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Why Does Congress ‘Even Exist?’: GOP Representative Blasted at ‘Hostile’ Town Hall
In one of the first town halls since House Republicans narrowly passed President Donald Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” that would gut Medicaid and SNAP, force cuts to Medicare, and provide tax cuts that largely benefit the wealthy, U.S. Rep. Mike Flood, a Republican of Nebraska, was showered with criticism.
Constituents in the auditorium expressed anger over cuts to the social safety net and incursions against America’s system of checks and balances, as KMTV reported. The local Nebraska outlet called the event “hostile.” Rep. Flood was repeatedly asked why he and the GOP Congress are not standing up to President Trump.
“At what point—even though you’re a Republican and he is a Republican—are you willing t0 break with him?” one constituent asked. “What does he have to do?”
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“My question is regarding your oath of office,” declared another audience member (video below). “So you have sworn to uphold and defend the Constitution from enemies, both foreign and domestic. And you’ve up until now abdicated all of your rights as Congress to the executive branch. And if you don’t act as a check and balance on the executive branch, when they are in violation, not only of the Constitution, but also of judicial orders, what exactly is the purpose of Congress? Why do you even exist?”
Other constituents were equally challenging.
“There’s a dichotomy between what you do and what you say when you come up here on stage, and what you vote for,” charged a constituent. “So, like today, you say, ‘Oh, this is the number one most important thing.’ But you voted for a bill that increases the deficit by $4 trillion.”
“You say, “Oh, I care about the rule of law, but you voted for a bill that contains a provision that would gut the checks the judicial branch has, and you didn’t even read it?” he added. “It’s ridiculous.”
“Why should we trust you when you come out of here and say things, but then you vote against the things that you say that you care about, that you believe in?”
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On the $800 billion cuts to Medicaid in the bill Flood voted for, he insisted that most Nebraskans will not be affected, unlike, he alleged, states like California, which allows undocumented immigrants to access the program. The cuts to Medicaid are also expected to be achieved, in part, by imposing stricter work requirements.
“Question for the audience,” Flood declared, according to NBC News, “do you want illegal immigrants to get tax-funded benefits?”
“Yes,” was the crowd’s loud response. Flood replied: “I would say that is not the majority opinion of most Nebraskans, however. Next question.”
Flood also received harsh criticism for voting for the portion of the bill that makes it far more difficult for judges to hold parties in contempt of court — a provision some believe was designed to help President Trump.
The Nebraska Republican was forced to admit that he had not read that part of the bill, as NBC News also reported.
“This provision was unknown to me when I voted for the bill,” Flood told his constituents, to “loud yells” from the audience.
“I am not going to hide the truth,” he continued. “This provision was unknown to me when I voted for that, and when I found out that provision was in the bill, I immediately reached out to my Senate counterparts and told them of my concern.”
NBC noted that “Flood’s words did not calm attendees, who continued their shouting.”
KLKN spoke with several attendees after the town hall.
“I’m not sure how truthful he really was,” said one.
“Never spoken to that man until I came to these town halls, and he doesn’t listen,” said another.
Watch the video below or at this link.
READ MORE: ‘He Is Not in Charge’: Trump Mocked After Asking What’s in His Own Executive Order
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President Donald Trump is promising mass pardons to White House staff, and has done so repeatedly, the Wall Street Journal reports.
“I’ll pardon everyone who has come within 200 feet of the Oval,” Trump said in a recent meeting, to laughs, the Journal reported, citing people familiar.
“That radius,” the Journal added, “appears to be expanding as the president repeats the line. Another person who met with Trump earlier this year said the president quipped about pardoning anyone who had come within 10 feet.”
Trump at one point said he would hold a news conference to announce the mass pardons.
“The president has repeatedly raised the specter of pardons with White House aides and other administration officials, particularly when staff have suggested they could face prosecution or congressional investigations over decisions, people familiar with the comments said,” the Journal reported.
The Journal did not state if the pardons would be blanket pardons, but reported that those familiar with his remarks “said they weren’t aware of specific pardons being offered to specific people for specific acts.”
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The report also noted that Trump has often seriously pursued actions he initially had joked about.
