Tom Cotton faces uproar at town hall meeting

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) faced a wave of opposition during a town hall meeting on Wednesday as droves of protesters jeered and heckled him over topics ranging from the Affordable Care Act to Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.
At one point, one attendee asked everyone in the audience who had been positively affected by ObamaCare to stand up, prompting what appeared to be hundreds of people to rise from their seats.
Voter to @SenTomCotton: My husband is dying. We can’t afford health insurance. What kind of insurance do you have? https://t.co/iYFiZtwJ1F
— CNN (@CNN) February 22, 2017
Another woman chided Cotton for allegedly sending her the same letter over and over when she tried to get a hold of him.
{mosads}“I have sent you one message after the other, sir, about our family,” one woman said. “I live just down the road a few places from your office, and I have invited you into our home, and not a word, except a classic, regular letter sent.”
When one woman in the audience thanked Cotton, an Army veteran, for his service and said she believed a majority of Arkansas residents supported him, the crowd was overtaken with a mix of boos and cheers.
“No. 1, I’d like to thank you for your service to this country. And I would like to tell you that there are many people — the majority of people — in Arkansas that support you,” she said, eliciting a loud response from the audience.
Some attendees also urged Cotton to take a tougher stance on Russian interference in the presidential election and allegations of ties between President Trump and the Kremlin. One protester carried a banner reading: “If Hillary [Clinton] did this, you would have already locked her up.”
During the 2016 election, Trump routinely led chants of “lock her up,” suggesting that Democratic rival Clinton should face criminal charges for her use of a private email server to conduct State Department business.
Some demonstrators at the town hall carried signs asserting that they were not professional protesters, refuting a claim made by Trump on Tuesday, accusing “angry crowds” at town hall meetings of being “planned out by liberal activists.”
The so-called angry crowds in home districts of some Republicans are actually, in numerous cases, planned out by liberal activists. Sad!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 21, 2017
Republican lawmakers have been facing waves of opposition at town hall meetings in recent weeks, as many constituents displeased with Trump and the GOP’s agenda flock to reach their senators and representatives.