We’ve reached the end of another week. But before we clock out for the weekend, we’re giving credit where it’s due. The brave women who confronted their elected officials are the latest champions in our Winner of the Week series.
The day after Trump was inaugurated (the first time), women protested, en masse, in the streets of cities across the country. A month into his second term, the fire and fury are still there, this time directed more at local lawmakers as women speak up and speak out at town hall meetings.
Last week, at a meeting in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, a panel member spoke against abortion, prompting a woman in the audience to yell, “Women are dying!” The panel was moderated by a local website developer, who admonished her “stupid remarks” and the “crazy people” who would dare interrupt the meeting. In response, another woman shouted out, “Is this a town hall or a lecture?”
That woman is Teresa Borrenpohl, who ran for Idaho’s House of Representatives in 2024, 2022, and 2020 as a Democrat, according to a local news outlet. Perhaps because she was recognizable to the community, the moderator instructed the sheriff, who was in attendance, to “get her out.” However, it wasn’t anyone in a uniform who began physically removing her. Instead, two stone-faced men forcibly yanked Borrenpohl out of her seat, pinned her to the ground, and dragged her out of the auditorium as she pleaded for them not to touch her and to at least identify themselves. The moderator did nothing to deescalate the situation, calling Borrenpohl a “little girl” from his podium, per the New Republic.
The crowd did nothing as she was abducted in plain sight.
“I think that my civil rights were stripped from me in that moment in a really embarrassing way,” Borrenpohl told the CDA Press, citing her First Amendment rights. “Admittedly, I spoke out of turn. But do we live in a country where you speak out of turn and the result is three men assaulting a woman?” Borrenpohl was issued a citation for allegedly biting one of the men, who did work for a local security firm, but those charges have since been dropped, and the firm has had its business license revoked.
Why was her interruption handled so horrendously? All she did was talk, albeit loudly. Men who have sought power and spotlight are triggered by the mere sound of a woman’s raised voice, lashing out or, in the case of Representative Kevin Hern, freezing up.
In Glenpool, Oklahoma, a citizen asked Hern a simple question about the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and his squirmy non-response is more damning than giving an actual answer would have been. She and another attendee had to repeat the question several times to get anything out of him, but her conviction did not waver.
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Hern should be embarrassed by his gutlessness, though not as embarrassed as “Chairwoman” French. In cases where a regressive law has already been passed, you can still voice dissatisfaction, as Wyoming resident Britt Boril did by intentionally misgendering the chairman of a local meeting. When he protested, she countered that, per a recent bill, no one could force her to respect another person’s “preferred pronouns.” The chairperson’s befuddled response is a perfect example of the way cis people can take respect for granted.
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In a follow-up Instagram post, Boril explained that she was demonstrating hypocrisy, not trying to start a trend of rudeness: “Misgendering people is not cool…We’re all about mindful malicious compliance here,” she said, per Yahoo.
Then there’s the straightforward approach. At a town hall in Roswell, Georgia, a woman with a strong Southern twang put her voice to good use, stating confidently, “Tyranny is rising in the White House, and a man has declared himself our king. So I would like to know—rather, the people would like to know—what you, congressman, and your fellow congressmen, are going to do to rein in the megalomaniac in the White House.” (It’s the first video here, and really worth hearing.)
Overall, it seems there’s been an uptick in face-to-face criticism between voters and officials, everywhere from Wisconsin to Missouri to Oregon to Connecticut. According to NBC News, with Congress in recess, a number of Republicans have returned to their home districts for public events…and they aren’t going well, even aside from the protests. But whether this is a flash in the pan or a sign of things to come is, like so much in this country, up for debate. The New York Times reports that there are multiple viewpoints on display during these meetings, which might herald a wave of backlash against the Trump regime…or not.
Does it matter? Is it working? Will all this talk amount to anything? These questions are important, but there’s a broader reason: Our civil rights disappear when we stop exercising them. I’m sure Trump would love if we thought yelling at meetings didn’t make a difference, if we all packed up our bags and called it a day on democracy without him having to lift a dictatorial finger. There are plenty of people who would be thrilled if women, especially, decided to be quiet on our own.
From kindergarten through eighth grade, I went to an all-girls school in which public speaking was a mandatory class and presenting in front of others was part of our grade. The school was founded at a time when women weren’t supposed to speak out or even allowed to vote; because things had changed, using these (relatively) new freedoms wasn’t a privilege but a duty. Turns out, this wasn’t lofty theoretical rhetoric. The challenge is here and now, and it’s never been more important to be a women who won’t shut up.
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