LA CROSSE, Wis. — Representative Ron Kind stood in front of the crowd gathered at an American Legion post in his district in western Wisconsin and listened. As a Democrat in the House minority, that is about all he can do these days.

He heard from one attendee who recalled the division that led to the Civil War and wondered if something similar was happening today. Another asked about requiring a psychiatrist to be on hand at the White House. A third offered vivid imagery.

“I kind of feel like we’re sitting in the dining room watching a presentation about how the backyard’s going to get reworked,” she said, “and meanwhile, vandals had set the roof on fire.”

Mr. Kind, who has served this district that hugs the Mississippi River since 1997, took it all in.

“Our institutions of democracy, I think, are going to be tested severely in the coming months and the coming years,” the congressman said at a town hall-style meeting on Wednesday, promising that he would do his best to act as a check on President Trump and any “darker impulses” that might need to be countered.