Before going into an answer from an attendee about U.S. President Donald Trump's “destructive and disastrous trade war,” Rep. Chuck Edwards, R-NC, made a plea of the rowdy crowd at his Thursday town hall in Asheville, North Carolina. “Let me answer and then if you don't like it, you can boo or hiss or whatever you'd like to do,” Edwards said, exhausted. As he expanded on Trump's use of tariffs as a negotiating tactic, it took less than a minute for the crowd to break out in outrage. He continued to plow ahead in his response and eventually punctuated it by telling attendees he would “stop there and you can yell.” The crowd gladly took him up on the offer. For about an hour and half inside, Edwards endured a constant barrage of jeers, expletives and searing questions on the past few months of Trump administration policies. About 300 people crammed inside the auditorium to listen to the town hall, while the boos of more than a thousand people rumbled throughout the event outside the building. House Speaker Mike Johnson told GOP representatives last week to skip out on town halls, saying demonstrations outside of them were the work of “professional protesters.” Edwards addressed the Republican leader's advice, saying he didn't want to “shy away” from conversations with the people of western North Carolina — even if they disagreed. But less than thirty minutes into the town hall, Edwards started to change his tune as a majority of attendees interrupted him with vitriolic disruptions. Asheville is a deep-blue dot amid of a sea of red in North Carolina's mountains. Edwards kicked off his town hall discussing western North Carolina's recovery from Hurricane Helene. Asheville was among the places devastated by the storm last year, which killed more than 100 North Carolinians and caused a record-shattering amount of damage — about $59.6 billion in damages and record needs, according to the state. But as Edwards touted the work he said the Trump administration has been doing for the region's recovery — which could include the president's proposal to dissolve the Federal Emergency Management Agency — attendees shouted him down and demanded he address questions immediately. One person was escorted out of the venue after hurling expletives at the congressman. Edwards fielded scathing questions on a variety of topics — ranging from sweeping cuts to various government agencies at the hand of Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency to the future of healthcare programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. Questions on slashing jobs at the Department of Veterans Affairs and whether the U.S. will continue to support Ukraine in its war against Russia received standing ovations from most in the crowd. The representative mostly stayed in line in supporting most of the Trump administration policies, reiterating that part of his job was to see what decisions his constituents disagreed with so the federal government could “go back and look” at what it could improve on. Edwards kept good humor throughout the raucous town hall, telling attendees at the end that he enjoyed hearing the crowd's “passion” and “patriotism.” In a press conference afterwards, Edwards said Trump and Musk were “over the target” in what they set out to accomplish. “I take away from what I heard today that we're doing exactly what the American people sent us to Washington D.C. to do, ” Edwards said, as several protesters pounded on the doors nearby.