unidentified assailant, the charges have been dropped, and LEAR’s business license in Coeur d’Alene has been canceled because the men didn’t wear uniforms clearly identifying them as “SECURITY” (in one-inch high letters, minimum) on both the back and front.
Kansas: Senator Moran Avoided Constituents, So They Town Halled Without Him
In Lawrence, Kansas, voter Laura Mead has been calling Republican US Sen. Jerry (“Get a Brain”) Moran every day since the Senate started holding confirmation hearings on Trump’s Cabinet appointees. First she wanted him to explain why he was voting for all those wieners, and then she started pushing him to hold a town hall as Trump’s administration, helped along by Musk and his rats, has gone farther off the constitutional rails. She’s enlisted other Kansans to repeat the call for a town hall, with not so much as a peep in reply from Moran or his office.
So what the hell: Mead and others organized an online town hall on February 22, complete with an empty chair to stand in for Moran.
About 1,200 people tuned in during the live, 2.5-hour event, which featured 32 speakers — farmers, veterans, health care workers, cancer patients, special-needs parents — who voiced concerns over Trump and Musk.
Dot Nary, a disability activist and wheelchair user, pointed to Musk calling people who rely on federal programs — like Medicaid — a “parasite class.” Musk has said he believes Medicare payment systems are where “the big money fraud is happening,” leaving Nary concerned for the future of Medicare and the Department for Health and Human Services. […]
“Senator Moran, as my elected representative, I am relying on you,” she added. “Will you vote against efforts to cut funding for these Health and Human Services programs — both from the Department of Government Efficiency and in upcoming budget negotiations? Your constituents expect you to advocate for programs that allow us to live full lives in our communities.”
The town hall also heard from veterans, farmers, and others worried about the cuts, including Republicans who said they never voted for this nonsense.
So far, Moran’s office has had no comment on the Moranless town hall, either.
What Would John Lewis Do If He Were Here Today? He’d Nonviolently Kick An Ass Or Two, That’s What John Lewis’d Do!
Finally, this moment of inspiration from an unidentified constituent of Rep. Paul Tonko (D-New York), who said he’s a teacher who’s worked for 20 years, and that he really appreciated that Tonko has stood with other members of Congress outside NOAA and the Department of Education, but that he also wanted to see even more direct action from Tomko and other Democrats:
Somebody asked you what your red line was, and you said — you said that the time is always right to go. Does that mean the red line has already been crossed? Because I think it has. If you ask us to show up, Congressman Tonko, we will show up, in DC. [Applause] […]
We have to take the gloves off. We can’t wait for protocol. They’re not playing by the rules! [Louder applause] […]
When I saw you at those places and I saw you next to Maxine Waters, yes, I was so proud that my representative was on the front line, right there! [APPLAUSE]
But —I thought about Jimmy Carter and I thought about John Lewis, and I know what John Lewis would have done. He would have gotten arrested that day. [APPLAUSE!!] Make them outlaw you. We will stand behind you; we will be there with you. I will get arrested with you. I can do it! [THUNDEROUS APPLAUSE, STANDING OVATION]
Reader, it was so perfect, so Frank Capra, so AMERICAN that we teared up and by Crom we want to go find a Democratic elected leader to go get arrested with, too.
That, and similar moments, have The Atlantic’s David A. Graham asking (gift link) if Democrats might be having their own Tea Party moment, only without the racism or the misspelled signs or the calls to keep the government’s hands of Medicare, although keeping Elon Musk’s mitts away from it would be very welcome indeed.
Well hey, if we can pull off the part where it convinces Democrats they’ll face electoral consequences if they fail to be a real opposition party, we’re all for it. The original teabaggers clung to the “acting like a bunch of reactionary shitheads” part when they transitioned into power, so they can keep it.
[LA Magazine / Idaho Capital Sun / New Republic / Kansas Reflector / The Atlantic (gift link)]
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"She spoke up, and now she doesn’t want to suffer the consequences."
The violence in this noxious statement sums up everything that is wrong and sick about Trump/Musk America.
I remember during the tea party heyday, setting a big Mercedes driving through silicon valley with "Taxed Enough Already" in big letters on the back window. I thought no, not even close to enough, buddy.