Republican Congressman Ruthlessly Grilled at His Own Town Hall

Republican Representative Chuck Edwards decided to hold a town hall meeting in his district Thursday, and it went so badly that he had to call for security to escort him out.

Edwards was bombarded with angry questions from his constituents in Asheville, North Carolina, over President Trump’s disastrous policy decisions. One constituent asked the congressman some blunt questions that got support from the raucous crowd.

“Do you support Trump on annexing Canada or Greenland, and do you like the way he treats the premier or the president of Canada, calling him ‘governor’? Is that the way you’d do as a diplomat? Is that, is that the way the United States should act to our closest neighbors?” the constituent asked, drawing applause from the audience. He followed up with more direct questions.

“Do you enjoy the way he’s tried to extort minerals from the Ukraine? Do you like bullying people that need your help? Do you go for kicking the guy when he’s down? Do you support Trump in these things? This is a yes or no,” he pressed further.

Edwards managed to muster up a response, replying, “The short answer to that is no, I do not,” drawing his own small amount of applause. But then he lost the crowd when he backed Trump’s stance on extracting Ukrainian resources in exchange for military aid, and spoke on his decision to support the Republican-drafted continuing resolution to fund the government, drawing boos.

The congressman tried to deflect the Bronx cheers, remarking, “And you wonder why folks don’t want to do town halls anymore?”

One man stood up and cursed at Edwards.

“You have nothing to say but lies,” the man, who called himself a veteran, said loudly, to laughter and cheers from the audience. “You’re lying. I’m a veteran, you don’t give a fuck about me.” Security moved to remove him from the room while he yelled, “You don’t get to take away our rights!”

Edwards’s bad experience indicates why Republican leadership doesn’t want GOP representatives, particularly those in vulnerable districts, holding town halls. The public is angry at the actions of the Trump administration, as well as the Department of Government Efficiency initiative led by Elon Musk. Protesters at the Asheville town hall even chanted “Deport Musk” at one point. All of this may not bode well for Trump or Republicans in next year’s midterm elections.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick played dumb Friday about the increasingly real prospect of a recession in a desperate attempt to spin the crashing economy—but even Fox News isn’t letting him just slip by. 

During an interview on Fox Business’s Mornings with Maria, Donald Trump’s official tariff cheerleader tried to laugh off the recent prediction that inflation-adjusted GDP was on track to decline this quarter.

“I know you said you’re not expecting a recession, but investors are on edge over the possibility of a recession this year after the Atlanta Federal Reserve said that it’s predicting a 2.4 percent contraction in the first quarter,” host Maria Bartiromo said. “And of course President Trump would not—” 

“What? Wait, wait wait say that again—a what? A WHAT? 2.4 percent contraction?” Lutinick guffawed. 

“Correct,” Bartiromo replied.

“OK, right here, right now. Right here, right now. That is ridiculous,” Lutnick said, as if his word somehow held more water than the Federal Reserve. 

“Have you spoken to the president of the Atlanta Federal Reserve?” Bartiromo said.

“Absolutely not,” Lutnick said, laughing.

“Have you told the Atlanta Fed that you say it’s ridiculous? Because they’re out with this contraction prediction,” Bartiromo chided. “And I know that you and President Trump were handed a mess, I’m not arguing that, but now we’re talking about recession! And I asked President Trump about it this week and he didn’t say no!”

During an interview with Bartiromo that aired Sunday, Trump had refused to say that the U.S. was not headed for a recession—likely because he can’t. Similar considerations have not struck Lutnick yet. In an interview with CBS News earlier this week, Lutnick said that if there was a recession, it would be “worth it.” Now he seems to suggest it won’t happen at all. Uncertainty is good for the market, right? 

On Thursday, Lutnick had been  dumbstruck by Fox News’s simple questions about the strain Trump’s 25 percent tariffs on imported steel would have on U.S. manufacturing. 

Chuck Schumer’s spineless flip on passing the House GOP funding bill has made him Trump’s new favorite Democrat—a dreadful look for the Senate minority leader.

On Thursday, Schumer announced he would vote to pass the GOP’s budget bill that would keep the government funded through September and avoid a government shutdown, despite signaling that he wouldn’t pass the bill the day before.

“Congratulations to Chuck Schumer for doing the right thing—Took ‘guts’” and courage! The big Tax Cuts, L.A. fire fix, Debt Ceiling Bill, and so much more, is coming,” Trump posted on Truth Social Friday morning.

