Iowa Republican Rep. Ashley Hinson faced boos and screams at two city halls over President Donald Trump’s sweeping tax and policy bills
Councilman Ashley Hinson holds jealous and boo at Iowa City Hall
US Rep. Ashley Hinson held the City Hall at Luther University in Decola, Iowa, where he stubbornly defended President Trump’s tax bill.
- US Rep. Ashley Hinson held two city halls on May 28th, Elkader and Decola Iowa. The crowd erupted in anger at her support for the GOP tax bill.
- Despite Heckling, Hinson said he plans to continue his visits with Town Hall and Iowans to answer voter questions.
ELKADER, Iowa – Republican Rep. Ashley Hinson has not been upset with President Donald Trump’s support.
“How’s the due process?” the audience cried. “If you’re going to talk about it all the time, what’s the point!” said another attendee.
Hinson’s two fiery town halls in El Cadet and Decola on Wednesday, May 28th, were her first large, in-person public forum since U.S. House Republicans returned home for a week’s break after passing Trump’s comprehensive budget and policy bill on May 22nd.
“I believe the president is fighting for you, and I’m fighting with him,” she said in her opening comment. “I think the President was saved that day in Butler, Pennsylvania.
There was a moment of applause for Iowa Republicans, but the audience exploded with Jeers, calling Hinson a “liar” and booing her at an hour-long event held with over 300 attendees.
The bill, currently heading for the US Senate, will permanently act on Trump’s 2017 tax cuts and job expiration dates, cutting Medicaid and SNAP, programs that provide food aid to 42 million Americans. The bill also eliminates workers’ tips and taxes on overtime. This was one of Trump’s campaign promises.
Trump’s policies and tax bills have elicited sharp criticism from Democrats over the proposed cuts that proposed social security programs such as Medicaid and SNAP.
Hinson responded to Elkader’s heckling and said he plans to continue his town hall and visit with Iowans to answer voter questions.
“I’ll do an update and then ask your questions. That’s why I’m here today. So I did 44 in-person town halls,” Hinson said in a jealousy from the audience.
Hinson spoke to audiences on the campuses of El Cadar Opera House and Luther College in Decola, highlighting her work in Congress, including the Trump administration’s government efficiency (DOGE), led by Tesla CEO and billionaire Elon Musk.
Iowans who are unhappy with the Trump administration’s agenda and Congress have yelled out their disapproval this year at the town hall of other U.S. lawmakers. Hinson held another recent town hall in late April, facing an angry crowd of Iowans in Mason City.
Two audience members at Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley’s latest town hall in April shouted hostile remarks to each other in front of longtime senators.
Town Hall Audiences report Rep. Hinson with Doge and Trump’s agenda questions
Neil Henkenius of Manchester, Iowa, told Hinson at Elcade’s City Hall that as a veteran, he believes that giving the mask authority to lead the Dozi is like “giving a chainsaw to a billionaire.”
“I’m not only talking for myself, but for all the veterans, all the federal workers there,” Henkenius said. “We don’t need a billionaire who runs our country like masks.”
Rep. Ashley Hinson defends Trump’s policy in front of a raucous crowd
US Senator Ashley Hinson defended the cuts made by the Trump administration as town hall members rejected what he called tax cuts for wealthy people.
Hinson has been present on a House Committee on Approximate Budget, which oversees federal spending, and supports funding for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, but added that he “want to make sure the dollar goes where it should go.”
Hinson is also part of the House Doge Caucus.
“I think Elon Musk came in and helped me lead by joining and working with the team of people who are actively working to find this waste, fraud and abuse every day,” Hinson said. “…some of the things they discover every day will crave your skin.”
Decora’s Steve Peterson said in town hall he was tired of the corruption of Washington, D.C., referring to Trump accepting a gorgeous Boeing 747 from the Qatar government and replacing the Air Force.
“Can you help me understand why you’re silent?” Peterson asked.
Hinson said she likes to see corruption in the federal government and rejects the premise of the question that she is at city hall answering public questions because she cares about transparency.
“A lot of you probably wouldn’t vote for me, some of you probably did,” Hinson said after several trips with Peterson. “I think it’s important to me, so I want you to know that what I did when I was appointed to the House Budget Committee, for example, the decisions I made, the funding requests I make, are not something I get kickback.”
Ossian’s Iowa Farmer Brinks said she didn’t have enough respect for her and other elected officials at City Hall as Republican-leaning voters who had previously supported Hinson after the events of Decola.
Brinks asked Hinson about the possibility of securing annual sales of E15, a gasoline blended with 15% ethanol. Trump recently granted a waiver of E15 sales for several months in the summer, but vending products throughout the year was the top concern for many farmers.
“At the end of the day, whether it’s at the state level or national level, they’re going to do their job, they’re trying to show us what they’re doing,” Brinks said. “I was in the second row and it was hard to hear her say half the time. …I don’t necessarily agree with everything she does, but I want to hear what she has to say.”
Nick Larson of Walker, Iowa, said he drove over an hour to talk to Hinson about his concerns.
“I think she’s superpolitical. I think she’s throwing a lot of political stuff out there, but I think she’s probably pretty practical and listening,” Democrat Larson said after city hall. “I mean, I thought she was going to listen to the answer and answer it, but then she threw something political there. It was a shame because we were just wasting time. The first 20 minutes were a waste of time. We didn’t need to hear the political speech.”
Sabine Martin covers the politics of the register. She may be contacted by email at sabine.martin@gannett.com or by telephone at (515) 284-8132. Follow her on @sabinefmartin’s X.
