Rep. Doug LaMalfa appears at the Shasta County Republican Central Committee booth during the Shasta District Fair in June 2022. Photo by Mike Chapman
Northern Californians upset with the way President Trump is running the country finally got a brief chance to speak their minds with longtime Republican congressman Doug LaMalfa.
The opportunities weren’t in-person town halls that many recent protesters have been clamoring for, but a pair of hourlong telephone town halls that let Rep. LaMalfa keep his physical distance from fed-up constituents.
A cross-section of callers described their desperate feelings about where the nation is heading, echoing the same concerns of throngs across the country.
One local voter described panic over how the stock market is shrinking her retirement fund. Others shared fears of losing health care services through Medicare cuts. One Republican implored how Trump’s tariff’s already are crippling his Siskiyou County business.
Meanwhile, LaMalfa toed the party line by defending the Trump administration while downplaying news reports of policies that are causing nationwide turmoil.
LaMalfa, R-Richvale, said he supports the work of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), doubted efforts to slash Medicare and suggested the stock market was overreacting to tariffs.
Callers brought up other issues, ranging from Israel “ethnically cleansing Gaza,” the high cost of homeowners insurance and support for veterans services, among other topics.
LaMalfa, on the other hand, apparently wanted to talk more about gray wolves.
Scaled-down forums
LaMalfa, who hasn’t hosted an in-person town hall in Redding since a boisterous gathering at Sequoia Middle School on April 19, 2017, maintained his practice of offering “teletown halls” for District 1, which covers a large portion of the North State.
North State Rep. Doug LaMalfa, R-Richvale, held two telephone town halls recently instead of meeting voters in person. (Facebook screen grab)
One was held March 26 for voters in Butte, Glenn, Yuba, Sutter and Colusa counties while a second one was held last Thursday for Shasta, Siskiyou, Tehama, Modoc and Lassen counties.
Staging town halls by phone or skipping them entirely has been part of the Republican playbook ever since crowds angry with Trump began confronting GOP lawmakers in public.
U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson urged scaled-down forums with small groups or through telephone conferences, as ways to avoid what he called “professional protesters” demonstrating against mass firings of federal workers and the scaling back of federal programs.
LaMalfa’s staff said registered voters with “good” phone numbers would receive automated telephone calls telling them when to listen in, but many reported on Facebook they didn’t get the alerts. Recordings later were available on LaMalfa’s Facebook page.
Republican rebuke
One of the strongest criticisms came from Allen Hurlburt, a small manufacturer in Tulelake who said he’s a Republican.
Hurlburt, 84, said tariffs already are raising prices by at least 10 percent on products he needs to make his tractor-like, gopher-control equipment from H&M Gopher Control.
“What are you guys doing? What are you doing? Why are you doing this to us?” he asked LaMalfa.
“This has created a serious problem for us in our sales and for our customers as well, of which 50 percent of them are throughout the Central Valley in California,” he said.
“This is hitting us in the pocketbook. It’s not right. It’s just not right. This is not why I’m a Republican,” Hurlburt said.
Tariffs are hiking his prices for steel, tanks and motors that come from offshore sources that include China. He’s also having trouble ordering compressors.
“These tariffs are killing us,” Hurlburt said. “All of our suppliers have already increased their prices and this includes steel, everything. It is a nightmare. My customers are looking at prices of, let’s say a $12,000 machine is now a $14,000 machine,” he said.
For his part, LaMalfa criticized the quality of Chinese-made products, saying he’s heard stories from auto repair shops of defective parts.
“Sometimes they have to change the part three times to get one that works because they’re angry that they have to use Chinese-made junk on their parts,” LaMalfa said.
Hurlburt didn’t buy it.
“I disagree with you. It’s not Chinese-made junk. The motors we get out of China are by far the best made in the country,” Hurlburt said.
LaMalfa asked the businessman to provide figures on how tariffs are hurting his operation and that he would pass the information on to the White House.
“We will look to help find a solution on that because we don’t want this to happen to you,” LaMalfa said. “We’ll follow up with you,” the lawmaker promised.
