Back home, congressmen face tough questions
MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. — The Republican lawmakers stood with fixed smiles, shifting in place, facing down turmoil but no trial inside a municipal courtroom overstuffed with constituents.
Across the room, the first questioner foretold a long Saturday morning: “Are you personally proud,” the man, Ernest Fava, 54, asked, referring to President Donald Trump, “to have this person representing our country?” The 200-odd attendees stirred.
Sen. Tim Scott tried first. “Given the two choices I had, I am thankful that Trump is our president,” he said, to ferocious boos.
With the waters tested, Rep. Mark Sanford waded in. “I think we’re all struggling with it,” he said of Trump’s tumultuous first month, to nods.
As members of Congress returned home during a legislative recess most Republicans were dreading, a hardy few on Saturday charged headlong into the resistance. At events across the country, lawmakers have strained to quell the boiling anger at Trump — and often, the Republican Party — after four extraordinary weeks.
Some have fared better than others. In North Harmony, New York, Rep. Tom Reed confronted what felt like interminable jeers, navigating hostile questions about abortion rights, efforts to dismantle the Affordable Care Act and potential conflicts of interest for Trump. The crowd at a senior center was so large that the event was moved to the parking lot outside. Chants of “Do your job!” rang out.
“What I have heard is passion,” Reed said. “What I have heard is democracy.”
In South Carolina, the twin billing allowed for a real-time comparison in how to handle Trump queries. The town hallstyle event was organized by Sanford’s office in conjunction with Indivisible Charleston, the local chapter of a national organization founded on the stated goal of “resisting the Trump agenda.”
The result, predictably, was a tough room, particularly for Scott, a Republican less willing than Sanford to criticize Trump.
“May I finish?” Scott asked repeatedly, as attendees interrupted his answers defending the dismantling the Affordable Care Act.
At times, people nodded to Sanford’s gentle dissenting, particularly when he railed against Trump’s refusal to release his tax returns.
Much more often, though, he slogged through questions about health care, immigration and, in at least one instance, word choice.
“Irregardless —” Sanford began, during a debate on pre-existing conditions.
“Irregardless is not a word!” a man cried.
By then, about an hour after starting, Sanford had gone outside to address a crowd beside a football field. Scott said he had to leave to attend a funeral.