Does Sen. Roger Marshall even know what a town hall meeting is? | Opinion
Seeing Roger Marshall’s disastrous so-called town hall in Oakley — and his subsequent efforts to claim victimhood — got me to thinking that maybe Sen. Marshall doesn’t know what a town hall is.
I mean, he went straight from medical practice to the House of Representatives to the Senate, without doing any sort of political apprenticeship or working his way up from local or state government.
Call it what you want to, his Saturday “town hall” in Oakley was a master class in how not to treat your constituents when you’re an elected official.
He made a lot of mistakes, like when he called a bunch of folks who had to drive as much as 10 hours round-trip to see him “one of the rudest audiences I’ve ever had.”
Or when he asked his female staffers, “You girls got some questions for me?”
Or when he told the crowd, “I know you’re fed so much misinformation” — while trying to feed them misinformation.
For example, this: “So 2017-18, the Trump tax cuts happen and saved Americans $1,000 a month, save Kansans $1,000 a month,” Marshall said. “Okay, so that’s that is a fact you cannot dispute.”
Except you can.
House Ways and Means Committee chairman Jason Smith, as rock-ribbed Republican as they come, said this in a position paper arguing for extension of the tax cuts: “A family of 4 making $70,333, the median income in Kansas, would see a $1,386 tax increase if the Trump Tax Cuts expire.”
Somebody a lot wealthier than the average Kansan may have gotten $12,000 a year. But I sincerely doubt they spent Saturday morning on a folding chair in a crowded meeting room in the far northwest corner of Kansas. If you’re rich, you have easier ways to get to your senator.
But the moment that went viral was when Marshall bolted after a man stood up and politely asked a difficult, but fair, question about the impact on veterans of the random firings of thousands of federal employees by the Department of Governmental Efficiency.
Marshall declined to answer and exited (ironically, stage left). On his way out, he called the guy old and said he had more important things to do — so thanks for coming and God Bless America.
His chief of staff, Brent Robertson, followed up with this on X: “Real Kansans overwhelmingly support President Trump’s DOGE initiative, shrinking the size of the federal government, and firing career bureaucrats.”
And this: “Democrat operatives who couldn’t place Oakley, Kansas on a map before today sabotaged a local town hall — even still Senator Marshall stayed and answered every question that was asked for 45 minutes.” (It was 37 minutes into a scheduled hourlong event, but who’s counting?)
You might think that would be embarrassing enough. But enter Donald Trump via the hilariously misnomered “Truth Social.”
“Paid ‘troublemakers’ are attending Republican Town Hall Meetings. It is all part of the game for the Democrats, but just like our big LANDSLIDE ELECTION, it’s not going to work for them!”
Marshall reposted that on Facebook with the message “Can confirm.”
Most of what Marshall says these days consists of pointing at Trump’s wild-hair statements, nodding and adding “Yeah what he said” — like when Trump tried to blame the tragic deadly crash of a Wichita-to-Washington airliner on diversity, equity and inclusion.
On Monday night, Marshall tried to do some damage control by staging a “telephone town hall.” But that just touched off another round of criticism for its softball questions, non-answers, phony-baloney polls and outright flattery of Marshall.
There are a ton of insults to be answered here, so may as well get started:
The people who came to the Saturday meeting were in fact real Kansans — assuming people from Wichita and the Kansas City suburbs still qualify.
If anybody sabotaged the event, it was Marshall himself with his dismissive attitude toward legitimate and pressing questions.
The people there weren’t getting paid. Many spent a considerable amount of money on gas, meals and hotel rooms to try to get their senator’s attention.
It was not a landslide election. Trump won by 49.8% to 48.3%. The last time Marshall ran, he got 53% of the vote with two opponents splitting 47%.
And what in the heck is a “Republican Town Hall Meeting” anyway?
In the interest of helping Marshall avoid looking as dumb as he does at this moment in time, let me explain that public appearances by politicians generally fall into one of three categories:
▪ Town halls — These involve an officeholder meeting in person with his constituents in a large room, answering questions they want to ask, and listening to their criticisms and comments about how they want to be represented. The meetings are paid for with public money so everyone get to participate, regardless of political party affiliation or lack thereof. They may cheer or they may boo, but it’s kind of a First Amendment thing and a cherished Kansas tradition.
▪ Political rallies — You get to pick your crowd and kick out anybody who might disagree with you. You get to talk about whatever you want to. You don’t have to take questions. You can flatter yourself or let attendees do it for you. You can insult opponents and call people names. But at least the taxpayers don’t have to pay for it.
▪ Dog and pony shows — These usually include some townies acting as props for the visiting politician. You go to a local business, give someone a plaque, pose for grip-and-grin photos and deliver a canned speech about how whoever you’re talking to is the backbone of America.
The big difference is this: political rallies and dog-and-pony shows are about getting yourself re-elected.
Town halls are about doing the job you’re elected to do — which is to listen to and represent all your constituents, not just those who voted for you, or those who are members of your party, or those who live somewhere in the back of beyond where you think you can say anything you want about anyone you want and nobody will notice.
Unfortunately, nobody seems more confused about this concept right now than Roger Marshall.
This story was originally published March 5, 2025 at 5:15 AM.
