ASHEVILLE, N.C. (828newsNOW) — Thousands crowded Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College’s Ferguson Auditorium on Thursday night, demanding answers from U.S. Rep. Chuck Edwards (NC-11).
Edwards, bucking the trend of Republicans holding in-person events, endured a steady stream of boos, cursing and questions about President Donald Trump’s policies and Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency.
Edwards attempted to open the meeting with information about Tropical Storm Helene and recovery efforts.
“You done good. Now answer our questions,” a man in the crowd of about 300 shouted.
“Yeah, we know what you did, quit bragging on yourself and answer our questions,” another yelled.
For more than an hour, Edwards fielded questions from the audience, while a crowd estimated to be more than 2,000 people, listened outside.
Constituents grilled Edwards about his support for Ukraine, Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare, the U.S. Forest Service, the Department of Education and Veterans Affairs and concerns about DOGE and democracy.
“We’ve got a lot to be proud of in this country. I happen to agree with a lot of the things that’s going on in Washington D.C.,” Edwards said, garnering a lot of boos.
A sampling of questions from the event:
QUESTION: What do you plan to do to make sure North Carolina does not get taken over by dictatorship and fascism?
ANSWER: Sounds, uh, sounds like there’s a little bit of bias in that question. I’m assuming that many of you might have some disagreement with what you see taking place in the White House. But I think we also have to realize that what we see President Trump doing is exactly what President Trump said he was going to do.
Q: How can services of the Department of Education continue when its workforce is cut in half?
A: So those of you who are extremely concerned about the constitution, let’s drop back and realize that the Department of Education is not mentioned in our U.S. Constitution. Let’s keep in mind that the general purpose of government is to make decisions closest to the people that we represent.
(Yelling and boos)
The decisions should be made on a level closer to the people they represent. It would also be my goal that we would get to the point that block grants would be sent from Washington D.C. to the states to make those decisions and that, ultimately, we would lower federal taxes by an amount commensurate to the same so that folks weren’t spending as much money as they are right now.
Q: What are you doing to ensure the protection of our Social Security benefits?
(Standing ovation)
A: I’m not going to vote to dissolve your Social Security. I’m not looking ot. That’s a promise that’s been made to the American people.
Q: How do you justify cuts to staff of the VA helping veterans?
A: So, first of all, there have been no cuts to the hospital.
(More yelling)
Q: Will the foresters who were fired be rehired to clean up the storm?
A: There was a court ruling in just the last few days (they have been rehired) for at least 45 days.
Q: Are you good with 45 days? 45 days? Does that make your heart happy?
A: I feel like this is not productive, Edwards said to the yelling crowd.
Q: Do you feel secure in what you have voted for and why?
A: Yes. And and the reason why is that I was very clear in what my views were when I was elected to go to Washington D.C., in limited government, in lower taxes, in a secure America, in a secure border, in trying to provide opportunities for the younger generations, in trying to save our taxpayers dollars and trying to create communities that are safe and trying to lower regulations that are adding to the inflation that you’ve been experiencing.
President Trump told us throughout his entire campaign that he was going to be using tariffs to negotiate with foreign countries and that’s exactly what he’s doing. And to negotiate, you’ve got to have an edge. You’ve got to have something to negotiate with. And he’s been able to bring foreign leaders to the table that would not come to the table otherwise.
The other thing I think that we have to recognize is that an economy really consists of many, many multiple factors. Our competitiveness with foreign nations is one of those.
Q: This is a yes or no question. I don’t want you to, I don’t want you to wander off into the woods. I don’t want to hear about the latest week in your office. Yes or no? OK? Do you support Trump on everything? Do you like the way he treats the premier or the president of Canada calling him governor? Is that the way you do as a diplomat? Is that the way the United States should act to our closest neighbor? Do you enjoy the way he’s tried to extort minerals from the Ukraine, people that need our help? Do you go for kicking the guy when he’s down? Do you support these things? This is a yes or no.
A: I believe your first question that you wanted yes or no to was do I support annexing Greenland and Canada? The short answer to that is no.
There was another question in there. I think it was do I support a deal with Ukraine in obtaining minerals and helping the United States taxpayers recoup the $140 billion we’ve spent, I do.
“Got drafted right over there in 68,” he said while sitting in the crowd of people waiting to get into U.S. Rep. Chuck Edwards’ town hall Thursday.
Stamey said he had just one question he wanted Edwards to answer.
“We know what all they’ve already done and what they’ve done wrong, OK. But I want to ask him what he plans on doing. Is he for the American people or is he for destroying the country?”