this post was submitted on 15 Mar 2025
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Summary

Rep. Chuck Edwards’ North Carolina town hall erupted in chaos as constituents furiously protested DOGE, a Trump administration initiative tied to mass federal job cuts and Elon Musk’s growing influence.

Attendees, including laid-off government workers, jeered at Edwards over employment losses and reduced federal funding.

Constituents raised concerns about federal job cuts affecting veterans' services, national parks, and Hurricane Helene recovery efforts.

Edwards struggled to respond but remained unfazed. The GOP downplayed the unrest, calling it staged, though independent voters like veteran Martin Downie say they feel directly targeted by their own government.

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[–] [email protected] 35 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

Breaking: Democrats might still be electable in the future, through no virtue of their own!

[–] TomAwsm 9 points 13 hours ago

You should write for The Onion.

[–] Doctor_Satan 19 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago) (2 children)

For anyone who is not familiar, Asheville is a very Left-leaning city in a deep red state. Last time I saw that many granola crunching hippies was in my mom's photo albums of the Haight-Ashbury district in '69. I'm not saying the town hall was full of Democrats, or that Asheville doesn't have its fair share of dyed-in-the-wool conservatives. I'm just saying that the general mindset in Asheville leans much further Left than the rest of NC, and that may explain why Edwards was getting so much shit from the public. Buncombe County (where Asheville is) voted 61% for Edwards' Democratic opponent Caleb Rudow in 2024.

Here's a pic I took of some graffiti while I was up there not long ago.

[–] Cosmonauticus 8 points 12 hours ago

North Carolina is not a deep red state. It's actually more purple than ppl realize. Especially with the influx of ppl from the Northeast moving there in mass.

[–] Doctor_Satan 16 points 16 hours ago

Fuck it. More graffiti. Some trippy cats.

[–] JacksonLamb 7 points 16 hours ago

It's just the screaming of some faces being eaten by leopards. The leopards are "reckoning with" it just fine. They don't care.

[–] CharlesDarwin 12 points 20 hours ago (2 children)

But others, like Downie, aren't necessarily on the left end of the political spectrum. He's a registered independent who served under presidents of both parties during his time in the Army.

"independent"

How to say you are voting Republican but not exactly proud about it...

[–] frog_brawler 10 points 16 hours ago

Nah, 100% fuck that. After I moved to where I live now I registered as an independent because after 23 years of being a democrat, I’m now embarrassed to say that about myself and I also largely disagree with their capitalist bullshit.

[–] tomkatt 8 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago) (1 children)

Nah, this isn't true. I'm a Coloradan and registered independent. I generally vote blue, and am very socially liberal and a big believer in safety nets and social programs, providing a floor, and I'm a proponent for the idea of a national basic income, universal healthcare, and free or subsidized education. I just don't feel that the Democrats have actually represented me or my interests in a very long time. I was originally a registered democrat, but have been a registered independent now for well over a decade.

If we had an actual progressive party that would be something, but this milquetoast middle-of-the-road Democratic party we have today is essentially the Republican party of my youth. The dems are very conservative these days, and only left-seeming because the Republicans have continually shifted toward insane alt-right extremism since the mid/late 2000s.

[–] CharlesDarwin 0 points 6 hours ago

Eh, I'm sticking with it. Sure, there are of course legit independents as you appear to be. But all too often I witness someone claiming they are an "independent", they nearly immediately go on to at least "both sides" the left and the right (thus enabling the right's very worst behaviors), if they don't outright parrot some magamaniac talking points, which they often do. It's almost as reliable as someone that starts off a sentence with "I'm not a racist, but...." - "I'm an independent...." - I'm usually bracing myself for what comes next. Sure, sometimes someone proves that they are actually independent, but that's rare.

I always thought it was rather sus, but then, post-teabagger, it went off-the-chart sus, when a zillion people were claiming they were in the "tea party" (not a real thing; the teabagger party is as much a "party" as doge is a real department of government) and never even heard of this Bush guy, even when in many instances I knew they had voted for him, 2x.

[–] Beetschnapps 5 points 17 hours ago

Meanwhile, Stupidity knows no bounds. Meanwhile they will still vote for them.

We love our oppressors.

[–] TheFonz 86 points 1 day ago (6 children)

Where the fuck was all this rage in November, my fellow Americans? We already had four years of Trump, January 6 insurrection, a disastrous reduction in foreign relations. But I guess that wasn't enough???

[–] CharlesDarwin 11 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

I'm told it's all the Democrats fault that the Republicans are fucking awful people trying to steer this country into a fascist dictatorship. I mean, just LOOK at what the Democrats made the Republicans do!

If the DNC and the candidates had only listened to these arbiters of wisdom, all would be well, I am told.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 14 hours ago

If you think that Chuck Schumer selling us out to the Republican double-hitler funding bill this week isn't on some level indicative of the DNC putting a ball-gag in our mouth and bending us over, I really don't know what to tell you.

[–] rational_lib 3 points 16 hours ago

Most Americans have little clue what's going on in government. They just know they're angry about things and blame whoever they perceive as being in charge.

[–] inclementimmigrant 37 points 1 day ago

These are MAGA morons, deplorables if you will, who are now upset that they're being affected by project 2025 because they had it in their heads that they would be spared as being good whites and it would only affect minorities and liberals because they're racist deplorables.

