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The town hall for Nebraska Republican Rep. Mike Flood quickly descended into chaos on Tuesday night as he attempted to answer questions regarding Elon Musk, President Donald Trump’s tariffs, the new U.S. stance towards Ukraine, and other issues.
Flood, who held the town hall in Columbus, Nebraska, in the face of guidance from his party not to do so, was booed and had his constituents yelling at him during the event. The Republicans have told its members to host call-ins and live-streamed town halls instead.
That advice was issued after several lawmakers’ events were widely shared online amid protests and complaints about the Trump administration from attendees. Republicans, including Speaker Mike Johnson, have blamed Democratic activists.
Flood faced an aggravated crowd from the get-go, with attendees booing, yelling responses to his remarks, and cheering when one constituent shared a complaint, with one attendee holding a sign saying “liar,” according to The Hill.
One of the more chaotic moments came after a voter slammed Flood for saying that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was “disrespectful” following last month’s now-infamous Oval Office meeting.
“First of all, I do want to say shame. I want to say shame for your comment, your quote that you said, ‘President Zelensky’s approach today was disrespectful to President Trump and undermines the goal of bringing peace’ and that. So shame on that,” said the voter.
Responding to a previous question, Flood had said that he backed Ukraine, supported earlier aid to the country and that he thinks they shouldn’t have to hand over any land to Russia, prompting applause from the crowd.
Flood was also accused of not doing enough to help constituents with their concerns.
“Congressman Flood, I just heard you in the last few minutes say that you support NATO, that you will not allow cuts to Social Security, that you support Ukraine, but talk is cheap,” one person said, according to The Hill. “Our president, our vice president … and Elon Musk have caused damage, they’ve humiliated the United States because we’ve failed them.”
“We are failing to support democracy. We have a president that openly supports [Russian President Vladimir] Putin instead, and I have called your office over and over, and I have received answers from you, and they do nothing about any of those things,” he added. “You have done nothing. When are you going to do something?”
There was raucous applause from the crowd as Flood told the attendee he was “wrong” before citing his previous backing of Ukraine.
Shouting also erupted as Flood attempted to answer a question regarding cutting Medicare, with the representative urging the crowd to remain calm and allow him to answer the question.
Flood faced a barrage of questions about Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency. The representative was confronted with boos and thumbs down when he said he supported Musk’s efforts to slash the federal government.
“You talk about national security, yet you have done nothing to stop Elon Musk and his little band of tech geeks,” one attendee told Flood. “They went in, and they had read-write access to the agencies, and that is a huge national security threat.”
“The fact that you have not done anything to stand up to him, and this talk of, ‘I support Trump, I support Elon Musk,’ that’s not enough, okay,” she argued. “We need actual action. We need actual cybersecurity experts to go in and make sure that our government is secure because Trump is in the pocket of Putin, and you are letting him continue.”
Separately, Flood was asked, “What are you doing to stop the activities of unelected and unconfirmed Elon Musk?”
“I know you disagree with what Mr. Musk is doing, I know you disagree with the way this is rolling out, but this is the process that we are using to find waste, fraud, and abuse,” said Flood to boos and shouting, according to The Hill.
