Several constituents were tased, forcibly removed, and arrested by law enforcement for interrupting a town hall that Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene held for her district at the Acworth Community Center on Tuesday evening.
Meanwhile, hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside to protest the Republican congresswoman’s full-throated support for President Donald Trump’s MAGA agenda.
Marietta dentist Mike Binns, 70, was escorted out by police for yelling “False!” after Greene said Democrats “are the party of violence.”
Binns didn’t get a chance to ask Greene his question — whether she supported Trump’s trade war, and what fix she would propose if it fails.
During the event, police tased two people, and ejected a total of six. Of those, three were arrested on misdemeanor charges, including obstruction, simple battery of a police officer, and vulgar language, according to the Acworth Police Department.
Amid national outcry over how the Trump administration is slashing the federal government, members of Congress from both parties are facing tough questions and heckling at town hall meetings in their districts. That’s especially true for Republicans, whose leadership has advised them to avoid holding public meetings altogether.
But the MAGA firebrand and Trump ally, whose northwest Georgia district extends from the Tennessee border down to Atlanta’s suburbs in Cobb County, hasn’t shied away from holding public events — with some caveats.
Although her event was billed as a town hall, with registration limited to constituents, Greene pre-selected questions in advance and did not field questions from those allowed in. Instead, she spent most of the hour-long event praising Trump’s second term.
Greene’s office denied Atlanta Civic Circle media access, claiming the venue was at capacity (despite event footage showing many empty seats), so we spoke to Binns and several Greene supporters as they entered or exited the Acworth Community Center, along with some of the protesters outside.
Binns questioned whether Greene’s event was really a town hall, since the questions were pre-selected. “That is, by definition, not a town hall,” he said.
One Greene supporter from Acworth, Joe Benson, 71, said his top priority was to “get rid of the illegals,” followed by a return to the gold standard.
The IT worker said he wants ICE deportations to occur “humanely,” but he was generally unbothered by reports of ICE detaining legal residents and citizens, or the conditions for the 238 men whom the Trump administration has sent to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador.
“People are going to make mistakes,” Benson said. He added that he admires Greene for forcing the House of Representatives to record all votes — ensuring better transparency and accountability.
“Democrats are trying to drive this country into socialism,” said another Greene supporter wearing a white MAGA hat, Dave, who declined to give his last name.
Dave, 70, collects Social Security, but he said he isn’t concerned about the Trump administration’s recent staff cuts and other threats to the program. Instead, he is certain that Trump and MAGA Republicans are going to save it. “They’re going to fix it. They’re not going to cut Social Security — they’re going to clean up the waste, fraud and abuse,” he said.
Eric S., 66, asked that his full name be withheld because he is a federal contractor. He registered for the event, but was denied entry, which he suspects was because his pre-submitted questions were critical of Greene.
“She’s a lousy representative for the district. She doesn’t listen. She’s non-responsive,” Eric said, adding that he’s concerned about social security, the cost of housing, and a looming economic recession.
“Trump’s tariffs will make housing worse,” Eric said. ”We can’t find laborers because they’ve scared away or deported anybody who worked in housing, lawn care — People are afraid, and Marjorie is more proud of a bill to rename the Gulf of Mexico than she is of helping people in the district.”
One protester outside, Sarah Crockett, 26, a student at Dalton State College, said she has a daughter in elementary school and is concerned about cuts to funding for Title I schools, which have a high poverty rate. “She’s voted against free school breakfast and lunch,” Crockett said.
Signs and chants of “inside trader/traitor,” were prevalent among the protesters outside. The phrase is a pun on Greene’s providentially timed stock-market trades around Trump’s trade war announcements, which have drawn renewed calls for bans on congressmembers buying and selling stocks.
But Debra Gordon, a Republican precinct captain from Whitfield County told Atlanta Civic Circle as she left the town hall that the stock-trade criticism was unfairly targeted at Greene, when Democratic Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi is “making millions.”
Still, when asked if stock trades should be banned for all congresspeople, Gordon said “yes.”