Michigan Republican Rep. Tim Walberg basically told his own constituents they were ridiculous for fearing that Trump’s reckless Twitter usage could be a diplomatic problem, one which might lead us to nuclear war.
Michigan Republican Rep. Tim Walberg has never been known for his reasoned, levelheaded views.
Walberg has claimed that President Barack Obama might be from Kenya, that Saddam Hussein financed 9/11, that "God will take care of" global warming, that Social Security is a "Ponzi scheme," and that China is secretly drilling for oil off the coast of Florida.
But when it comes to whether Donald Trump’s behavior is dangerous, and whether it may be necessary to look to the 25th Amendment, Walberg wants everybody to take a deep breath — as he condescendingly told his constituents at a town hall meeting in Tecumseh, Michigan.
Walberg read out a question from a voter who expressed grave concerns about Trump's rash behavior on Twitter in regard to the volatile situation in North Korea, and the possible frightening effects from it.
"'I am appalled by Trump’s reckless tweets on many topics, especially North Korea,'" Walberg read, quoting a woman named Christine from Monroe, Michigan. "'As a member of Congress, it is on you to assert your role improving the use of military force. Will you cosponsor the Restricting First Use of Nuclear Weapons Act of 2017, the Conyers bill defunding any preemptive military force against North Korea without congressional authorization?'"
Walberg proceeded to say that he would not cosponsor the bill because "we have plenty of constitutional requirements that the president’s gonna have to follow."
But his response then went even further off the rails:
WALBERG: Now as far as his tweets? I can’t control his tweets. I have to answer to his tweets. I don’t like having to answer to some of those tweets, in all honesty. But I’m not the president. I can do what I’m supposed to do, and that's what we're going to do.
AUDIENCE: Article 25! Article 25!
WALBERG: And those of you that think there's impeachable offenses for tweets? Come on, get a life. Get a life!
It is rich for Walberg to tell anyone to "get a life" about impeachment, given that he once proposed the House should impeach President Obama to force him to produce his birth certificate.
Further, those citizens' concerns are echoed by people who understand the situation a lot better than Walberg does. Richard Painter, a former ethics lawyer in the George W. Bush administration, put it very plainly: "If President Kennedy had acted this way during the Cuban missile crisis, we would all be dead."
Republicans like Walberg need to start taking seriously the real danger posed by Trump having access to the nuclear football, and do something meaningful rather than scold concerned citizens like they were children.
