Harriet Hageman, Wyoming’s at-large congresswoman, spent the past week holding town hall meetings across the Cowboy State. Her tour began in Afton with a 30-minute stump speech and equal time for Q & A. This format was repeated in Evanston, Rock Springs, Baggs, Laramie and Wheatland.
I attended her Evanston appearance. And as soon as I walked through the door, I knew something was up.
The capacity crowd was not unusual. By keeping her campaign promise to visit every county every year, Hageman has built an unparalleled reputation of transparency and accessibility. So, it would have been more surprising if she had the audience of a Biden campaign event.
Rather, what first caught my eye was the press. Expensive cameras and high-power lenses circled the room like sharks. The Uinta County Herald was there. But so was the New York Times. Weird.
Reporter Robert Jimison and Photographer Kim Raff from the Big Apple either just happened to be in the neighborhood, or they were sent for a purpose.
There were plenty of familiar faces in the crowd. But an unusual number of faces were out of place. Locals leaned over to each other with furtive glances to ask: who’s that?
You don’t have to live long in the sagebrush to know Astroturf when you see it. So, we got comfortable in our chairs and waited for the start of the show. Judging from Cowboy State Daily’s coverage of the Afton event, we already knew the script.
Hageman gave a half-hour recap of the latest developments in Congress. Then she opened it up for questions and comments.
The Astroturf seemed bent on creating the impression that MAGA-hat-clad true believers are showing signs of “uncertainty and anxiety.” And the New York Times was positioned to convey this manufactured message to the politicians who actually believe the Beltway buzz.
But the narrative couldn’t get any traction. The article that Jimison published back in New York could only use rhetorical sleights of hand to create the impression that those who voted for Hageman were getting turned off. There was not a single person quoted in his article who met that description.
Another reason that the narrative never got off the ground is that the talking points simply didn’t stand up to fact-checking.
The only concrete concern included in the NYT coverage of our town hall was when a registered Democrat raised concerns about DOGE axing a lease held by the Mining Safety and Health Administration (MSHA). The New York Times claimed that DOGE was “shuttering a local Mine Safety and Health Administration office that provides crucial support in the area.”
The facts are otherwise. MSHA is currently paying about $50,000 annually for rented real estate that has no employees, no phone number, and no physical address visible anywhere on the MSHA website. Who is getting this lease money, and why? The building owner hung up on Wyoming Public Media’s reporter.
Cancelling a lease is not the same as “shuttering an office.” Fake news.
But the biggest reason that the Astroturf narrative couldn’t get off the ground is what happened in Rock Springs the following afternoon. There the mask came off.
At the Sweetwater County Events Complex, Hageman began her half-hour recap as she had the previous two appearances. Equal time for the audience would come after a 30-minute stump speech.
But the Astroturf militia wasn’t interested in equal time. They started shouting her down immediately. Apparently, they thought the whole meeting should be devoted to their speeches. Bizarre.
That’s when Hageman did something so polite, and so brilliant that the New York narrative collapsed with an audible crash. She invited the Chairman of the State Democrat Party to the podium. She asked him to do a personal favor for her. “All I am asking,” she said, “is that you give me the same respect that I am giving you.”
Joe Barbuto took the microphone and, without evidence, accused her of miscalculating “that the people upset with you here are only Democrats.” Then, instead of asking for better behavior, he encouraged them to “keep that respectful dialogue.” This released the flying monkeys.
By Wednesday, the protesters in Laramie totally forgot the narrative. Instead of looking like MAGA with misgivings, they looked like Portland anarchists. It led the Chair of the Albany County Democratic Party, Klaus Halbsgut, to say simply, “This was a disgrace.”
I feel bad for the many sane and honorable Democrats around the state. They are not like that. I know. Barbuto owes them an apology.
Jonathan Lange is a Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod pastor in Evanston and Kemmerer and serves the Wyoming Pastors Network. Follow his blog at https://jonathanlange.substack.com/. Email: JLange64@protonmail.com.
