Florida Congressman Byron Donalds walked into a storm at a recent town hall—and he lit the match himself.
Facing a fired-up crowd, Donalds tried to defend the controversial Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a new federal effort led by Elon Musk to audit government agencies and cut spending. But things went off the rails fast.
“This is something that President Obama wanted to do—when President Obama was—” Donalds started to say, trying to compare DOGE to past Obama-era government reviews.
The crowd didn’t let him finish.
A wave of boos erupted. Donalds tried to hold his ground. “You can boo, if you want to, but if you go back in time to 2009, then president Obama famously said he wanted to famously examine efficiencies in the federal government.”
That only made things worse.
Jeers grew louder as the audience clearly wasn’t buying the attempt to deflect blame. Donalds pushed on: “What DOGE is doing is examining records. They are providing their findings.” But the crowd had already turned.
One person yelled, “They’re firing people!” as others began leaving the room, shaking their heads.
In another tense moment caught on video, someone challenged Donalds by asking if he had read Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, the powerful book that compares America’s racial history to caste systems in India and Nazi Germany. The congressman was thrown off.
“Don’t [try to] educate me about my life, sir,” Donalds snapped back. “I like how everybody is shouting at me, the Black guy on stage … don’t marginalize my life or what I’ve done. Don’t do that, or marginalize other Black people … or other Americans … ”
The backlash didn’t come out of nowhere. Republican lawmakers have been getting grilled at town halls over DOGE, with many skipping them entirely. Speaker Mike Johnson recently claimed protesters were being “literally paid” by billionaire George Soros to create viral moments and make Republicans look bad.
But Donalds didn’t need any help looking bad this time. The crowd made their feelings clear—loud and unfiltered.
Watch the clip below:
📍Estero, FL
A tense start to tonight’s townhall hosted by @ByronDonalds.
The first question was about oversight of DOGE/Elon Musk. Many in the crowd jeered the congressman’s response. pic.twitter.com/nI47c1IJBb
— Taurean Small (@taureansmall) April 21, 2025
Watch more of the town hall from Forbes below:
