A GOP Lawmaker Was Mercilessly Heckled By A Veteran At A Town Hall For The Trump Administration's Federal Cuts
According to The Pew Research Center, 61% of veterans leaned toward Donald Trump in the presidential election. Still, just three months into the administration, the mass cuts from Trump's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have already left thousands of veterans jobless.
For context, The Department of Veteran's Affairs has already fired 2,400 probationary VA workers, plans to fire over 80,000 employees in the coming months, and plans to cut hundreds of VA contracts, including care for stroke and cancer patients.
But it's not just DOGE that is harming veterans; it's the entire GOP. House Republicans just voted to cut $20 billion in federal funding for the Toxic Exposures Fund (TEF) for veterans who have been exposed to burn pits.
Well, veterans across the country are angry and speaking out. A now-viral clip from a town hall in Asheville, NC, has received over 2.4 million views after a veteran's emotional outburst at a GOP lawmaker caused him to be forcibly removed by police. Here's the clip:
"I'm a veteran and you don't give a fuck about me!"
Anger at DOGE and the GOP is boiling over. Rep. Chuck Edwards just got scorched at his own town hall over his support for massive cuts. pic.twitter.com/HCcV7qCBKZ
— More Perfect Union (@MorePerfectUS) March 14, 2025
Twitter: @MorePerfectUS
NC Republican lawmaker Chuck Edwards was recently heckled while speaking to a group of constituents who were angry about DOGE's closing of four Social Security Administration offices in North Carolina. "You're lying! I'm a veteran, and you don't give a fuck about me!" one voter yelled from the audience.
"You're taking away my Social Security! Fuck you!"
"I will not sit down! I will stand the fuck up because it's my goddamn right!"
"You don't get to fucking do this to us! You don't get to take away our rights! You don't get to take our healthcare!"
"You don't get to do this to us!" Cries to let the man go came from the crowd.
"You're pulling out a veteran," one person yelled as the man was escorted out by multiple police officers.
"He's earned the right to speak!"
"Just to be clear, I deeply value the contributions that federal employees make," Edwards began but was interrupted by another voter who yelled, "Just to be clear, you're bullshit, and you're not fucking telling the truth, and you're not listening to us."
One person wrote, "White male rage has found its appropriate target at last. Let them have it!"
Another person wrote, "This is why the RNC is telling republicans to cancel or not schedule town halls. They don't have answers when they're getting called on their bullshit."
"Veteran rage has the potential to stop trump and musk in their collective pursuit to ruin this country. We need more of this. LFG"
"I mean, I would've loved to see them bring this energy at literally any step along the road that led us to this point but at least they finally got the spirit," this person said.
Another person said, "imo the left really needs to put a lot more effort into organizing veterans, especially now. they aren't a political monolith, and a lot of them are getting screwed right now."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
40 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump Media's stock has plunged by nearly half since the election. Now it's taking action
In the weeks before last fall's election, shares of Trump Media & Technology Group spiked as traders bet Donald Trump would return to the White House and make Truth Social the platform for presidential communications. Those wagers proved prophetic – if not lucrative. Voters did return Trump to the White House and Truth Social is now the way the commander-in-chief announces everything from major military strikes to new fronts in the trade war. And yet, many who own shares in the company with the ticker symbol 'DJT' are sitting on sizable losses. Despite Trump's victory, Trump Media shares have lost nearly half their value (48%) since Election Day, badly trailing the S&P 500's 5% gain over that span. If you look at just the time since Trump took office, Trump Media shares are down even more (56%). The struggles of Trump Media reflect the fact that much of this stock's rise was based on hype and momentum, not the underlying health of the business. Even though its share price is deeply in the red this year, Trump Media is still valued at about $5 billion. That's nothing to sneeze at – nearly equaling the value of Macy's and Wendy's combined. And yet Trump Media's fundamentals remain quite modest. The owner of Truth Social generated just $821,000 in revenue during the first three months of 2025. Trump Media lost $32 million in the first quarter. 