Dec. 15, 2015

Walberg likes to tell people he was Tea Party before it was “popular” to be Tea Party. And his voting record demonstrates just how cutting edge Tea Party he is.

Trump and Walberg have a lot in common when it comes to policy and rhetoric, which is why it was no surprise to anyone when Walberg defended Trump a few months ago, telling on Jackson WILX TV News 10 that other Presidential candidates should learn from Trump.

But here’s where it gets complicated for Walberg: For the last 8 years Walberg, like many of his Tea Party colleagues in the US House, was free to roam his district saying the craziest things imaginable as long as he voted in line with the special interests who finance his existence. It didn’t matter if Walberg said things that a normal hard-working Michigander would consider certifiably insane, because Club for Growth and other special interests could always just throw massive amounts of dollars into attacking and smearing Walberg’s opposition. Most everyday voters were unaware that Walberg’s largest fundraising amounts were not from local sources, but primarily came from outside of Michigan.

But now the craziness has a public face that everyone is paying attention to: Donald Trump. The more people realize Walberg and Trump are basically quite similar when it comes to beliefs, false claims, rhetoric, and policies, the more Walberg is going to be accurately labeled the out- of-touch extremist he has been all these years. And tens of millions of dollars of special interest money may not be enough to hide the fact that Walberg doesn’t fairly represent and listen to the views of all of his constituents.

As someone who cares about the advancement of women’s rights, access to quality prenatal care for all women, availability of quality childcare for all kids, equality and social justice, public education, and working families, it may be that with Trump being so public, the people in the US 7th Congressional District will start clearly seeing who Walberg really is.

Jennifer Kundak, Chelsea MI

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