Some voters greeted prominent Republicans with boos and loud heckling at Saturday events, after the officials spoke out against the vulgar and predatory remarks Donald Trump made about women in a newly unearthed recording.
“Paul Ryan sucks!” Milwaukee resident Paul Anderson yelled at a fall festival in Elkorn, Wisconsin, where the House speaker addressed a crowd, according to the Los Angeles Times.
“You turned your back on us,” other hecklers shouted, breaking into chants of “We want Trump!”
Trump was originally supposed to appear with Ryan at the event. But Ryan disinvited Trump hours after the recording surfaced, releasing a statement saying he was “sickened” by the GOP nominee’s remarks. The joint appearance would have been Ryan’s first campaign event with Trump.
In Las Vegas, Rep. Joe Heck (R-NV), who’s running to replace Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), also was booed loudly as he read a statement calling for Trump to withdraw and be replaced by a candidate “with honor” who deserved to be president.
Video: Rep. Joe Heck, in close senate race in Nevada, calls on Trump to drop out as some in crowd boo him https://t.co/uHHVupSykb
— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) October 8, 2016
This backlash came a day after the Washington Post published a video of Trump talking about groping women without their permission. In the 2005 clip from an “Access Hollywood” taping, Trump says on a hot mic that he used his celebrity status to force himself on women, kissing them and even grabbing them “by the pussy.”
The video has thrown the Republican Party into turmoil, with prominent elected officials including Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), the party’s 2008 presidential nominee, and Sen. John Thune (R-SD) withdrawing their endorsements or calling for Trump to drop out.
Even as party leaders distanced themselves from their own nominee, Trump vowed to stay in the race and his supporters lashed out at prominent GOPers’ lack of support for him.
At the fall festival on Saturday, Ryan only briefly acknowledged the “elephant in the room” at the start of his address before pivoting to a discussion of Republican priorities, like repealing Obamacare. Yet the crowd in Elkhorn wasn’t ready to move on, lashing out at the House speaker for leaving their candidate swinging in the wind so close to Election Day.
Local TV station WHAM reported that some attendees yelled “Shame! Shame!” at Ryan as he left the stage.
Ryan brings other Wisconsin Republicans up on stage to say goodbye, hecklers yell, “GOD BLESS TRUMP!”
“SEE YA PAUL! JACKASS!”
— McKay Coppins (@mckaycoppins) October 8, 2016