'By conventional measures, this stock is quite expensive. It's a money-losing company with negligible revenue,' said Steve Sosnick, chief strategist at Interactive Brokers. 'However, this stock has always defied conventional valuation metrics.' In an effort to revive the share price, Trump Media has pushed into cryptocurrencies and promised to buy back vast amounts of its own stock. Its main product, a social media platform catering to conservatives, has yet to take off in the mainstream even though it's the go-to place to try to understand what the most powerful person on the planet is thinking and doing. The good news for Truth Social is that daily active users for its app have more than doubled (+106%) over the past year to 359,000 in May, according to Simlarweb data shared with CNN. The bad news is Truth Social remains tiny. Not only are its daily active users dwarfed by X's (formerly Twitter) 131.9 million, its tally widely trails Threads (112.9 million) and Reddit (66.2 million), according to Similarweb. Even Bluesky, which launched in 2023 as a rival to Twitter, has 10 times the daily active users as Truth Social. Trump Media responded with a statement that accused CNN of 'politically motivated drivel disparaging Trump Media, a company with $3 billion in liquid assets.' But Truth Social still has only a small piece of the social media universe. 'Truth Social's audience has been growing since Trump was inaugurated, but it is still a small player,' said David F. Carr, editor of insights news & research at Similarweb. Carr noted that Truth Social app usage hit a record on Saturday, after Trump used the social media platform to announce the US military strikes on three nuclear sites in Iran. 'But even on that peak day, web traffic and app usage were less than 1% of what X attracted. Bluesky also had millions of more web visitors and app users,' Carr said. Even some Trump Media investors are skeptical about Truth Social. 'I don't see that as a growth area – and I don't think they do either,' said Matthew Tuttle, CEO of Tuttle Capital Management and a shareholder in Trump Media. 'That's why they're going whole hog into crypto.' Indeed, Trump Media is using one of its real strengths – plenty of cash – to go headfirst into crypto. Trump Media recently filed paperwork seeking regulatory approval to launch an exchange traded fund (ETF) that would invest in bitcoin and another cryptocurrency called Ethereum. The move came after Trump Media amassed a $2.5 billion war chest to buy bitcoin, creating what it described as one of the biggest bitcoin treasuries of any public company. However, existing Trump Media shareholders' stakes were watered down because the company sold stock to raise money for that push into buying crypto. The moves have alarmed ethics watchdogs because Trump was elected with strong support from the crypto industry after he reversed his earlier criticism of cryptocurrencies like bitcoin. Trump has kept promises to promote crypto, including by launching a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and tapping crypto-friendly regulators. After winning election in November, Trump transferred his dominant stake in Trump Media to a revocable trust. Yet Trump is the sole beneficiary of the trust and it is run by one of his sons, Donald Trump Jr. Trump Media Chairman and CEO Devin Nunes has hailed his company's push into crypto and financial technology. 'We aim to continue rapidly transforming Trump Media into an indispensable company for the expanding customer base of the Patriot Economy,' Nunes said in a statement earlier this month. However, investors remain skeptical. 'Does the Trump name on an ETF get people to buy it? The jury is out,' Tuttle said. 'They're getting into crypto treasury, along with 60 other companies, kind of copying MicroStrategy's playbook.' MicroStrategy pioneered the strategy of scooping up cryptocurrencies and storing them on corporate balance sheets. While GameStop, Trump Media and others are now following suit, Tuttle noted that MicroStrategy is the only one being rewarded by investors right now. In a bid to breathe new lift into Trump Media's share price, the company announced plans this week to buy back up to $400 million of its own shares. 'It seems like a move to keep the stock propped up,' said Interactive's Sosnick. Nunes, the Trump Media CEO, said in a statement this week that the buyback amounts to a 'vote of confidence' in the company, its stock and strategic plans. Nunes added that Trump Media's $3 billion in cash gives it flexibility to take actions to 'support strong shareholder returns.' But it's somewhat surprising to see a company that went public barely a year ago turning to stock buybacks. Then again, much of the Trump Media story since its launch in 2021 has been unusual. 'If the whole bitcoin ETF thing doesn't work and the market doesn't reward crazy multiples for bitcoin treasury, there isn't a lot of there there,' said Tuttle, the shareholder. But Tuttle isn't ready to give up on his bet yet, especially given that Trump's time in the White House still has three-and-a-half years left. 'I would never bet against him,' Tuttle said. 'Every time I think he's done, he comes out stronger than before.' Sign in to access your portfolio
