'Concern you at all?' CNN's Jake Tapper confronts GOP rep with brutal town hall boos
Rep. Mike Flood (R-NE) was forced to face the music onCNN on Tuesday afternoon when anchor Jake Tapper asked him to address now viral clips of a raucous town hall in which he was loudly booed and jeered by constituents.
Flood's town hall repeatedly went off the rails Monday night, including when he tried to sell the newly passed Trump-backed megabill of tax cuts and cutbacks to Medicaid, food assistance, and green energy credits, known as the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act." As he started talking about it, constituents started shouting, and some yelled, "Did you read it?"
Flood joined "The Lead" to discuss the debacle, with Tapper noting that for many Republicans, defending their support of the "big, beautiful tax and spending bill and more, it’s anything but quiet."
"They're yelling 'tax the rich!' there. Not sure if you could hear," Tapper deadpanned. "Although I know Republican Congressman Mike Flood of Nebraska could hear. Thanks for joining us. Appreciate it. Were you expecting that kind of reaction? Is that normal for your district?"
Flood, who was previously jeered by constituents, said that's exactly the kind of reception he expected.
"This is the political environment that we're in," he said, noting this town hall was his third this year and was held in Lincoln on the campus of the University of Nebraska, with "some very spirited constituents."
"Many of those that were the loudest last night, they took an opportunity, and they were at all three. I got to answer their questions, sometimes three times over the summer. But as you can see, it was spirited," said Flood.
He insisted that such town halls are informative and important, even if they don't outwardly appear productive.
"I get a lot out of them," he said.
Tapper then played a devastating cut of constituents asking the congressman pointed questions, including, "How much does it cost for fascism? How much do the taxpayers have to pay?"
Another said, "You said in Seward that you were not a fascist. Your complicity says otherwise."
But Flood brushed off criticisms that the U.S. is descending into fascism.
"Fascists don't hold town halls and have question-and-answer sessions," he retorted.
Later in the interview, Flood acknowledged President Donald Trump likely committed an unforced error in firing a Bureau of Labor Statistics official over data he didn't like.
"I don’t know if any of your constituents asked about that last night, but is that not something that concerns you at all?" asked Tapper.
"I've been an employer for more than 25 years. There’s always two sides to every story when it comes to this," he began. "But I did concede in the event that there was nothing wrong with her report, and that it was absolutely factual, then, in my opinion, she shouldn’t have been fired. I believe that."
Watch the clip below or at this link.