How Much Is Fascism?: Nebraska Town Hall Gets Testy

Rep. Mike Flood got an earful and then some at his town hall last night in Lincoln, Nebraska.
By Ed Scarce — August 5, 2025

Rep. Mike Flood (NE-01) keeps holding town halls when a lot of Republicans won't, as they're afraid of raucous crowds like this one. Flood's reasoning is, I imagine, that it's what you're expected to do, and you look like a coward if you don't. And in recent years, Mike Flood didn't really have anything to worry about, as he won by 20 points in 2024. But a recent map change includes a lot more of Lincoln than it did before, and a lot of those same people turned out last night. So what had been a comfortable, easy place to win in is now only an R+6 district and could be interesting in 2026.

Source: CNN

In one tense back-and-forth in Nebraska, an audience member confronted Flood about government spending and authoritarianism.

“My question is fiscal,” the attendee began, referencing reports that the makeshift immigration detention facility in Florida dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” is expected to cost $450 million to operate for a single year.

“How much does it cost for fascism? How much do the taxpayers have to pay for a fascist country?” the attendee asked, as the crowd erupted in applause.

Flood responded, “Americans went to the polls in November, and they had a choice between a Democratic candidate that had an open border, no enforcement, fentanyl, drugs, human trafficking, and they had a choice between that and a candidate that said close the border, get illegal immigrants out of our country, stop the fentanyl, stop the human trafficking, stop the drugs, stop the crime, stop the violence. That’s what Americans voted for.”

“Americans voted for a border that is secure, and I support the president enforcing our immigration laws, which, by the way, were written by Congress.”

The audience appeared to grow increasingly agitated, with continued shouts hurled at the congressman.

Another member from the audience accused Flood of staying silent in the face of what they called a “fascist machine,” referring to the conservative blueprint Project 2025. “You said in Seward that you were not a fascist,” the person said. “But your complicity says otherwise.”

“Fascists don’t hold town halls with open question-and-answer series,” he responded. The audience again booed.

And some clips from the event.

Loud.

Tax cuts for billionaires were not especially popular.

Trying to defend healthcare cuts over tax cuts for billionaires never goes over well, even in Nebraska.

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