Different priorities
A flyer displayed Rep. Doug LaMalfa’s face with the words, “No food banks for you” during the anti-Trump Hands Off! rally in Redding on Saturday, April 5, 2025. The nonpartisan CalMatters news organization reported on March 27 that the U.S. Department of Agriculture put a halt to millions of dollars in federal funds for food banks. Photo by Mike Chapman
Last Thursday, when the stock market was plummeting in reaction to Trump’s economy-busting tariff announcement, LaMalfa focused on a rise of gray wolves killing calves than the reeling economy.
Changing the subject, Jill from Mount Shasta described how Trump’s tariff plans were “devastating the stock market and that’s affecting my retirement account. So I’m really worried about that.”
“I’ve been working my whole life paying into this retirement account and it’s not on me to cover the president’s whims on his ridiculous ideas. It’s not on us,” Jill told the congressman. “I worked all my life. I’m broken and hurt and ready to retire,” she said.
LaMalfa minimized the stock market’s response to large tariffs, saying sometimes the market overreacts.
“I think as soon as this irons out, the market’s going to bounce back. I wouldn’t go by one day on this because the market gets nervous over the slightest thing,” LaMalfa said. “It should be bouncing back within a short amount of time as they handle it.”
“If this doesn’t work out within one or two years, then corrections will be made,” LaMalfa said.
Jill’s response? “I’m holding your feet to the fire. You can be sure of it,” she said.
“I expect that,” LaMalfa said.
A protester in Redding on March 4, 2025, labeled Rep. Doug LaMalfa as “pro-Putin.” Photo by Mike Chapman
Medicare worries
Jill also pressed LaMalfa on potential budget cuts to Medicare and a resulting ripple effect with potential job losses in Mount Shasta. She said small businesses would be harmed, too.
LaMalfa questioned her about where she was getting her information on Medicare.
“There’s no cuts on the horizon,” LaMalfa said.
“The president said no cuts and we’re saying that in the House. I don’t know where that is coming from because nothing we’re doing is planning to cut benefits to anybody. That’s actually going to continue to rise by anywhere from 1 percent to 3 percent, depending on eligibility and which one of these programs you’re talking about,” he said.
NBC News and other national outlets reported in March that House Republicans can’t achieve their budget goals for Trump’s legislative plan without significant reductions to Medicare or Medicaid (Medi-Cal in California), citing the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
The congressman questioned the caller’s fear of 80 percent in budget cuts for federal health programs.
“Eighty percent is such a giant, dramatic amount. Nobody in their right mind, no matter who you are, would propose such a thing,” LaMalfa said. “Congress is not saying that. The president is not saying that. Nobody is talking about reducing these benefits to people.”
Tiffany, another caller, asked the congressman to make assurances that he would maintain Medicaid.
“Yes, we are. We’re making that commitment and as we move through the budget reconciliation on that, the things that are being looked for are ways to make it run better,” LaMalfa said.
“Unlike what you’re hearing on the news or being made on floor speeches, there’s no cut to Medicaid that’s being done directly. What we’re doing is trying to get the wasteful part of it out and then define it back as what it was.”
Social Security and Musk
A caller named Dennis said Social Security is a big worry because it’s the main income for him and his wife. He wanted LaMalfa’s assurance the couple would continue getting payments for the rest of their lives.
“Making guarantees on anything is a little treacherous, as you know, especially with the government,” the congressman said, noting how the Social Security trust fund will be in jeopardy if nothing changes by 2032-’33.
Dennis also is concerned about Trump possibly privatizing Social Security.
“There’s no current movement to do such,” LaMalfa said. “A lot of times there’s a lot of hype going around the Internet and the news, and people like to get people wound up on that.”
Elsewhere, Todd from Hornbrook wondered why Trump adviser Elon Musk is taking a chainsaw approach to federal agencies through DOGE.
“I wanted to ask you why we’re letting an unelected billionaire gut the federal government and steal all of our data,” Todd said.