“It seems like he previewed many times his intent to use the pardon power to bail out those who carry out his agenda faithfully,” Liz Oyer, a former Trump Justice Department pardon attorney told the Journal. She also “said the offers could spur Cabinet officials and administration officials to behave more aggressively.”
While Trump did not pardon White House or other officials in conjunction with the events of January 6, 2021, on his first day back in office he did issue sweeping pardons to roughly 1,500 of those who were at the Capitol that day and later arrested.
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Image via Reuters
The White House is fighting back after a prominent House Democrat demanded that the Physician to the President test Donald Trump’s mental fitness, citing the president’s recent remarks.
“At a time when our country is at war—especially when the war was initiated by the President without congressional declaration or consent—the American people must be able to trust that the Commander-in-Chief has the mental capacity to discharge the essential duties of his office,” Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin wrote to the President’s Physician, Captain Sean P. Barbabella, D.O., in a letter published by Punchbowl News.
“I therefore request that you conduct a comprehensive cognitive assessment of President Donald Trump, provide those results to Congress, and make yourself available to brief Congress on your findings.”
Congressman Raskin noted that experts “have repeatedly warned that the President has been exhibiting signs consistent with dementia and cognitive decline.”
“And, in recent days, the country has watched President Trump’s public statements and outbursts turn increasingly incoherent, volatile, profane, deranged, and threatening. His apparently deteriorating condition has caused tremendous alarm across the nation (and political spectrum) about the President’s cognitive function and continuing mental fitness for the office of President, and prompted concerns about the President’s well-being.”
Raskin noted that during the Biden presidency, Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer called President Biden’s mental acuity “one of the greatest scandals in our nation’s history,” and subpoenaed the White House Physician.
He also noted that during that time, Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan declared that a president who is not cognitively fit, “isn’t fit for office.”
Raskin offered some examples, including Trump’s recent message to Iran, which the Congressman described as combining “vulgarity and profanity, unprecedented threats of mass civilian destruction, and a sarcastic invocation of Islam on Easter morning—a bizarre display that shocked tens of millions of Americans and astonished observers across the political spectrum.”
Trump had written: “Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the F——’ Strait, you crazy b——, or you’ll be living in Hell – JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah.”
The New York Times had described Trump’s remarks as a “blistering threat” that “would have stood out on any day, much less on what most Christians consider the holiest day of the year.”
Raskin is insisting that Dr. Barbabella conduct “a comprehensive neuropsychological assessment of the President, including a formal cognitive screening instrument, and publicly release the results.”
Also, it asks him to provide “a detailed report on the President’s current mental and physical health status, including any medications he is currently taking and their potential,” and make himself available for a briefing under oath.
The White House wasted no time in responding, telling Courthouse News’ Benjamin S. Weiss: “Lightweight Jamie Raskin is a stupid person’s idea of a smart person.”
“President Trump’s sharpness, unmatched energy, and historic accessibility stand in stark contrast to what we saw during the past four years when Democrats like Raskin intentionally covered up Joe Biden’s serious mental and physical decline from the American people,” the White House added.
Image via Reuters
Ahead of diplomatic talks starting Saturday, President Donald Trump once again threatened Iran with violence as critics charge his tenuous cease-fire has fallen apart.
“As Vice President JD Vance was heading to Pakistan on Friday for peace talks with Iran, a senior Iranian official laid out new conditions for the negotiations, adding even more uncertainty about the durability of the cease-fire and whether the two sides could reach a long-term deal,” The New York Times reports, noting that President Trump “warned Tehran not to overplay its hand.”
“The Iranians don’t seem to realize they have no cards, other than a short term extortion of the World by using International Waterways,” the President wrote on Truth Social.
“The only reason they are alive today is to negotiate!” he declared.
His remarks seemed to echo his highly-criticized comments earlier this week:
“A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will.”
On April 1, Trump wrote, “we are blasting Iran into oblivion or, as they say, back to the Stone Ages!!!”
Some ridiculed the president.
“Completely controlling the Strait of Hormuz and charging ships a $2 million toll to pass through seem to be a couple of pretty good cards,” noted attorney Adam Cohen.
Reason’s Matthew Petti added, “You might say that Iran’s only cards are…a strait flush.”
Image via Reuters
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