A Republican member of Congress appeared to suggest that nuclear weapons should be dropped on Gaza, according to a video from a town hall circulating on social media, but his office maintains that he was speaking metaphorically \u201cto show urgency to defeat these enemies swiftly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.), was answering a question from a constituent during a town hall in Dundee, Mich., on Monday, who asked about the United States\u2019 plan to build a floating pier off the coast of Gaza to deliver humanitarian aid.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy are we spending our money to build a port for them?\u201d someone asks in the video.<\/p>\n
Walberg, who is not seen in the video, responds by saying that the United States \u201cshouldn\u2019t be spending a dime on humanitarian aid,\u201d and then references the two Japanese cities where the United States dropped atomic bombs during World War II.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt should be like Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Get it over quick,\u201d Walberg said.<\/p>\n
Mike Rorke, a spokesman for Walberg\u2019s office, said Saturday that the congressman\u2019s response \u201cwas clipped to eliminate the extension of his metaphor, which also covered Ukraine.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe full context underscores that this was not a literal statement, but a metaphor to show urgency to defeat these enemies swiftly,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
According to audio of Walberg\u2019s response, provided to The Washington Post by Walberg\u2019s office, after the congressman said \u201cGet it over quick,\u201d he added, \u201cThe same should be in Ukraine.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDefeat [Russian President Vladimir] Putin quick,\u201d Walberg continued \u201cInstead [of] 80 percent in Ukraine being used for humanitarian purposes, it should be 80 to 100 percent to wipe out Russia \u2014 if that\u2019s what we want to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Michigan has one of the nation\u2019s largest Arab American and Muslim populations, with about 300,000 people who claim ancestry from the Middle East or North Africa, and the United States\u2019 approach to the war has become a major political issue for 2024.<\/p>\n
The lawmaker\u2019s comments have drawn criticism from Democrats in the state.<\/p>\n
Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich), wrote on X that Walberg\u2019s comments were \u201ca reprehensible thing for anyone to suggest, especially an elected official and someone who considers himself a man of faith.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRep. Walberg should take back his comments, and try to put himself in the shoes of the many Michiganders who see themselves in the casualties in Gaza,\u201d Slotkin, who is running for Senate, added.<\/p>\n
Rep. Daniel Kildee (D-Mich.) on X called Walberg\u2019s remarks \u201chorrific & shocking.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is an indefensible position to argue against humanitarian aid for the people of Gaza while also calling for the wholesale massacre of the Palestinian people. I couldn\u2019t disagree more with these extreme & dangerous comments,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
A Republican member of Congress appeared to suggest that nuclear weapons should be dropped on Gaza, according to a video from a town hall circulating on social media, but his office maintains that he was speaking metaphorically \u201cto show urgency to defeat these enemies swiftly.\u201d Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.), was answering a question from a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":2606,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2605"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2605\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}