Republican lawmakers are facing a wave of fury as voters pack their town halls to rage against President Donald Trump and tech billionaire Elon Musk — with desperate GOP leadership now even advising members to stop doing town halls altogether and blaming the protests on outside liberal agitators.
But what it signifies is something much larger, wrote Theodore Johnson in an analysis for The Washington Post published on Tuesday.
"In my corner of America, there’s a common feeling emerging about the viral videos of constituents angrily confronting congressional Republicans: That’s what they get," wrote Johnson. "But the snark isn’t intended for the elected officials so much as for their voters. The thinking goes that those who supported politicians campaigning on callous policies toward others shouldn’t be surprised when they end up harmed, too. It’s a variation on the adage that people get the government they deserve."
How true is that, really, though, he wondered? In many cases, these voters don't feel like this is what they signed up for: "In Texas, they are mad that an unelected billionaire seems to be exercising the presidency’s executive powers, unchecked. In Georgia, they are upset about the White House’s position on Ukraine and about its ham-fisted federal funding and staffing cuts. And they are angry that their representatives don’t appear interested in doing much about any of these things."
The issue, Johnson wrote, fundamentally comes down to a question pondered ever since America was founded: "whether popularly elected representatives are delegates who act as vessels for the people’s voice or trustees who do what they think is best."
What Republicans who control a bare majority in the House are facing, he continued, is frustration "with representatives who are bad delegates, offering no resistance to a White House run amok in their communities. Those who think Republican voters are getting their just deserts fault them for choosing poor trustees. Polls confirm that the resulting dissatisfaction with the whole system is widespread: Government is cited as the most important problem facing the country, even more than the economy or immigration; two-thirds of us are unsatisfied with our democracy; and Congress’s approval rate remains dismal. Is this the government we all deserve?"
In other words, he wrote, the new town hall protests flaring up are "snapshots of supporters who, after just a 30-day sample of the government they elected, feel duped." It's a symptom of widespread feeling that elected leaders are not putting their constituents' interests first — and "both sides long for a government that will address the nation’s problems and not be its primary one."