¶ Overview
- McCormick supported federal cuts and firings led by DOGE, including reductions in CDC staffing.
- McCormick praised the use of AI to eliminate duplicated jobs and reduce government size.
- McCormick faced backlash at a town hall over DOGE layoffs, with constituents criticizing the approach and Musk's involvement. He downplayed concerns about CDC firings, claiming many roles were duplicative with AI capabilities.
- Constituents expressed frustration, accusing McCormick of failing to advocate for them effectively amidst rushed federal layoffs.
- McCormick compared angry attendees to January 6th insurrectionists, leading to further outrage. He suggested that Democrats were responsible for disruptive behavior at the town hall.
- McCormick acknowledged a need for better GOP messaging around the DOGE cuts.
- McCormick labeled many critics of DOGE as “socialist communists” and accused them of rejecting accountability and supporting unchecked government spending.
¶ McCormick Backed DOGE Efforts At Georgians’ Expense
¶ McCormick Celebrated DOGE’s Federal Cuts And Firings
McCormick Downplayed Cuts To The Atlanta-Based CDC And Reductions In Their Research Funding
[VIDEO] McCormick Downplayed The CDC’s Firings And Claimed That It Was “Very Important We Continue To Invest In Things That Will Benefit All Americans, But We Have To Make Sure The Right People Are In The Right Place At The Right Time.” “So it depends on which one you're talking about, I haven't seen the specifics yet. A lot of the details have not been hashed out. When you're talking about cuts done by bureaucracies, obviously we don't have purview over that. I'd like to see what the president's going to ultimately do, because sometimes they they pause things and then they re-up it when they see the fallout on that. And then the words I saw with the CDC, the CDC was pressure on us to hire over 200 new employees just for their viral area of research. And that was over COVID, I didn't think that was necessary. I told them it wasn't necessary. And I'm an air doc, and actually my former attending is one of the senior members of the CDC. So we can have those debates all day long. If you're talking about cancer research and stuff like that, I think it's very important we continue to invest in things that will benefit all Americans, but we have to make sure the right people are in the right place at the right time, especially given our budgetary concerns.” [C-SPAN: Washington Journal, 4/10/25]
McCormick Praised DOGE And Called For More Federal Firings
[AUDIO] McCormick Hoped That DOGE Continued “To Cut Wasteful Jobs”; He Suggested That The Postal Service “Has Way Too Many Employees” And Proposed Firing Military Lawyers Because There Were “Way Too Many.” “DOGE is great. I believe in getting rid of wasteful spending. I'm glad we're identifying things that have no business being in government spending at all. I hope we continue to cut wasteful jobs. I hope we cut back in the Postal Service, which has way too many employees. We have way too many lawyers in the military. We can do all kinds of things to fix spending, but it is a drop in the bucket compared to what we really had to face down when about 76% of our budget is non-discretionary.” [Main Street Matters, 5/2/25]
[AUDIO] McCormick Praised Musk’s Dismissal Of Probationary Employees Because “A Lot Of Jobs Are Duplicated” By AI; He Dismissed Concerns About Those Who Were Fired, “Those Guys Will Find Other Jobs, But Let’s Not Find Them In Government.” “You know, the real the second largest growth in jobs in the last four years is all government. That's, that's not right. That is not something to be proud of. And that's why the DOGE is cutting so many new hires that didn't need to be there in the first place. We're in a day and age of AI where a lot of jobs are duplicated and can be replaced by A.I.. Now sometimes that’s scary. And were like, Oh gosh, where going to happen? Those guys will find other jobs, but let's not find them in government.” [John Fredricks Show, 2/21/2025]
¶ McCormick Met Angry Constituents At A Hostile Town Hall Weeks After Elon Musk Began The DOGE Cuts
¶ McCormick Struggled To Control Angry Constituents At His Roswell Town Hall
VAULT CLIP: [Rich McCormick Roswell City Council Town Hall, 2/20/25]; 250220_MLA_2108
McCormick’s Constituents Lashed Out Over Haphazard Federal Layoffs And Musk’s Power Grab. According to NBC News, “Rep. Rich McCormick faced an angry crowd Thursday during a town hall in his Georgia district, where many constituents lashed out at the Republican lawmaker over his support for massive federal layoffs and budget cuts by the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency. In video of the event taken by Greg Bluestein, a reporter for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and an NBC News contributor, attendees clashed with McCormick, bashing both President Donald Trump and tech billionaire Elon Musk who is helping lead DOGE's efforts to drastically reduce government spending.” [NBC News, 2/20/25]