“Again, really good and smart move by Senator Schumer. This could lead to something big for the USA, a whole new direction and beginning!” Trump added.

The bill, which narrowly passed in the Republican-led House this week, is a disaster, and all but one House Democrat voted against it. It would gut funding for health care and homeless shelters, increase military spending, fund mass deportation, and codify Trump’s plan to dismantle the federal government.

Schumer is on board, arguing that a shutdown would be worse than passing the bill because it would give Trump and Elon Musk “carte blanche to destroy vital government services at a significantly faster rate than they can right now.”

“It’s not really a decision, it’s a Hobson’s choice,” Schumer said Thursday. “Either proceed with the bill before us, or risk Donald Trump throwing America into the chaos of a shutdown. This, in my view, is no choice at all.”

The shocking announcement has Democrats from left to center seething, and many are pushing for Representative Alexandria-Ocasio Cortez to take Schumer’s seat.

Trump, though, couldn’t be happier. He’s one step closer to funding his outrageous plans for autocracy, and Schumer could help him get there.

Despite being back in the Oval Office, Donald Trump is still stuck in the past.

In an early morning Truth Social rant Friday, the president continued to blame all his problems on President Joe Biden. Those problems ran the gamut from the Ukraine-Russia War (which started in 2014), the October 7 attack on an Israeli music festival, the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, inflation and the economy, and “illegals” at the border.

In an effort to skirt the ire of the nation under his increasingly unpopular policies, Trump claimed that the 2020 election conspiracy was the fulcrum of the country’s woes, urging that “THE PEOPLE WHO DID THIS TO US SHOULD GO TO JAIL.”

“Crooked Joe Biden got us into a real ‘mess’ with Russia (and EVERYTHING ELSE!), but I’m going to get us out,” Trump posted. “Millions of people are needlessly dead, never to be seen again … and there will be many more to follow if we don’t get the Cease Fire and Final Agreement with Russia completed and signed. There would have been NO WAR if I were President. It just, 100%, would not have happened.

“Likewise, there would have been no October 7th with Israel, the pullout from Afghanistan would have been done with strength and pride, and would not have been the most embarrassing day in the history of our Country, it could have been a moment of glory,” Trump continued.

“Also, there would not have been any perceptible inflation—Instead we had Record Setting, Country Destroying Inflation, like we have never seen before. Also, we would have had an impenetrable Border, with very few illegals getting in.

“Oh, what a difference A RIGGED & CROOKED ELECTION HAD ON OUR COUNTRY, AND THE PEOPLE WHO DID THIS TO US SHOULD GO TO JAIL! GOD BLESS AMERICA AND, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” Trump added.

But it may just be easier for Trump to reimagine the past than it is for him to confront the future. Trump’s own economic plans have sparked fears that the country—which just last year had a strong economy—could be en route for a recession. Trump’s own foreign policy, which involves a global trade war, has instigated unrest with some of America’s longest allies, and his administration’s handling of the Ukraine conflict has led a coalition of countries to question if they should continue sharing intelligence with the Pentagon.

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said Friday that she would be cracking down on intelligence leaks.

Gabbard announced in a post on X that the ODNI was aware of several leaks within the intelligence community to publications including NBC News, HuffPost, and The Washington Post, among others.

“Our nation’s Intelligence Community must be focused on our national security mission. Politically motivated leaks undermine our national security and the trust of the American people, and will not be tolerated,” Gabbard wrote. 

“Unfortunately, such leaks have become commonplace with no investigation or accountability.  That ends now. We know of and are aggressively pursuing recent leakers from within the Intelligence Community and will hold them accountable.”

“Any unauthorized release of classified information is a violation of the law and will be treated as such,” Gabbard wrote in a separate post. 

Gabbard’s list of (what are considered by the right to be) liberal publications signals that her office intends to focus on targeting leaks to publications that report rigorously and critically on Donald Trump’s administration. 

Her threat to crack down on leaks exists within the greater context of threats made against the media by the Trump administration. After Trump entered the White House in January, the Federal Communications Commission announced that it would investigate NPR and PBS. Project 2025, the authoritarian playbook for Trump’s second administration, called for the government to strip noncommercial education stations of their federal funding and licenses.

Of course, Trump’s targets extend beyond liberal publications to any news outlet that dares undermine his mandate. On Thursday, Trump railed against The Wall Street Journal after it reported that business leaders were only pretending to love his disastrous tariffs sinking the stock market.