At Testy Town Halls, Republicans Take Heat for Trump’s Bold Moves
Big crowds are showing up to complain about the unilateral nature of Trump’s early orders
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Catherine Lucey
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Meridith McGraw
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Lindsay Wise
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Feb. 21, 2025 7:00 pm ET
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Rep. Rich McCormick (R., Ga.) got an earful about some of President Trump’s policies at his town-hall event.
Rep. Rich McCormick (R., Ga.) got an earful about some of President Trump’s policies at his town-hall event. Photo: City of Roswell
At a town-hall meeting in a Republican-friendly, Atlanta-area congressional district, boos rained down on GOP Rep. Rich McCormick as he tried to defend President Trump’s efforts to slash the federal government.
In one tense exchange before the hundreds of people there, a woman challenged McCormick over how he would “rein in the megalomaniac in the White House,” according to a video of the Thursday event posted by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Eventually, McCormick—whose district backed him by a nearly two-to-one margin last year—acknowledged the audience’s concerns.
“I don’t want to see any president be too powerful,” McCormick said. His office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The contentious scene was one of a series of clashes in GOP congressional districts across the country in recent days that offered an early warning for the White House. While Trump is broadly giving voters what he promised during his campaign, the scope and unilateral nature of his early executive actions, as well as his upending of longstanding foreign alliances, is throwing some Republican lawmakers on the defensive.
At a recent town-hall meeting in West Bend, Wis., Rep. Scott Fitzgerald (R., Wis.) was questioned about spending cuts by the Department of Government Efficiency and Trump’s blaming of Ukraine for Russia’s invasion, according to local news reports. Rep. Kevin Hern (R., Okla.) and Rep. Cliff Bentz (R., Ore.) also found themselves pressed at similar forums about Elon Musk’s involvement in the DOGE downsizing effort, which has included mass firings of federal workers, local reports show.
Protesters gathered outside some GOP offices in Arizona, Iowa, Pennsylvania and New York. Phone calls continue to pour into Republican and Democratic offices following an uptick last month when the Trump administration placed a temporary freeze on federal loans and grants, affecting programs such as Head Start.
It isn’t clear how much of the criticism at town halls is coming from voters who opposed Trump before he took office. One Republican aide involved in organizing a recent town hall said the complaints about executive orders and DOGE appeared to be coming mostly from moderates, liberals and independents. Progressive groups encouraged supporters to put pressure on lawmakers from both parties while House members were on a break from congressional activity. The local Democratic Party encouraged people to attend the Fitzgerald event in Wisconsin with signs, according to a local report.
“Normally the folks who are angry are the ones who call. We are getting lots of calls about Musk and lots of calls thanking me for sticking up for Ukraine,” said Rep. Don Bacon (R., Neb.), who represents a closely divided district and has pushed back on Trump’s comments blaming Ukraine for Russia’s invasion. “When I’m out and about though, I hear from folks who are happy with DOGE.”
Democrats have been struggling with how to respond to Trump, but some are starting to see an opportunity. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, a progressive independent, is holding town-hall events Friday and Saturday in Omaha, Neb., and Iowa City, Iowa, focusing on two Republican congressional districts that Democrats would like to flip in 2026 as part of what he is calling his “Fighting Oligarchy” tour.
Some of the town halls have attracted a lot of people, catching lawmakers’ attention. More than a thousand people joined a tele-town hall Wednesday for Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R., Alaska). The senator apologized to those who were unable to get on the call, saying the system had been overwhelmed.
The last caller was a woman who identified herself as Dottie in Soldotna, Alaska. She told Murkowski she was a lifelong Alaskan who was “frustrated, angry and heartbroken” after her son, a 30-year career National Park Service employee, was fired four years from retirement.
A new CNN poll showed that 52% of adults thought that Trump had gone too far in using his executive power, compared with 39% who said it had been about right. The poll showed that 87% of Democrats and 57% of independents thought Trump had gone too far; 11% of Republicans thought he had gone too far, and 75% said his use of presidential powers had been about right.
Trump and his administration show no sign of slowing down after a busy first month in office. This week Trump signed executive orders to expand his power over independent regulatory agencies, end federal benefits for people in the country illegally and halt Covid-19 vaccine mandates in schools. In a post to Truth Social, Trump also ordered the Justice Department to remove all “Biden era” U.S. attorneys.
Trump got into a war of words with Volodymyr Zelensky after the Ukrainian president rejected Trump’s offer to take half of Ukraine’s rare-earth minerals as a form of repayment for military support. Trump called the Ukrainian president a “dictator” and blamed Ukraine for Russia’s invasion three years ago—statements that blindsided some congressional Republicans.
Upon announcing plans to end New York City’s congestion pricing program, Trump posted on Truth Social, “Long live the king!” He also raised the idea of seeking a third term—even though that is barred under the Constitution—saying at a White House event, “Should I run again? You tell me.”
Meanwhile, DOGE continued to slash the federal workforce, including thousands of Internal Revenue Service employees who were let go in the middle of tax season, and cutting some benefits that drew bipartisan support, like a fund that gave aid to responders and survivors of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
“The overwhelming response from the American people is support for what this administration is doing,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters. “There should be no secret about the fact that this administration is committed to cutting waste, fraud and abuse. The president campaigned on that promise.”
The Pentagon on Friday paused plans to potentially fire up to 55,000 temporary or probationary civilian personnel, according to defense officials and congressional staffers, after lawyers for the services cited a longtime federal statute requiring the department to conduct a review before any major personnel plans. The Pentagon later said it planned to continue with some job cuts, eventually eliminating as much as 8% of the workforce.
A number of Republican lawmakers have started raising concern about the rapid layoffs of federal workers and Trump’s foreign-policy shifts.
“I am all for efficiency and ultimately downsizing the federal government, but firing large numbers of new FBI agents is not the way to achieve this,” said Sen. Bill Cassidy (R., La.), in a post on X. “Louisiana specifically benefits from newly hired FBI agents. We need to add to our law enforcement, not take away.”
Write to Catherine Lucey at catherine_lucey@wsj.com, Meridith McGraw at Meridith.McGraw@WSJ.com and Lindsay Wise at lindsay.wise@wsj.com
