Congressional Cowards is a weekly series highlighting the worst Donald Trump defenders on Capitol Hill, who refuse to criticize him—no matter how disgraceful or lawless his actions.
Even as voters have begun to flood Republican town hall meetings to voice their anger at the chaos Donald Trump and co-President Elon Musk have unleashed upon the United States with the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, Republican lawmakers are still refusing to criticize Dear Leader Don.
Rather than promise to end the destruction the two men are inflicting upon the country and the economy, GOP lawmakers this week publicly defended Trump and Musk and are writing the show of anger off as an astroturf effort by Democratic groups.
“The videos you saw of the town halls were for paid protesters in many of those places,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said in an appearance on CNN, which is a lie. “These are Democrats who went to the events early and filled up the seats.”
In fact, Johnson told The Washington Post that Americans should be thanking Musk for his work—which has led to the firing of thousands of federal workers, including ones that were let go by mistake.
“Elon has said in recent weeks and told me in his office a couple weeks ago, [that] he thinks it’s very possible this year to identify and eliminate a trillion dollars of waste of your taxpayer dollars,” Johnson told the Post. “You ought to be standing up and applauding.”
Because of the embarrassing headlines targeting Republicans as a result of the town halls, GOP leaders are now urging their members to not hold town halls at all—a directive lawmakers seem to be heeding.
For example, Rep. Derrick Van Orden, a Republican who represents a competitive district in Wisconsin, canceled a planned town hall with his staff when he heard that a large crowd planned to show up.
And constituents of Iowa Republican Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks have resorted to protesting at her offices because she has not made herself available at town hall events.
It’s not just Johnson whining about having to answer for Trump and Musk’s destructive actions.
“It’s unfortunate that the other party’s chosen to turn this into a political stunt,” Republican Rep. Jay Obernolte of California told Politico of the pushback he got at a town hall in his district.
Meanwhile, Rep. Lisa McClain of Michigan criticized the angry voters instead of addressing their concerns.
“Seventy-seven million voices outweigh those voices at the town halls,” McClain said at a Tuesday news conference on Capitol Hill, adding that “people that hijacked those town halls are happy with the bloated status quo.”
Republicans who faced angry voters took Musk’s side as well.
“The fact that Elon Musk is there, he will be able to raise questions, and because of his fame and financial success, I think … he is going to be able to force Congress to look at things like bureaucrats,” Rep. Glenn Grothman of Wisconsin said as his constituents booed, jeered, and laughed at his statement.
Rep. Mark Alford of Missouri showed little sympathy for his constituents who lost their jobs due to Trump and Musk’s federal worker purge, telling one laid off worker that “God has a plan and purpose for your life.”
Other GOP lawmakers are also publicly lauding Musk’s DOGE efforts.
“If I was Elon, I’m asking him to double down, not go slower,” Sen. Roger Marshall of Kansas said in an appearance on Newsmax. “Think about what Elon did with Twitter. He fired 80% of the people, he changed the name of it, and now today it is worth twice as much as it was before.”
But Republicans ignore voter criticism at their own peril.
Polling shows Musk and DOGE are unpopular, with majorities of voters believing Musk has too much power. A YouGov/Economist poll found that a plurality of voters want Musk to have less influence in the Trump administration.