[–] homesweethomeMrL 27 points 1 day ago (1 children)

You do not understand the power of ~~the dark side~~ propaganda.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Marketing, as an industry, should be stamped out of existence. It's just professional lying.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 hours ago

I understand where your anger is coming from here, as I was just recently raging about lies in modern day advertising, but I'm having trouble following the line here.

Let's say we "stamp out of existence" all activities relating to marketing. Practically speaking, does this make all products commodities? When I walk into a grocery store, is every shelf just a plain brown box with a minimal description of its contents? "cane sugar 1lb", "laundry detergent", "vegetable soup"? Further, marketing includes identification of where there is demand for a certain good, so we should be shipping ice melt to Florida in July and sun screen to Montana in January?

Can I suggest that perhaps what we actually need is better regulations around marketing practices and enforced penalties when companies go over the line?

[–] AA5B 11 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

But this is what I don’t get - Trump isn’t even good at lying. Practically every word is a lie but fails on logic and he’ll usually say the opposite soon enough. How do people even fall for it? Do they actually listen to him?

It must be just cherry-picking: if he says enough lies you can usually find one you like. But how could you reconcile that one thing you think you agree with out of a vast ocean of lies?

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 day ago

There's zero expectation of discernment in a cult. And MAGA is a political cult.

[–] monkeyslikebananas2 18 points 1 day ago (1 children)

No need to guess, it wasn’t enough. I think in hindsight, Covid is going to seem like a pleasant nostalgic time.

[–] aesthelete 25 points 1 day ago (1 children)

It already does.

Especially the first part of it where we were baking bread or whatever.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I know a ton of people died, and countless more where hurt, and it hurt the economy, but as an introvert hermit, GOD DO I MISS LOCKDOWN.

I do my best to keep up the life style, but I'm still expected to go into the office every once in a while for my wasted day as we all call it.

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[–] [email protected] 123 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I guess it's good that non-political people are starting to get involved. Shame they didn't spend 5 minutes to check which way the wind was blowing in November last year.

[–] WhatAmLemmy 51 points 1 day ago (4 children)

They'll still vote for fascism. They're just angry it's impacting them directly.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 day ago

western north carolina actually saw a notable leftward shift

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[–] grue 20 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Shame they didn’t spend 5 minutes to check which way the wind was blowing in November last year.

Which is especially weird, since they should've learned the importance of it from the wind in September.

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[–] disguy_ovahea 110 points 1 day ago (2 children)

This was a fun one to watch. Edwards said that he was proud to vote for the budget resolution and was booed hard. He smiled in response, like a goddamn sociopath, further enraging the people. A veteran stood up, shouted louder than the crowd and was forcibly removed by police. At the end of the town hall, Edwards hid inside the building for almost an hour, waiting for the crowd to disperse. Not only were they all waiting for him outside, they surrounded his car and made him sit in the center of a parking lot protest for 20 minutes until the police broke it up. Fuck any public servant that refuses to represent their constituency.

[–] WhatAmLemmy 41 points 1 day ago (1 children)

If this is the response now, imagine the response when they crash the entire economy. Not a smart thing to do with a heavily armed population.

[–] homesweethomeMrL 20 points 1 day ago

Help us heavily-armed rednecks. You're one of our only hopes.

[–] foggy 24 points 1 day ago (1 children)

20 minutes?

It should be 20 fucking days.

Surround his fucking house.

[–] disguy_ovahea 17 points 1 day ago

They stayed until the police forced the protesters to allow him passage.

[–] Suavevillain 45 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (8 children)

Too bad there isn't a Dem that could really thrive at this moment of darkness for some good. 2016 Bernie's messaging would connect now more than ever but that time has passed. I'm glad Republican voters are mad, even if I bet it is just because they are being affected too, not really mad about the harm.

[–] tamal3 1 points 3 hours ago

Speaking of NC... Jeff Jackson needs more attention.

[–] Ensign_Crab 35 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Too bad there isn’t a Dem that could really thrive at this moment of darkness for some good.

AOC seems to be having a moment. And Bernie seems to be in the recruitment phase for something, at least I hope he is.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 day ago (2 children)

And Bernie seems to be in the recruitment phase for something, at least I hope he is.

Don't expect much from Bernie on that front. He's a good progressive Senator, but he'll never actually lead a progressive movement. I don't know if he doesn't have it in him anymore or if he's just not that kind of guy, but Bernie works a lot better as a symbol than as a leader.

[–] JustZ 7 points 1 day ago (1 children)

He's already led two progressive movements.

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 day ago (2 children)

AOC seems to be throwing in with Bernie. Yes, Bernie is getting older, but with a sort of confirmed 'successor' may still have some bite..... as long as the Democratic party doesn't pull the same bullshit.

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[–] Ensign_Crab 50 points 1 day ago (4 children)

Now maybe if democrats could take advantage of this rage instead of being complicit.

[–] [email protected] 30 points 1 day ago

Sorry. Book tours and all. Worthless Senate Minority Leader out front shoulda told ya.

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[–] cheese_greater 26 points 1 day ago (1 children)

They were supposed to directly target OTHERS, not MEEEEEEE!

[–] CharlesDarwin 2 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

"He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting."

[–] [email protected] 1 points 16 hours ago

turns out he was.

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