‘You Want to Yell or Do You Want to Hear?’: Trump Ally Byron Donalds Clashes with Angry Crowd As Her Struggles to Defend Elon Musk at Explosive Town Hall
Byron Donalds, arguably the most influential Black Republican in MAGA world and a key surrogate for President Donald Trump, found himself playing defense Monday night at a town hall meeting in Florida.
It’s become a familiar scene this year at Republican town halls across the nation, where the backlash against the Trump agenda appears to be building. Some members of Congress are eschewing the traditional Q&As with constituents, while others, such as U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, have empowered local police departments to silence and forcibly remove those in the audience who challenge their talking points.
Donalds, to his credit, took the heat, which was considerable, especially when it came to Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency, which has leveled many federal agencies by canceling hundreds of billions of dollars in government contracts and firing civil servants while accessing sensitive personal and financial data of everyday Americans.
At one point, Donalds complained the audience was getting too personal after one audience member asked if he had read the 2020 book “Caste,” by journalist Isabel Wilkerson, which explains racism in the United States as a characteristic of the caste system characterized by notions of hierarchy, inclusion and exclusion and purity.
“Don’t educate me about my life, sir, don’t do that,” Donalds said. “I like how everybody’s shouting at me, the Black guy on stage, with the microphone in my hand. Don’t marginalize my life and what I’ve done.”
But DOGE was the focus of the evening.
“Do you approve of Elon and DOGE invading our Social Security files?” asked one audience member, to vigorous applause from the audience in the Fort Myers suburb of Estero.
The Florida congressman, who is also campaigning to be that state’s next governor, succeeding Ron DeSantis, defended DOGE and its billionaire leader.
“Elon Musk and DOGE have been authorized by the president of the United States —” Donalds said before being quieted by widespread boos.
Asked, as a member of the House Oversight Committee, “What oversights are you imposing on Elon Musk and DOGE?” Donalds was evasive, offering a sanitized version of the fledgling agency’s mission.
“What DOGE is doing is they are going through every agency and they are examining any contracts or any lack of efficiencies in spending federal dollars,” Donalds explained to a mix of (mostly) boos and some cheers, along with a sustained chant: “No!” “No!” “No!”
He then asked, “Now this is my question for the audience: Do you want to yell or do you want to hear?”
Donalds tried in vain to reclaim the room, begging the audience to not boo before telling them, “You don’t want to hear the full story … because you’re not listening.”
He went on to falsely claim former President Joe Biden “authorized 53 students to have access to the Social Security database. I didn’t hear anyone being upset at the Joe Biden administration.”
“Because if you want to hear, I’m trying to give you the information,” the congressman continued. “I told you, I’m going to be factual. But you can yell or you can hear.”
He then told them any oversight can’t begin until DOGE finishes its work, stirring the crowd back into a frenzy, dubious of his claim to be a dispassionate messenger.
An attempt to compare DOGE’s work to efforts by former President Barack Obama to reduce government inefficiency provoked more jeers from the audience.
“If you think it is fine for people to defraud Social Security, you and I don’t agree,” Donalds continued. “What the DOGE is doing is they are examining the records, they are providing their findings. Congress has to weigh in on those findings. That’s the way the process works.”
Critics on social media seized upon Donalds’ rough reception.
“He is auditioning to run for Florida’s next Governor, but he is sinking faster than a margarita on South Beach at sunset,” said one, posting on X.
“The media needs to challenge these lies… regardless of party,” wrote another. “We cannot function as a country like this.”
Later, Donalds got into it with a woman repeatedly shouting, “Free Palestine!”
Donalds called the woman disrespectful, chiding her for disrupting the meeting.
“Like I said, if you want to have a disagreement, let’s have a disagreement,” he said. “But when you’re going to stand and yell and disrespect everybody in this room because you think you’re being heard. Let us be clear: you’re not.”
“You’re being disrespectful. Ma’am, you are being disrespectful,” he continued. And I will respect you and I will honor the fact that you are here trying to get answers, but if you are going to hold this thing up and be disrespectful then it’s time for you to be removed.”
A law enforcement officer appeared to prompt the woman to leave, and she did.
“The beauty of a constitutional republic is we get to have these very vigorous debates and disagreements,” Donalds said, summing up the evening. “Here’s what I will tell you, in all my time in elected office and before that, even though I disagree with you, I will respect your opinion. But I will still disagree with you.”