{"id":24579,"date":"2025-03-20T21:29:32","date_gmt":"2025-03-20T21:29:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/?p=24579"},"modified":"2025-03-20T21:29:32","modified_gmt":"2025-03-20T21:29:32","slug":"gop-lawmaker-who-ousted-liz-cheney-says-its-bizarre-how-obsessed-people-are-with-government-at-explosive-town-hall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/?p=24579","title":{"rendered":"GOP Lawmaker Who Ousted Liz Cheney Says It’s ‘Bizarre’ How ‘Obsessed’ People Are with Government at Explosive Town Hall"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Wyoming Rep. Harriet Hageman laughed as constituents booed her on Wednesday, March 19 \u2014 at one point slamming the crowd’s “hysteria” and telling them to “calm down”<\/p>\n

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Wyoming Rep.\u00a0Harriet Hageman<\/a>\u00a0faced an angry crowd at a local town hall on Wednesday, March 19, marking one of several recent incidents where constituents have confronted Republican members of Congress about the Trump administration’s aggressive actions.<\/p>\n

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Hageman \u2014 who ousted incumbent\u00a0Liz Cheney<\/a>\u00a0in a landslide victory in the 2022 election for the state\u2019s only congressional district \u2014 laughed aloud during the public event as a crowd of frustrated Wyomingites booed her praise for President\u00a0Donald Trump<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0Elon Musk<\/a>-led Department of Government Efficiency.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI voted in favor of the continuing resolution, or CR, which extends funding for the fiscal year until September 30,\u201d Hageman said, prompting the booing to begin. \u201cIt keeps the lights on for President Trump and DOGE to continue their work.\u201d<\/p>\n

A local reporter with the\u00a0Cowboy State Daily<\/em><\/a>\u00a0estimated that about three-quarters of the crowd of more than 500 attendees at the Laramie Plains Civic Center were there to protest Hageman.<\/p>\n

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The sophomore congresswoman ran in 2022 with the support of Trump, following\u00a0Cheney\u2019s work as vice chair<\/a>\u00a0of the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.<\/p>\n

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\"Harriet<\/div>\n<\/div>
Congresswoman Harriet Hageman (L) beat incumbent Liz Cheney (R) in Wyoming’s 2022 election.<\/span>\u00a0Michael Smith\/Getty Images; AP Photo\/Mary Schwalm<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At times, Wednesday\u2019s crowd devolved into chants of \u201cTax the rich!\u201d and \u201cJanuary 6th!\u201d’<\/p>\n

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But some of the loudest reactions of the night came when the congresswoman mentioned DOGE and Musk\u2019s threats to cut Social Security.<\/p>\n

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Attempting to ignore the ruckus, Hageman told the crowd, \u201cDuring the continuing resolution, we are not allowed to touch Social Security, so I would request that you actually watch some accurate TV and read valid news, because that is untrue.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s so bizarre to me how obsessed you are with federal government,” she added.<\/p>\n

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Donald Trump and Elon Musk at a SpaceX rocket launch on Nov. 19, 2024.<\/span>Brandon Bell\/Getty<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Despite Trump\u2019s\u00a0repeated 2024 campaign promise<\/a>\u00a0to not cut \u201cone penny\u201d from Social Security, since taking office he\u2019s referred to the government aid as a \u201dscam,\u201d while\u00a0Musk recently called it<\/a>\u00a0a \u201cPonzi scheme.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cThere\u2019s a massive amount of fraud of, basically, people submitting Social Security numbers for Social Security benefits, unemployment, Small Business Administration loans and medical care,\u201d Musk said in Fox Business interview on March 10. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to put a stop to all of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The changing rhetoric on Social Security seemingly fueled the frustration toward Hageman for supporting Congress’ new funding plan, which has been criticized for giving Trump and Musk more power over the federal budget.<\/p>\n

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Reacting to her crowd’s anger, Hageman said, \u201cYou guys are going to have a heart attack if you don’t calm down. I’m sorry, your hysteria is just really over the top.”<\/p>\n

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\"Harriet<\/div>\n<\/div>
Harriet Hageman speaks at the 2022 Conservative Political Action Conference.<\/span>\u00a0Tristan Wheelock\/Bloomberg\/Getty<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Wyoming residents aren\u2019t the only people to get worked up about Musk\u2019s influence on the current administration.<\/p>\n

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House Republicans around the nation have faced aggressive pushback at numerous public appearances recently, to the point that a national GOP official urged them to stop hosting in-person town halls for fear of the optics,\u00a0The New York Times<\/em><\/a>\u00a0reported in early March.<\/p>\n

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Never miss a story \u2014 sign up for\u00a0PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter<\/a>\u00a0to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Last week, Connecticut Rep. John Larson had a heated exchange with his Republican colleagues on the House Ways and Means Committee, berating them for blocking the unelected billionaire\u2019s testimony on Social Security cuts.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWhere\u2019s the independence of the committee?\u201d he yelled. \u201cWhere\u2019s the legislature? We\u2019re an equal branch of government.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Even \u201cshame\u201d couldn\u2019t bring Trump and Musk\u2019s supporters to be honest about their true plans, Larson claimed.<\/p>\n

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\u201c[Musk has] been on television the last couple of days talking exactly about Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, and what he intends to do: privatize it,\u201d he continued. \u201cThe American people, some of them may have been born at night, but not last night.\u201d<\/p>\n

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  Wyoming Rep. Harriet Hageman laughed as constituents booed her on Wednesday, March 19 \u2014 at one point slamming the crowd’s “hysteria” and telling them to “calm down” Wyoming Rep.\u00a0Harriet … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24580,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24579"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24579\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24581,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24579\/revisions\/24581"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/24580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}