CNN
42 minutes ago
- CNN
Trump Media's stock has plunged by nearly half since the election. Now it's taking action
In the weeks before last fall's election, shares of Trump Media & Technology Group spiked as traders bet Donald Trump would return to the White House and make Truth Social the platform for presidential communications. Those wagers proved prophetic – if not lucrative. Voters did return Trump to the White House and Truth Social is now the way the commander-in-chief announces everything from major military strikes to new fronts in the trade war. And yet, many who own shares in the company with the ticker symbol 'DJT' are sitting on sizable losses. Despite Trump's victory, Trump Media shares have lost nearly half their value (48%) since Election Day, badly trailing the S&P 500's 5% gain over that span. If you look at just the time since Trump took office, Trump Media shares are down even more (56%). The struggles of Trump Media reflect the fact that much of this stock's rise was based on hype and momentum, not the underlying health of the business. Even though its share price is deeply in the red this year, Trump Media is still valued at about $5 billion. That's nothing to sneeze at – nearly equaling the value of Macy's and Wendy's combined. And yet Trump Media's fundamentals remain quite modest. The owner of Truth Social generated just $821,000 in revenue during the first three months of 2025. Trump Media lost $32 million in the first quarter. 'By conventional measures, this stock is quite expensive. It's a money-losing company with negligible revenue,' said Steve Sosnick, chief strategist at Interactive Brokers. 'However, this stock has always defied conventional valuation metrics.' In an effort to revive the share price, Trump Media has pushed into cryptocurrencies and promised to buy back vast amounts of its own stock. Its main product, a social media platform catering to conservatives, has yet to take off in the mainstream even though it's the go-to place to try to understand what the most powerful person on the planet is thinking and doing. The good news for Truth Social is that daily active users for its app have more than doubled (+106%) over the past year to 359,000 in May, according to Simlarweb data shared with CNN. The bad news is Truth Social remains tiny. Not only are its daily active users dwarfed by X's (formerly Twitter) 131.9 million, its tally widely trails Threads (112.9 million) and Reddit (66.2 million), according to Similarweb. Even Bluesky, which launched in 2023 as a rival to Twitter, has 10 times the daily active users as Truth Social. Trump Media responded with a statement that accused CNN of 'politically motivated drivel disparaging Trump Media, a company with $3 billion in liquid assets.' But Truth Social still has only a small piece of the social media universe. 'Truth Social's audience has been growing since Trump was inaugurated, but it is still a small player,' said David F. Carr, editor of insights news & research at Similarweb. Carr noted that Truth Social app usage hit a record on Saturday, after Trump used the social media platform to announce the US military strikes on three nuclear sites in Iran. 'But even on that peak day, web traffic and app usage were less than 1% of what X attracted. Bluesky also had millions of more web visitors and app users,' Carr said. Even some Trump Media investors are skeptical about Truth Social. 'I don't see that as a growth area – and I don't think they do either,' said Matthew Tuttle, CEO of Tuttle Capital Management and a shareholder in Trump Media. 