The president last night embraced the GOP’s message for voters who are angry about the party’s plan to dismantle the Affordable Care Act: The popular outrage is artificial.
The so-called angry crowds in home districts of some Republicans are actually, in numerous cases, planned out by liberal activists. Sad!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 21, 2017
Mitch McConnell similarly brushed off the protesters by declaring they “did not like the results of the election,” and that “winners make policy and the losers go home.” This was an attitude starkly absent from McConnell’s approach in the Obama years, when he very early on spearheaded a strategy of mass GOP opposition.
.@SenateMajLdr says he "respects" protesters' rights, adds "winners make policy and the losers go home" https://t.co/AWLHu9x66G pic.twitter.com/H0RGxrOxWu
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) February 21, 2017
Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley—who infamously said in 2009 that health care reform would have government “decide when to pull the plug on grandma”—saw that kind of talk come right back around. As a constituent told him: “With all due respect, sir, you’re the man that talked about the death panel. We’re gonna create one big death panel in this country—the people who can’t afford to get insurance.”
Angry constituents confront Chuck Grassley in Iowa: “If it wasn’t for Obamacare, we wouldn’t be able to afford insurance!” pic.twitter.com/vrbhbOiBMM
— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) February 21, 2017
Elsewhere in Iowa, Senator Joni Ernst faced a hostile crowd, which booed loudly when she left the forum:
The crowd jeers and chants after Joni Ernst ends her forum after only 45 minutes, few questions pic.twitter.com/aHrcbPMxv2
— Iowa Starting Line (@IAStartingLine) February 21, 2017
And Rep. Dave Brat (R-VA), who became a living symbol of Tea Party uprisings when he defeated former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in the Republican primary back in 2014, got his own taste of the new wave of liberal political resistance:
Here's a good example of the rowdiness/frustration at Rep. Dave Brat's town hall tonight. He took over 30 Qs, got lots of pushback. pic.twitter.com/L3kHyDUNKw
— Ashley Killough (@KilloughCNN) February 22, 2017