Republicans wrestle with how much to defend Trump when facing protests at home
MILTON, Fla. -- At Grover T’s Barbecue in Milton, Florida, Congressman Matt Gaetz was grilled before he even got inside.
“I want to know if the president is bought and paid for by the Russian oligarchy!” one woman said to him.
“We should know that about everyone not just the president,” Gaetz replied.
President Trump was also a prime topic in New Jersey, home to Republican Congressman Leonard Lance.
“I would like to know what you plan to do … when he makes delusional statements” one attendee asked at a town hall event.
“When I believe the president hasn’t spoken the truth, I will give my point of view,” Lance responded.
The challenge for Republicans: how strongly to defend the president when they’re already dealing with Democratic anger over plans to repeal Obamacare.
Protesters gathered outside Congressman Dave Reichert’s Washington State office on Thursday, and laid into Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton Wednesday night.
“My husband with dementia, Alzheimer’s, multiple other things, and you want to stand there with him at home and expect us to be calm, cool and collected? Well, what kind of insurance do you have?” one woman asked Cotton.
But the uprisings from coast to coast have not swayed Republicans like Cotton or Gaetz when it comes to a top GOP priority.
“I will fight with every fiber of my being to repeal Obamacare in 2017,” Gaetz said.
Former House Speaker John Boehner, a Republican, was skeptical about that on Thursday. At a speech in Florida he said Republicans have never been able to agree on how to replace the Affordable Care Act and at the end of the day are more likely to tweak it than repeal it.