'That's why they're going whole hog into crypto.' Indeed, Trump Media is using one of its real strengths – plenty of cash – to go headfirst into crypto. Trump Media recently filed paperwork seeking regulatory approval to launch an exchange traded fund (ETF) that would invest in bitcoin and another cryptocurrency called Ethereum. The move came after Trump Media amassed a $2.5 billion war chest to buy bitcoin, creating what it described as one of the biggest bitcoin treasuries of any public company. However, existing Trump Media shareholders' stakes were watered down because the company sold stock to raise money for that push into buying crypto. The moves have alarmed ethics watchdogs because Trump was elected with strong support from the crypto industry after he reversed his earlier criticism of cryptocurrencies like bitcoin. Trump has kept promises to promote crypto, including by launching a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and tapping crypto-friendly regulators. After winning election in November, Trump transferred his dominant stake in Trump Media to a revocable trust. Yet Trump is the sole beneficiary of the trust and it is run by one of his sons, Donald Trump Jr. Trump Media Chairman and CEO Devin Nunes has hailed his company's push into crypto and financial technology. 'We aim to continue rapidly transforming Trump Media into an indispensable company for the expanding customer base of the Patriot Economy,' Nunes said in a statement earlier this month. However, investors remain skeptical. 'Does the Trump name on an ETF get people to buy it? The jury is out,' Tuttle said. 'They're getting into crypto treasury, along with 60 other companies, kind of copying MicroStrategy's playbook.' MicroStrategy pioneered the strategy of scooping up cryptocurrencies and storing them on corporate balance sheets. While GameStop, Trump Media and others are now following suit, Tuttle noted that MicroStrategy is the only one being rewarded by investors right now. In a bid to breathe new lift into Trump Media's share price, the company announced plans this week to buy back up to $400 million of its own shares. 'It seems like a move to keep the stock propped up,' said Interactive's Sosnick. Nunes, the Trump Media CEO, said in a statement this week that the buyback amounts to a 'vote of confidence' in the company, its stock and strategic plans. Nunes added that Trump Media's $3 billion in cash gives it flexibility to take actions to 'support strong shareholder returns.' But it's somewhat surprising to see a company that went public barely a year ago turning to stock buybacks. Then again, much of the Trump Media story since its launch in 2021 has been unusual. 'If the whole bitcoin ETF thing doesn't work and the market doesn't reward crazy multiples for bitcoin treasury, there isn't a lot of there there,' said Tuttle, the shareholder. But Tuttle isn't ready to give up on his bet yet, especially given that Trump's time in the White House still has three-and-a-half years left. 'I would never bet against him,' Tuttle said. 'Every time I think he's done, he comes out stronger than before.'
CNN
42 minutes ago
- CNN
State regulator: Proposed 10-year moratorium on AI law enforcement is ‘extremely disconcerting'
A measure tucked in President Donald Trump's sweeping domestic policy bill making its way through Congress would effectively block states from enforcing artificial intelligence-related regulations for the next decade, a rule that's alarming some followers of the tech world. The proposed moratorium comes as AI extends into more areas of Americans' lives — from health care and law enforcement to personal relationships and hiring. And despite Silicon Valley's promises of super intelligence that solves the world's problems, AI also poses major risks, such as putting humans out of work and spreading lies. There's no overarching federal law regulating AI, although Trump recently signed the Take It Down Act, which criminalizes sharing non-consensual explicit images, including those made by AI. But various states have passed AI laws, including around the use of deepfakes in elections and AI discrimination in hiring. Those state laws would likely become unenforceable if Senate Republicans' version of the 'big, beautiful bill' makes it to President Donald Trump's desk. Earlier this month, Senate Commerce Committee Republicans tied compliance with the moratorium to crucial federal funds for deploying internet infrastructure. The tech world has been divided on a state regulation pause: Some want to avoid a patchwork of state regulations, while others have opposed the proposed moratorium. The provision has also drawn backlash from academics, tech workers, advocacy groups and even some lawmakers. Among the opposition is a bipartisan group of 40 attorneys general who wrote to Congress last month urging lawmakers not to pass the moratorium, including North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson. 