Constituents Slammed McCormick, Asking “Why Is The Supposedly Conservative Party Taking Such A Radical And Extremist And Sloppy Approach,” He Claimed The Furloughed CDC Employees’ Work Was “Duplicitous With AI.” According to NBC News, “In one instance, an attendee referred to recent cuts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention by asking, ‘Why is the supposedly conservative party taking such a radical and extremist and sloppy approach to this?’ McCormick responded that ‘a lot of the work they do is duplicitous with AI.’” [NBC News, 2/20/25]
- McCormick Warned Of Entitlement Shortfalls But Constituents Bemoaned Trump’s “Chainsaw Approach” To Federal Layoffs And Felt The Effort Was “Jammed Down The Pipe, So Rushed And Sloppy.” According to NBC News, “‘If we continue to grow the size of government and we can’t afford it, it’s going to have shortfalls in your Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security,’ McCormick added at the event in Roswell, about 20 miles from the CDC headquarters. The attendee shot back that the administration was taking a ‘chainsaw approach’ to dismissing its employees and the layoff effort was being ‘jammed down the pipe, so rushed and sloppily.’” [NBC News, 2/20/25]
McCormick Claimed That Departments And Agencies Made Their Own Decisions On Layoffs, The Audience Shot Back With “No!” And “Elon Musk Is Deciding.” According to NBC News, “After McCormick said that a department or agency makes its own decisions about whom to cut from its workforce when given a directive about head count, people in the audience could be heard saying, ‘No!’ with one person saying, ‘Elon Musk is deciding.’” [NBC News, 2/20/25]
McCormick Struggled As Frustrations Grew And Shouts Of “We’re Pissed,” “Don’t Bend Over,” And “Shame” Erupted From The Audience. According to NBC News, “The town hall was also punctuated by constituents saying, ‘we’re pissed,’ and ‘don’t bend over,’ as well as chants of ‘shame!’ As McCormick struggled to respond to the interruptions from the crowd and suggested he was offering solutions and people didn’t ‘want to hear,’ one person can be heard shouting, ‘We want to work with someone better.’” [NBC News, 2/20/25]
- One Constituent Claimed McCormick Had Done A “Disservice” To His District And Failed To “Stand Up For Us.” According to NBC News, “One person who raised budget concerns Thursday could be heard telling McCormick that he had done a ‘disservice’ and had failed to ‘stand up for us.’” [NBC News, 2/20/25]
McCormick Was Aggressively Booed When He Dismissed A Question About Trump’s Monarchical Desires And Compared The Situation To GOP Frustration When Biden Was Elected. According to NBC News, “In another instance, an attendee asked McCormick how he plans to ‘rein in the megalomaniac in the White House’ following Trump’s ‘LONG LIVE THE KING’ post on Truth Social, a question that was met by cheers and some people rising to their feet. ‘When you talk about tyranny, when you talk about presidential power, I remember having the same discussion with Republicans when Biden was elected,’ McCormick said, to boos from the attendees. ‘I don’t want to see any president be too powerful,’ McCormick added.” [NBC News, 2/20/25]
McCormick Triggered Another Audience Outburst When He Compared Them To The January 6th Insurrectionists, “Jan. 6ers Who Are Yelling Just As Loud As You.” According to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “He then compared the attendees to ‘Jan. 6ers who are yelling just as loud as you’ — a reference to the pro-Trump mob that attacked the U.S. Capitol. That triggered a fresh outburst from crowd members insulted by the comparison.” [Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 2/20/25]
McCormick Was Frustrated By The End Of The Event, Saying “I Didn’t Have To Come Here,” And Claimed His Constituents “Came Here To Yell At Me And To Boo Me.” According to CNN Politics, “As the town hall was close to wrapping up, McCormick said, ‘I came here to have a discussion. I think a lot of you didn’t come here in good faith to have a discussion. You came here to yell at me and to boo me.’ He continued, ‘The fact that I came here was because I knew there’d be about 75% people that were unhappy, and I wanted to have a discussion about how we can get to the end point and solve some problems. I didn’t have to come here. My staff didn’t have to come here.’” [CNN Politics, 2/21/25]
¶ McCormick Cancelled An Appearance On CNN Hours After His Difficult Town Hall
McCormick Was Scheduled To Appear On Jake Tapper’s Show But He “Canceled The Appearance Less Than An Hour” Before. According to Raw Story, “Rep. Rich McCormick (R-GA) was scheduled to appear on CNN Friday to discuss his disastrous town hall the day before. But according to CNN anchor Jake Tapper, he bailed at the last minute. ‘We were also supposed to speak with Georgia Congressman Rich McCormick,’ Tapper told viewers. ‘When we started the show, we were under the impression he was coming, but he canceled the appearance less than an hour ago.’” [Raw Story, 2/21/25]
