Law enforcement forcibly removed Emily Feiner from a Sunday town hall after she asked Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) about standing up to the Trump administration.Jessica Hill/AP

Emily Feiner is not a diehard Democrat.

The 64-year-old semi-retired social worker, who previously worked for the Department of Veterans Affairs, is not registered with either of the United States’ major political parties. Feiner has voted for Republicans in the past, she says. In the last presidential election, Feiner, who describes herself as a peace activist, wrote in Hind Rajab, the 6-year-old Palestinian girl killed by Israeli forces in Gaza.

But on Sunday, at a town hall hosted by her Republican representative, Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.), Feiner was treated like an apparent threat: She was one of several people forcibly removed by state troopers after asking Lawler what it would take for him to stand up to the Trump administration. The moment, which was caught on video and quickly went viral on social media, serves as the latest example of Republican lawmakers endorsing seemingly drastic measures to silence calls for accountability from the constituents they represent.

“I think this says that they will not tolerate us being active participants in our democracy—they want an autocracy,” Emily Feiner told Mother Jones. Meet the 64-year-old retired social worker who went viral after being forcibly removed from her representative's town hall.

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“I think this says that they will not tolerate us being active participants in our democracy—they want an autocracy,” Feiner told me via Zoom on Monday, “and they’re using state actors to enforce that.”

Feiner said she could sense from the outset that Sunday’s town hall would be unusual. She and other attendees were greeted with a list of rules upon arrival, including demands to provide their proof of........

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