Anger erupts at Republican town halls
Murfreesboro, Tennessee (CNN)More than seven years after angry anti-Obamacare town halls erupted across the country, raw emotions are boiling over again -- this time, as the Republican Party under President Donald Trump gears up to dismantle Barack Obama's legacy.
And the fury is flaring up in some of most conservative corners of the country.
On Thursday night, two Republican members of Congress -- Reps. Jason Chaffetz of Utah and Diane Black of Tennessee -- were each confronted with impassioned constituents during simultaneous events. The shouted questions, emotional pleas and raucous protesters of the evening crystalized the GOP's tough political road ahead as it forges ahead with rolling back Obama's accomplishments, including the Affordable Care Act.
In suburban Salt Lake City, local police estimated that some 1,000 people packed into a high school auditorium to see Chaffetz as hundreds more waited outside. For 75 minutes, the congressman confronted a crowd that fumed with resentment of Trump and accused Chaffetz of coddling the President.
"Folks -- I get one sentence into it, you say I'm not answering the question," an exasperated Chaffetz complained as the crowd repeatedly jeered him. "I am answering the question, OK?"
And some 1,700 miles away in the town of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, Black was met with roughly 100 protesters at a "Ask Your Reps" event hosted by the Middle Tennessee State University's College Republicans.
Tempers flare
Mike Carlson, a 32-year-old student from Antioch, Tennessee, said that as an overweight man, he depended on Obamacare to stay alive.
"I have to have coverage to make sure I don't die. There are people now who have cancer that have that coverage, that have to have that coverage to make sure they don't die," Carlson said. "And you want to take away this coverage — and have nothing to replace it with! How can I trust you to do anything that's in our interest at all?"
Anger erupts at Republican town halls - CNNPolitics.com
Murfreesboro, Tennessee (CNN)More than seven years after angry anti-Obamacare town halls erupted across the country, raw emotions are boiling over again -- this time, as the Republican Party under President Donald Trump gears up to dismantle Barack Obama's legacy.
And the fury is flaring up in some of most conservative corners of the country.
On Thursday night, two Republican members of Congress -- Reps. Jason Chaffetz of Utah and Diane Black of Tennessee -- were each confronted with impassioned constituents during simultaneous events. The shouted questions, emotional pleas and raucous protesters of the evening crystalized the GOP's tough political road ahead as it forges ahead with rolling back Obama's accomplishments, including the Affordable Care Act.
In suburban Salt Lake City, local police estimated that some 1,000 people packed into a high school auditorium to see Chaffetz as hundreds more waited outside. For 75 minutes, the congressman confronted a crowd that fumed with resentment of Trump and accused Chaffetz of coddling the President.
"Folks -- I get one sentence into it, you say I'm not answering the question," an exasperated Chaffetz complained as the crowd repeatedly jeered him. "I am answering the question, OK?"
And some 1,700 miles away in the town of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, Black was met with roughly 100 protesters at a "Ask Your Reps" event hosted by the Middle Tennessee State University's College Republicans.
Tempers flare
Mike Carlson, a 32-year-old student from Antioch, Tennessee, said that as an overweight man, he depended on Obamacare to stay alive.
"I have to have coverage to make sure I don't die. There are people now who have cancer that have that coverage, that have to have that coverage to make sure they don't die," Carlson said. "And you want to take away this coverage — and have nothing to replace it with! How can I trust you to do anything that's in our interest at all?"
Anger erupts at Republican town halls - CNNPolitics.com
