Democrats and Republicans face town hall fury over Trump agenda – National & International News – FRI 21Mar2025
Democrats and Republicans face town hall fury over Trump agenda.
Small Business Administration to slash staff, while Trump expects them to manage student loans.
Israeli strikes killed 600 in Gaza this week, one-third of them children.
NATIONAL NEWS
Democrats and Republicans face Town Hall fury over Trump agenda
In recent weeks, House Republican leadership advised its members to stop holding in-person town hall events after facing widespread backlash from constituents over Trump’s budget-slashing agenda. Some GOP lawmakers who ignored this advice instantly regretted it.
Many of those expressing anger over Trump’s policies were Democrats. However, many Republican voters are also unhappy about Trump’s budget request, which will give further tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans, potentially gut social services like Medicare and Medicaid which millions of Americans rely on, all while increasing the federal deficit by about $4 trillion.
Both Democrat and Republican voters are unhappy with Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency and its haphazard program of slashing federal agencies that keep the government running.
Republicans have chosen to pull back from the public rather than answer questions regarding their support for Trump’s policies. Depending on how the answer, Republicans will either alienate their base or incur Trump’s wrath.
Democrats rudderless
Congressional Democrats are also facing town hall backlashes from their own constituents over what many see as a capitulation to Trump’s agenda. Anger among Democratic voters boiled over last week after Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and a handful of other Democrats voted to advance a bill in the Senate to prevent a government shutdown. Some elements of the party argue that Schumer should have done more to put Republicans on the spot and force them to negotiate on a continuing resolution. This brought approval for the Democratic party to an all-time low, and there are now calls to replace Schumer as minority leader.
Despite Trump’s polarizing and increasingly unpopular agenda, Democrats have struggled to unify and form a strategy for opposing Trump. With Democrats out of power in both Congress and the White House, many constituents, and even some Democratic politicians, feel that even a symbolic opposition is preferable to none at all.
Notably, Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (Kamala Harris’s 2024 running mate) have been holding events and drawing huge crowds. These figures from the left wing of the party are calling for a more aggressive stance from Democrats, and attempting to make a more affirmative case for progressive policies.
However, that feeling is not universal within the party. These efforts to rouse the base have been met with criticism and outright dismissal by more moderate Democrats.
Click here for the full story (opens in new tab).
Small Business Administration to slash staff, while Trump expects them to manage student loans
On Friday, the small business administration announced that it would be cutting 43% of its staff as part of efforts by the Trump administration to shrink the administrative state. The SBA provides support to entrepreneurs and small businesses through long-term, low-interest loans. The agency has also been key to helping communities and businesses rebuild after natural disasters with their Disaster Relief Loan program.
In a statement, the agency said the cuts were aimed at “restoring the efficiency of the first Trump administration, as well as [SBA’s] focus on promoting small businesses. Core services to the public, including the agency’s loan guarantee and disaster assistance programs, as well as its field and veteran operations, will not be impacted”.
The statement did not mention another long-standing mission of the agency – promoting women-owned businesses. The agency’s Office of Women-Owned Businesses was established in 1979 by executive order of then-President Jimmy Carter.
On the same day that the agency announced its staffing cuts, President Trump announced that he was handing off responsibility for managing students loans to the SBA, as part of his mission to shrink the Department of Education.
The Department of Education currently manages about $1.7 trillion in loans. This is nearly four times the amount the SBA currently manages in unpaid loans.
Click here for the full story (opens in new tab).
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Israeli strikes killed 600 in Gaza this week, one-third of them children
Israeli airstrikes in Gaza have killed at least 590 Palestinians this week, over 200 of them children. Israel resumed its military onslaught on Gaza earlier this week in an attempt to pressure Hamas to make more concessions on the previously agreed ceasefire deal. In its previous 15-month bombing campaign and ground assault, Israel killed nearly 50,000 Palestinians in Gaza.
This week, Israel has returned to a familiar pattern of targeting not only homes and refugee camps, but also hospitals, schools, and UN facilities. Their complete blockade of all aid from entering Gaza is also about to enter its third week. Signs of famine are already setting in throughout the Strip.
For Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, resuming military operations in Gaza had the benefit of distracting from a growing political storm threatening the legitimacy of his government. Netanyahu has been in an open feud with Ronen Bar, the head of Israel’s domestic security and intelligence agency known as Shin Bet. Bar is leading investigations into misconduct by Netanyahu, including numerous allegations of bribery as well as Netanyahu’s failure to prevent the October 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas. Netanyahu had pressured Bar to resign, but Bar refused.
This morning, Netanyahu’s governing coalition in the Knesset voted to dismiss Bar. Hours later, an Israeli court temporarily froze his dismissal. Opposition parties filed a complaint alleging that Netanyahu’s push to dismiss Bar was driven by personal interest and amounted to a conflict of interest.
Thousands of Israelis have protested in the streets this week against the resumption of the Gaza bombing campaign (which also endangers the remaining hostages) and in support of Ronen Bar.
