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U.S. Representative Rich McCormick was met with a hostile reception during a Thursday town hall in Georgia, with the Republican facing boos and angry questions over his support for the Trump administration and its Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiative with Elon Musk to drastically cut federal spending.
One questioner asked McCormick what he was going to do to “rein in the megalomaniac in the White House,” prompting the attendees in Roswell to stand and applaud.
Another accused the congressman, who was elected in 2022, of “doing us a disservice” by supporting DOGE, which has targeted the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention among other agencies for sweeping job cuts, with as many as 1 in 10 CDC staff on the chopping block.
The Republican legislator, who initially backed Ron DeSantis in the 2024 election then later endorsed Trump, pushed back against the criticisms.
“When you talk about tyranny, when you talk about presidential power, I remember having the same discussion with Republicans when Biden was elected,” he told the crowd.
McCormick, a Marine Corps veteran and emergency room physician, drew examples from his background to try and defend the White House’s approach.
“I happen to be a doctor, I know a few things,” McCormick said, arguing agencies “can do more with less, just like the Marine Corps and everyone else does when you have to do more with less to survive.”
“Trying to do more with less, that’s reasonable,” a community member responded, adding, “what’s not reasonable is taking this chainsaw approach.”
It wasn’t all confrontational.
McCormick earned a smattering of applause when he said, “I respect the difference of opinion, and this will continue to be an honest discussion,” while the crowd reacted angrily when he compared them to the insurrectionists from the January 6 Capitol riot, who were “yelling just as loud as you,” and many groaned when the representative said much of the CDC’s work “is duplicitous with AI.”
Such a reception for McCormick and the wider Trump agenda isn’t exactly a surprise in Fulton County, which voted overwhelmingly for Kamala Harris in the 2024 election, but the outrage at the town hall could signal that some voters aren’t up for DOGE’s slash-and-burn spending cuts.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll released Thursday found that 58 percent of respondents were worried social programs like student financial aid and Social Security payments could face delays, and a 53 percent majority do not support the DOGE effort.
A separate poll, released this week from YouGov, found 39 percent of respondents had a favorable view of DOGE, compared with 36 percent who saw it unfavorably, while 52 percent said they are worried DOGE leader Musk is using his influence to benefit his companies and personal interests.