“We can all say that we’re absolutely for more efficiency in getting rid of waste. That doesn’t seem to be the intention with DOGE and it doesn’t seem to be the intention with Elon Musk,” Todd added. “Elon Musk has straight called (Social Security) a Ponzi scheme. He wants to gut it.”
LaMalfa countered, arguing that DOGE is uncovering misuse of funds. The congressman also referred to false claims pushed by the administration that millions of dead people over 100 years old are getting Social Security checks.
“DOGE is finding incredibly wasteful areas of government contracts. People that are, you know, in the Social Security system that aren’t even alive,” LaMalfa said.
A recent article by The Associated Press agreed that Social Security has made improper payments, including some to people no longer alive, but it says the “numbers thrown out by Musk and the White House are overstated and misrepresent Social Security data.”
Olive grower’s concerns
An olive grower named William criticized Trump’s deportation policies and the potential to dry up a workforce that relies undocumented immigrants.
“There’s been times when we haven’t been able to find labor,” William said. “Anybody that thinks we can get by without the labor force that comes up here, I don’t think is really too close to what’s really going on.”
William added that many people don’t understand how undocumented workers help keep Social Security afloat.
“I never hear anybody say much about the fact that many of them pay into Social Security and never draw on Social Security,” he said. “If they weren’t here, I think our Social Security would be in more trouble than it is now.”
In response, LaMalfa said farm labor needs to be a legal workforce, similar to a bracero program that operated years ago.
“We need to have something that is formal and not just look the other way and wave people in illegally,” LaMalfa said.
Keep the post office
Another caller named Janet, who lives near Orland, wondered about the possibility of private business taking over the U.S. Postal Service and the elimination of services in rural areas.
“I want to preserve the Postal Service as is,” LaMalfa told her, adding that there’s room for modifications and improvements.
“I think the traditional letter is something that needs to remain affordable, the traditional mail,” he said. “A letter should be pretty cheap to send.”
LaMalfa suggested the post office isn’t making enough money from packages and other services, “so I think we need a lot longer look at that.”
LaMalfa called out
A rally was held March 21, 2025, near LaMalfa’s district office in Redding with one sign asking, “Where is LaMalfa/Face your voters/Hold a town hall.” Photo by Mike Chapman.
A protester at last Saturday’s 1,000-plus strong Hands Off! rally in Redding said she wasn’t impressed after listening to LaMalfa’s March banter.
She didn’t want to give her name out of concern for her privacy, but said she was discouraged by LaMalfa’s responses.
“He sidestepped a lot of the really important issues and did a lot of gaslighting in the sense of reassuring us in vague ways that everything would just be fine,” she said.
LaMalfa polled town hall listeners in his second session on whether they thought wolves should remain on the endangered species list, which he said would “make it much more difficult to manage them and be able to provide for human and livestock safety.”
The demonstrator took issue with the amount of time LaMalfa spent discussing wolves mauling calves and asking callers to take a vote.
“I do understand that it’s a major agricultural area, but there’s also a huge, huge amount of constituency that has nothing to do with farming as well,” she said.
“How about you spend time talking about preserving Medi-Cal and making sure that people have access to home care and quality health care? How about those things instead of wolves eating livestock,” the protester asked.
More LaMalfa protests set
Protesters at recent anti-Trump rallies in Redding have been critical of Rep. Doug LaMalfa. Photo by Mike Chapman
LaMalfa is not off the hook yet as another protest is planned at 11:45 a.m. on April 18 outside his Redding office at 2885 Churn Creek Road. Other rallies are set for the same day in Chico and Oroville.
A previous demonstration was held near the Redding office on March 21 with some 60 protesters. One sign asked, “Where is LaMalfa/Face your voters/Hold a town hall.”
“(LaMalfa’s) staff needs to hear from persons on Social Security, Medicare and other funding that is being cut in DC by Trump & Musk. We, his constituents, need to know if LaMalfa is going to vote for the proposed cuts,” a Facebook post reads about the April gathering.
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