Summary
Rep. Chuck Edwards’ North Carolina town hall erupted in chaos as constituents furiously protested DOGE, a Trump administration initiative tied to mass federal job cuts and Elon Musk’s growing influence.
Attendees, including laid-off government workers, jeered at Edwards over employment losses and reduced federal funding.
Constituents raised concerns about federal job cuts affecting veterans’ services, national parks, and Hurricane Helene recovery efforts.
Edwards struggled to respond but remained unfazed. The GOP downplayed the unrest, calling it staged, though independent voters like veteran Martin Downie say they feel directly targeted by their own government.
Nah, this isn’t true. I’m a Coloradan and registered independent. I generally vote blue, and am very socially liberal and a big believer in safety nets and social programs, providing a floor, and I’m a proponent for the idea of a national basic income, universal healthcare, and free or subsidized education. I just don’t feel that the Democrats have actually represented me or my interests in a very long time. I was originally a registered democrat, but have been a registered independent now for well over a decade.
If we had an actual progressive party that would be something, but this milquetoast middle-of-the-road Democratic party we have today is essentially the Republican party of my youth. The dems are very conservative these days, and only left-seeming because the Republicans have continually shifted toward insane alt-right extremism since the mid/late 2000s.
Eh, I’m sticking with it. Sure, there are of course legit independents as you appear to be. But all too often I witness someone claiming they are an “independent”, they nearly immediately go on to at least “both sides” the left and the right (thus enabling the right’s very worst behaviors), if they don’t outright parrot some magamaniac talking points, which they often do. It’s almost as reliable as someone that starts off a sentence with “I’m not a racist, but…” - “I’m an independent…” - I’m usually bracing myself for what comes next. Sure, sometimes someone proves that they are actually independent, but that’s rare.
I always thought it was rather sus, but then, post-teabagger, it went off-the-chart sus, when a zillion people were claiming they were in the “tea party” (not a real thing; the teabagger party is as much a “party” as doge is a real department of government) and never even heard of this Bush guy, even when in many instances I knew they had voted for him, 2x.