'Years from now, it could end up being the big story out of this reconciliation bill,' Jackson, who also represented North Carolina in Congress from 2023 to 2024, said in an interview with CNN earlier this week. Jackson detailed his concerns about the moratorium and why he's skeptical Congress will pass broad AI regulations. This conversation has been lightly edited for length and clarity. Duffy: What was your initial reaction to learning that this AI moratorium was part of the bill? Attorney General Jeff Jackson: I got a call from another attorney general, right when the reconciliation bill had just dropped. And they said, 'You've got to take a look at this provision.' And so I pulled it up and shared their concern, basically, that this is an incredibly broad new rule that would have cascading unintended consequences. Duffy: What are you and other attorneys general concerned will happen if this passes? Jackson: The first order consequence is it will effectively seek to repeal a number of consumer and voter protections that have been put in place by a handful of states to guard people against being intentionally fooled by the abusive use of AI by bad actors. The second order consequence is potentially far greater, because it's all the ways that AI will end up being weaponized by bad actors over the next decade that we can't possibly predict today. And the prospect of not being able to defend people against those bad actors is extremely disconcerting. If you look at the current AI laws on the books, they're pretty narrowly targeted to voter protection and consumer protection. It's stuff like, people can't digitally clone your face and voice without your consent. I think that's something that enjoys very broad support. I mean, (AI) is going to become misinformation on steroids, even if we have safeguards against it. I just can't imagine a world in which there is no legal recourse against deepfakes being created for the purpose of fooling tens of millions of voters. Duffy: Are there laws in North Carolina specifically that you're worried about losing the ability to enforce? Jackson: There are. They are more in the criminal realm. But my larger concern is how this is going to tie our hands going forward. My main concern here, really, is that I don't think Congress is going to put up any safeguards. My level of confidence in Congress following through on what they say they want to do in erecting some national safeguards is just very low, and I think that's well earned. They didn't put up any safeguards with respect to the internet or privacy or social media, not even with respect to protecting kids. And now they're saying, 'Hey, we know we failed at that, but trust us, we're going to get it right this time.' And I think we all know that AI is more complicated than any of those issues because of the multitude of ways that it can be used and will end up being integrated into our lives and our economy. If this were a simple choice between a patchwork approach with 50 states or a single, national set of safeguards, that would be a legitimate question, but I don't think that's the actual choice. The actual choice in the reality we currently inhabit is between allowing states to put up safeguards or doing nothing. And I simply cannot imagine doing nothing, and being locked into doing nothing for the next decade. Duffy: When it comes to AI, what makes you concerned that Congress won't act? I ask because we recently saw the Take It Down Act signed into law, where there was bipartisan agreement that this specific use of the technology was dangerous. Do you think that we need something broader, and that's what you think Congress isn't going to be able to act on here? Jackson: I've served in Congress, and I saw dozens of AI bills get filed that were narrowly targeted and I think would enjoy broad support, and none of them passed. We heard from (Republican) majority leadership in the House that, categorically, no AI bills were going to pass. It was a matter of stated policy by majority party leadership that they were going to block all of those bills, and they did so. Part of my extreme skepticism of Congress doing anything substantial here is based on the history, the clear record of failure when it comes to privacy, the internet and social media, and part of it is from recent history of having served in that body and being told they simply were not interested in doing anything significant. Duffy: Why is that? Jackson: All I know is that there's a mix of reasons. Some of those have to do with technological innovation, and some of them have to do with very powerful lobbyists. Duffy: On that note, we hear from the tech companies this argument that the US risks falling behind China in AI if there is too much regulation. What do you make of that argument? Jackson: I think it's perfectly reasonable to be concerned with over-regulation of a nascent technology that's going to be economically transformative. However, if we're weighing that against being locked in to doing literally nothing for the next decade, that's a major concern.