¶ McCormick Alluded To His Heated Town Hall On Twitter And Took A Break From Social Media
McCormick Posted An Image And A Quote From The Event, And Nothing Else Over The Weekend; He Highlighted That He Was “Here” For “An Honest Discussion” And Claimed To “Respect The Difference Of Opinions.” Congressman Rich McCormick tweeted, “‘I’m here. I respect the difference of opinions and it will continue to be an honest discussion.’ -Rich McCormick” [Twitter, @RepMcCormick, 2/21/25]
¶ McCormick Then Blamed His Constituents And The Democrats For The Town Hall
¶ McCormick Claimed That His Constituents Were Upset Over DOGE Because They Didn’t Understand It
McCormick Admitted That Trump And The GOP Needed To Improve Their Messaging On DOGE. According to Newsmax, “But McCormick also said he believes the Trump administration and GOP members of Congress to communicate more effectively. ‘I think we have to message better and make sure the American people understand that we're going to deliver the goods that we promised all along,’ he said. ‘We're going to do it more efficiently, with more efficiency and with deliberation.’” [Newsmax, 2/24/25]
[AUDIO] McCormick Said It Was “Ironic” That His Constituents Were Upset Over DOGE And Claimed They “Have No Concern About Debt” Because “They Think It’s A Socialist Utopia.” “But the unfortunate part, whenever you start to give an answer and the biggest question by far the biggest complaint by far was Elon Musk and the DOGE, which I found very ironic. And the biggest we didn't even have a discussion, even a bipartisan discussion about solving Social Security, for example, so that we can avoid a 21% cut in seven years that will be voted on. By the way, all they want is lift the cap. They have no concern about debt. They have no concern about our currency standard and what that's going to mean to future generations. They don't care. They think it's a socialist utopia.” [John Fredricks Show, 2/21/2025]
[AUDIO] McCormick Said That His Constituents Outrage Over DOGE Was “Laughable” Because They Were “Making Up Facts As They Go.” “But it was kind of laughable that they're really making up facts as they go. They don't believe that the DOGE is legitimate. They don't believe that the information they have access to is legitimate and they just don't want to be accountable. Quite frankly, they want to spend that money on their social programs, and they're very happy with pulling money out of your pocket to do so. And anything else is not going to be discussed with any sort of civility.” [John Fredricks Show, 2/21/2025]
[AUDIO] McCormick Disparaged His Constituents And Claimed They Were “Socialist Communists” Who Wanted “To Control Your Lives. They Want God Almighty To Be Replaced By Government.” “But they're not interested in solutions. They want this to stay the way it has been for the last couple of decades, with no accountability, with rampant spending, because they're socialist communists. They want to control your lives. They want God Almighty to be replaced by government.” [John Fredricks Show, 2/21/2025]
¶ McCormick Claimed That Democrats Were Responsible For The “Antics” At His Town Hall
[VIDEO] McCormick Bemoaned The Democrats “Antics And What They're Actually Trying To Angle Towards” And Claimed They Were Responsible For The “Disruptive Behavior” At His Disastrous Town Hall. “HOST: Are you disappointed in how the Democrats are acting, Congressman? MCCORMICK: It's not surprising. Look at what happened in my recent town hall. You want to talk about antics and what they're actually trying to angle towards. This is disruptive behavior.” [NewsmaxTV: Newsline, 3/4/25]
[VIDEO] McCormick Claimed His Audience Was “About 80% Democrats” Because “They Don’t Want The Accountability” And They Thought “All Taxes Should Be Raised.” “I think it was about 80% Democrat just based on the cheers, jeers, what they were complaining about. They don't like Donald Trump. They didn't like DOGE. They don't like Elon Musk. They don't want the accountability want to raise…Basically, all taxes should be raised. Nothing should be cut.” [OAN News, 2/26/25]
[AUDIO] McCormick Called His Heated Town Hall “A Well-Organized Efford By The Democrats” And Claimed It Had “Backfired In Many Ways.” “HOST: They show up, they disrupt your town hall. Tell us, Dr. McCormick, what happened? MCCORMICK: It was a well-organized effort by the Democrats. I think it kind of backfired in many ways, actually got a lot of positive feedback from around the nation. It was insane. I didn't realize how much publicity would be there. It was announced. Several people had called, said, we're going to be there. We're going to be in mass. We're angry. And, but there wasn't a conversation.” [John Fredricks Show, 2/21/2025]