Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
The perfect storm, one aide told him, even as Comers Twitter
feed showed video clips of a few other members facing angry
crowds and stumbling to explain themselves.
Thats what he wanted to find out on this trip home: Was this
Trump thing sustainable or not? Was Trump still popular here? Had
he lost this part of Kentucky?
Another pause.
Oh my God, he said. Is the sheriffs office there?
Time for the first town hall. Comer sneaked in through a back door
and headed up the stairs.
***
He cleared his throat and then started talking about the most
controversial thing he had been involved with so far, his vote to
repeal the ACA. He said the ACA had deepened the problems in
Kentucky by opening up such wide access to Medicaid, the health-
care program for low-income Americans. He said so many had
signed up across the state that nearly 1 in 3 were now covered
under that program and receiving free coverage. Some of those
people, he said, desperately needed that help. But many were
feeding off the system.
If you live here, you know somebody who looks like me, is on
Medicaid, and is just not working, he said.
Some nodded. Others groaned, and Comer sensed an edge in the
room. He asked for questions.
A hand shot up. A question about Trumps tax returns. What was
Comer doing to pressure the president?
This one hed answered before. Trump wasnt obliged to release
anything, Comer said, though it would be nice if he did.
Comer started off by saying costs would not rise but then backed
off. I dont know the answer, he said, but Im going to try to
find that out.
Gray grabbed a canvas bag from under his seat and put it on a
table next to Comer.
As Comer watched, he reached into the back, pulled out two vials,
and placed them on the table. He said he had an immune disease.
He was not quite the boy in the plastic bubble, but close. Then
he lifted his shirt to show Comer four needles in his stomach.
Gray took a half step toward Comer, squaring him up, and leaned
in until they were almost face-to-face.
I want you to think about people like me, Gray said. He jabbed
his pump at Comer. I didnt ask for this. Believe you me, Id
rather be like you and be perfectly healthy.
Thank you, Comer said softly as Gray sat back down, and 45
minutes later, after more angry questions, after seeing the
Disagree sign raised again and again, after hearing from a
woman who said the new health-care bill will probably be the
death of me, Comer was down in the lobby of the courthouse as
the building emptied out. A few friends, who had watched on a
live feed, texted him to say he had done a good job. An aide said
the crowd had been stacked with Democrats trying to mobilize.
When that guy lifted up his shirt, Comer said, the first thing I
thought of is how lucky I am that my kids were born healthy.
Next day, back on the road, Comer was looking out the car
window at factories and chicken farms in a region that had given
him its overwhelming support. His election had been an unlikely
thing. He was a farmer from a Republican family who made it to
the state legislature by age 28. He was the director of a
community bank. He briefly owned a few Quiznos restaurant
franchises. He became Kentuckys agriculture commissioner at
39. At 42, he lost a narrow and nasty 2015 primary race for
governor, after which he figured hed go back to the family plot
and dig ditches for a while. But then an 11-term congressman
from Kentuckys 1st District said he was retiring, and Comer
decided he was ready for one more race, and back he went along
the same roads, visiting ham festivals and gun shops, his
campaign ads saying he would teach Washington insiders a thing
or two about our Kentucky values.
Look at that, Comer said now. Two yard signs stuck together,
left over from the campaign. Trumps is right on top of mine.
The second town hall was in a county where Trump had won
85 percent of the vote. This time, there were no protesters, and
Comer went in through the front door of the courthouse. He was
cheered when he walked up to the lectern, and when he said, like
Trump, that he wanted to make America great again, he saw 75
people leaning in, listening, not ready to pounce.
Yes sir, Comer said again, recreating his wide-eyed look for the
crowd, and nearly everybody laughed.
On the third day, the first of the two town halls was a morning
event, just 30 in the crowd, and the questions couldnt have been
gentler. One of the people who stood up talked about Kentucky
the same way Comer often did, calling the place where he lived a
check county, meaning that too many people were dependent
on government handouts. Another person asked Comer about
what Washington was really like, and Comer answered by saying
it was a place filled with competitors and egos. There was
barely a mention of Trump.
That was the friendliest town hall in the world, Comer said as he
walked out, and now he was in the car with his district director,
saying of Trump, Hes still so popular.
And Comer had his answer: Four town halls. A few angry people.
Two pies. A lot of applause. Was the Trump thing sustainable?
Here, it was.
Thank you, he said as the last of the town halls concluded, and
then it was back to Washington, back to the mattress on the floor,
back to the doom and gloom and whatever would come next. And
as soon as he could, back home to Kentucky again.
Posted by Thavam