Hinson reading prepared statement praising Donald Trump.

Elkader is:

78 miles from Cedar Rapids
74 miles from Waterloo
57 miles from Dubuque
42 miles from Decorah
140 miles from Grinnell
114 miles from Tama-Toledo

The lying was so egregious it almost made me swoon.  The crowd was super polite considering  they were being lied to so much. “Without this (big beautiful) bill you would be much worse off,” she said.

Hinson making a fast exit at end of town hall in Elkader

The town hall was 50 minutes long. She escaped as soon and as quickly as she could, making a zippy exit at the end reminiscent of  Miller-Meeks smashing the elevator button to get away from a questioner.  KCRG-TV9 reported they attempted to talk to her after the meeting but she was unavailable.

Elkader is out in the sticks of Iowa, no offense to Elkader. It’s a nice town. But obviously the event was located as far away as they could get from the population centers of the district.

I saw some commentary from folks who were there that Ashley used a good chunk of time reading a prepared statement instead of answering questions. From what I saw on the live stream, she was reading the prepared statement as fast as she could and did not let outbursts from the crowd stop her. Commenters also said as the town hall went on,  it seemed like a lot of questioners were plants throwing softball questions. I suppose they relied on their tele-town hall model of hand-picked questions from people they know.

Talk about control freaks.

I find it hilarious and pathetic that Republicans make it sound like their offices are so welcoming and efficient, helping callers.  But most people I know who call report leaving messages and no one ever getting back to them or if they do it’s a form letter.  In fact that’s exactly what one of the town hall attendees said when he got the mic. But when they are getting local media coverage, it’s “Oh, just call our office and we’ll be happy to help you and I’ll be happy to follow up on that.” That’s what she told a person who was worried about losing her Medicaid. We didn’t mean you. Just those other undeserving people who will be losing their health care, not you. There is a lot of fear-mongering going on, she said. Democrats are lying about Trump’s BBB.

I don’t know if the town hall actually started before the video started because she was already talking when it began. At about 7 minutes into her prepared statement which was of course full of untruths, blaming Democrats and the previous administration, and praising Donald Trump’s big beautiful bill (that she was proud to vote for!), the crowd started calling for her to go to questions. Eventually, she did but I didn’t last past her first smooth, GOP talking-point answer to a person (obviously a non-plant) who asked,

“I have watched Donald Trump sign executive orders that are illegal and against our constitution. I have watched Donald Trump berate and condemn judges who did not decide in his favor. What are you going to do to protect these judges from Trump’s vindictiveness?”

Blah, blah, blah, she replied, without intonation.

The crowd jeered and booed her some, but not near what she deserved.