(And not for the first time.)

In an apparent effort to restrain demands from his constituents for in-person town hall meetings, Congressman Cline posted this on his Facebook page:

The Friends Committee on National Legislation is a Quaker organization. As you can see from their website, their views and priorities do not often align with those of Cline and his fellow Republicans.

So while some may give credit to Cline for meeting with a group of his political opponents, I think it’s safe to say that he will ignore everything they told him.

Shortly after his meeting with the Quakers, Cline spoke to a dinner meeting of the Shenandoah County Republican Committee, where he expressed his true feelings.

According to a source who attended the Republican meeting, Cline said he had been in his Harrisonburg office meeting with “agitated liberals” who want to give money to Palestine, and was glad to be back in Shenandoah County, where, he said, he is supported.

So not only was Cline insulting the Quakers, but he was also insulting the people of Harrisonburg.

Cline went on to say that under Donald Trump, the country is moving in the right direction; that Trump has assembled the best cabinet; that he thanked Trump for dismantling the Department of Education; that the judiciary needs to be “reined in”; and that the 2017 Republican tax cuts, which overwhelmingly benefited the ultra-wealthy and corporations, were “for the common family.”

And sorry, Congressman: Your constituents still demand in-person town hall meetings.

Last year the Republican-friendly Roanoke Star reported:

On Saturday, March 16, Representative Ben Cline (R-6th Dist), participated in Freedom First St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Downtown Roanoke. The mix of the Parade’s beauty and the warm weather created a joyful environment for people. As he does every year, Rep.Cline returned to Downtown Roanoke to engage and celebrate with the public and become a part of the St. Patrick’s Day celebrations.

Not every year, it seems. Cline was notably absent from this year’s parade. The Roanoke Times reported:

Not everyone was there to celebrate. Around 30 protestors stood across the Roanoke main library during the parade, holding signs and waiting to see if Rep. Ben Cline, R-Botetourt, would be there. Cline did not participate in the parade.

Protesters have been gathering outside of Cline’s office in Roanoke each Monday since Feb. 24 to request a town hall and to express their opposition to President Donald Trump’s policies. The group Roanoke Indivisible has been leading many of the protests.

Kristi and Michael Strange with Roanoke Action Collective were among Saturday’s demonstrators. The pair has never protested until recently, Michael Strange said.

“I am very frustrated that our United States representative refuses to meet with the people — with anyone, really,” Kristi Strange said. “We have questions. We would like answers.”

Though Cline was not in the parade, state Sen. David Suetterlein, R-Roanoke County, was. The protesters chanted at him as he passed by.

“The scuttlebutt was that (Cline) had planned to be here, and then when he heard that people were going to be here in opposition, he backed out,” Kristi Strange said.

No one was available Saturday from Cline’s staff or Downtown Roanoke Inc. to give details on whether or not Cline ever intended to participate in the parade.

Perhaps Cline had a perfectly good reason for skipping the parade. But maybe– just maybe– it was another instance of Cline trying to dodge public exposure as he continues to stand up for an increasingly unpopular Musk-Trump administration.

Maybe one reason Congressman Cline refuses to schedule face-to-face meetings with his constituents anywhere in the Sixth District is that he’s aware of the harm that Trump’s executive orders and empowerment of Elon Muk are doing, and he could never get away with talking like this to the people who actually live and work and raise families here.

Today, I joined my @RepublicanStudy colleagues to highlight our efforts in Congress to codify President Trump’s executive orders into law. The American people overwhelmingly support the America First agenda, and we’re working to set it in stone. pic.twitter.com/29yhTP12wX

— Congressman Ben Cline (@RepBenCline) March 11, 2025

Congressman Cline has had nothing to say so far about Friday’s infamous White House meeting at which Donald Trump and JD Vance excoriated Ukraine’s President Zelensky (whose country was invaded by Putin’s Russia three years ago) for insufficient groveling, while slathering praise on the invader Putin.

But don’t expect Cline to defy Trump and Vance by offering principled support for Ukraine in its war against Putin’s brutal and murderous aggression.

Soon after the invasion, Cline issued a full-throated denunciation and even tried to raise campaign money based on the fact that he had been “sanctioned by Russia.”

As I wrote at the time:

What Cline didn’t mention is that the “several” were in fact 398— ranging from Democrats like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to Republicans like Marjorie Talyor Greene.

Even North Carolina Republican Madison Cawthorn— who has called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky a “thug” and the Ukrainian government “incredibly evil”– is on the sanctions list.

In fact the only reason some House members (such as Speaker Nancy Pelosi) are missing from the list is that Russia had previously sanctioned them.

Since then, as I’ve noted in several posts, Cline’s voting record in Congress has aligned a lot closer with Russia’s interests than with Ukraine’s.

Cline sides with Putin against NATO

Ben Cline: Putin’s man in western Virginia

Cline throws Ukraine under the bus again

Cline versus Ukraine and border control

Cline’s pathetic lies about Ukraine

Cline unbound

Cline again sides with Putin against Ukraine

Connecting the dots

Cline votes to defund NATO