‘How much does it cost for fascism?’: Tensions erupt at Nebraska GOP congressman’s town hall
CNN
By David Adkins, Alison Main, CNN
(CNN) — Rep. Mike Flood faced a barrage of criticism at a packed town hall in Lincoln, Nebraska, Monday evening as constituents repeatedly confronted him over his support for President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,” immigration policy and what they described as threats to democracy.
It didn’t take long for the audience gathered for the meeting at the University of Nebraska to erupt in chants of “tax the rich,” while the Republican congressman attempted to defend his decision to vote for the the president’s massive agenda.
“I truly believe that this bill will allow America to experience growth, that it will allow our communities to thrive, that it will spark our economy, that it will help farmers and ranchers, that it will take care of the vulnerable. And more than anything, I truly believe this bill protects Medicaid for the future,” Flood said, speaking over outbursts from the crowd.
Flood, one of few members of his party to hold in-person events during spring’s congressional recess as the GOP looked to avoid blowback from the president’s DOGE initiative, heeded the National Republican Congressional Committee’s updated guidance to focus this August district work period on selling Trump’s agenda.
“With the One Big Beautiful Bill signed into law just a few weeks ago, this is a critical opportunity to continue to define how this legislation will help every voter and push back on Democrat fearmongering,” the memo from the NRCC, the House GOP’s campaign arm, stated.
But as he did earlier this year, Flood met a largely hostile crowd. The congressman was pressed on everything from the president’s sweeping tax and spending cuts legislation to veterans’ issues, Medicaid funding and the war in Gaza during a wide-ranging question-and-answer period – all against a backdrop of near-constant heckling, chants and booing from the audience.
Still, the he maintained his position on the president’s domestic agenda package. “Is every bill perfect? No, but I supported this bill,” he told the crowd.
Republican faces raucous crowd
In one tense back-and-forth in Nebraska, an audience member confronted Flood about government spending and authoritarianism.
“My question is fiscal,” the attendee began, referencing reports that the makeshift immigration detention facility in Florida dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” is expected to cost $450 million to operate for a single year.
“How much does it cost for fascism? How much do the taxpayers have to pay for a fascist country?” the attendee asked, as the crowd erupted in applause.
Flood responded, “Americans went to the polls in November, and they had a choice between a Democratic candidate that had an open border, no enforcement, fentanyl, drugs, human trafficking, and they had a choice between that and a candidate that said close the border, get illegal immigrants out of our country, stop the fentanyl, stop the human trafficking, stop the drugs, stop the crime, stop the violence. That’s what Americans voted for.”
“Americans voted for a border that is secure, and I support the president enforcing our immigration laws, which, by the way, were written by Congress.”
The audience appeared to grow increasingly agitated, with continued shouts hurled at the congressman.
Another member from the audience accused Flood of staying silent in the face of what they called a “fascist machine,” referring to the conservative blueprint Project 2025. “You said in Seward that you were not a fascist,” the person said. “But your complicity says otherwise.”
“Fascists don’t hold town halls with open question-and-answer series,” he responded. The audience again booed.
Despite his efforts to present the recently passed budget bill – which one constituent called “the big, ugly bill” – as a solution for Medicaid funding and rural hospitals, audience members attacked Flood over cuts to SNAP benefits, veterans’ programs and health care access.
Veterans in the audience criticized him for backing a law they said threatens benefits for those who served. “How can you stand a bill that erodes the very services that people like me, my family, and younger vets rely on?” one Marine Corps veteran asked.
Flood said he had personally met with the VA secretary and promised improvements to the system but offered no specifics.
The Nebraska lawmaker also fielded a question on the Jeffrey Epstein files – a topic that has consumed Capitol Hill in recent weeks but yielded limited exchanges so far in the early public town halls during lawmakers’ break from Washington.
Read aloud by an aide at the event, the written question posed: “Why are you covering up the Epstein files?” It was met with raucous applause from the audience.
Flood responded: “Let’s be very clear – at the next pro forma session of the Congress, you will find my name as a sponsor on a resolution from the House Rules Committee to release the Epstein files to protect the victims and not re-victimize them again.”
He added that he supports Congress’ subpoena of Epstein’s former associate Ghislaine Maxwell for a deposition, and declard: “I am for the release of those records.”
Democrat talks presidential pardons
The topic also arose at a Democrat’s town hall Monday night in Benton Harbor, Michigan, where Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin made a case against presidential pardon power.
Asked by an audience member if she thinks the presidential pardon power should be limited, Slotkin called it “a quirk of history that does not make sense in America for either party, for any reason.”
“To me, it is just a strange thing that the president of the United States has a few extra chits in their pocket to give away,” she continued, adding that she doesn’t think people who are wrongly imprisoned should be in jail.
As pressure grows on the Trump administration to release more information related to the Epstein case, the president hasn’t ruled out a pardon for Maxwell, who met recently with a top Justice Department official and also was transferred to a lower security prison camp from where she was previously being held.
Asked last week if clemency was on the table in exchange for Maxwell’s testimony, Trump said, “I’m allowed to do it, but nobody’s asked me to do it. I know nothing about it. I don’t know anything about the case, but I know I have the right to do it.”
Slotkin expressed wariness that Trump is talking about pardon for Maxwell “in year one of his presidency, not the end of his presidency, which is what you typically see.”
“Look, I thought it was controversial with President Biden, too. It was controversial with everyone that Obama or Clinton or Bush did. So to me, it’s just this weird kind of literally get out of jail free card that I just think muddies the waters,” she said.
“When you have a president who has a deep, deep problem with corruption, it just can be taken to such a dangerous degree that he’s letting out pedophiles and criminals, violent people because he’s paying back favors to others. I just can’t support that,” she continued.
The Michigan senator, who delivered what she called her “economic war plan for America” and argued against the massive domestic policy bill that Trump signed into law July 4, addressed another issue that looms large for lawmakers when they return to DC in a matter of weeks: government funding.
As Democrats weigh how to approach negotiations with Republicans to keep the government funded past the September 30 deadline, Slotkin, who did not vote for the GOP-led bill to avert a shutdown earlier this year, said she would not be open to any proposal without a commitment by Republicans to restore some of the health care-related funding they have voted to slash.
“For me, for my vote, for my willingness to join in that negotiation, you’re going to have to restore something of Americans’ health care in order to get me back on that team,” she said.
Democrat’s town hall canceled amid protests
Democratic Rep. Adam Smith’s town hall in Washington state was abruptly canceled Monday evening amid protests, with local police saying they arrested three people and charged them with trespassing.
Before Smith took the stage, TVW – Washington State’s public affairs network, which was broadcasting the town hall – announced on its website, “Town hall cancelled mid-meeting due to protests.”
“Today’s town hall was intentionally disrupted to attempt to silence a democratic conversation between a Representative and his constituents. This behavior is unacceptable,” Smith later posted on social media. “One of my staff members was physically assaulted during the chaos – an act that crosses every line of civil discourse.”
A Renton Police Department spokesperson said three protesters were arrested and charged with trespassing on the Renton Technical College in Renton, Washington, where the town hall was being held.
The police spokesperson, Meeghan Black, said she was not aware of any assault on a member of the congressman’s staff and no one was charged with assault.
Black told CNN that nine protestors initially entered the venue and started loudly protesting, three of whom walked on stage and were subsequently arrested.
This story has been updated with additional details.
CNN’s Dalia Abdelwahab contributed to this report.
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