Ohio Dem slams neoliberals for victim blaming East Palestine residents who voted for Trump
Former Ohio lawmaker Nina Turner shredded some commentators' lack of sympathy for East Palestine residents suffering from the aftermath of the infamous train derailment.
Former Ohio lawmaker Nina Turner, D., scorched "neoliberals" on Sunday for suggesting East Palestine residents brought disaster upon themselves after voting for President Donald Trump in that past.
The derailment of a train and the subsequent controlled burn of toxic chemicals to avoid an explosion have been an ecological tragedy for the rural Ohio town. While much of the nation has expressed their concern, some liberal public figures such as "The View" co-host Joy Behar have suggested the local residents still reeling from the catastrophic event and its aftermath brought on the tragic incident with their voting decisions.
Turner, a hard-left figure who supported Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders' presidential runs, shredded that sentiment during a Sunday panel on CNN’s "State of the Union," saying it is a bigger issue than conventional partisan politics.
"For the neoliberals to say that the residents of that area deserve what they are getting because they voted for President Donald J. Trump, it is abhorrent," she said. "This is about poverty. This is about poor, working-class, White people who are enduring some of the same things that poor working-class Black people endure whether it’s Flint, Cleveland, or Jackson, Mississippi."
Former Ohio lawmaker and former Bernie Sanders presidential campaign co-chair Nina Turner on a CNN panel.
OHIO TRAIN DERAILMENT: BUTTIGIEG ADMITS HE WAITED TOO LONG TO PUBLICLY RESPOND
She went on to condemn how some have blamed the victims as an example of politically "cultist" behavior.
"I want to lay it out that the cultist behavior in politics right now, it is a sin and a shame that when people are suffering to this magnitude, you got people who will fix their mouths, to quote my grandmother, to say that they are getting what they deserve," Turner said. "What they deserve is clean air, clean food, clean water. They deserve relief, both in the short term and also in the long term."
In this photo provided by Melissa Smith, a train fire is seen from her farm in East Palestine, Ohio, Friday, Feb. 3, 2023. (Melissa Smith via AP)
She slammed local leadership, noting that many residents ultimately do not feel safe in their homes.
"The state administration is not doing enough. I’m not pleased with Governor Mike DeWine, who actually drank some of the water, giving people confidence that that water is OK, when, in fact, the EPA didn’t do the deepest dive that they could do to deal with the carcinogens that are there, the air, the water," she warned, adding that she "saw both fear and anger in the eyes of the people there."
She also suggested that the Biden administration has failed the residents of East Palestine so far, adding further that presidents from both major political parties have done so before him as well.
"The View" co-host Joy Behar points at the camera while arguing on her show that the Ohio train derailment was Donald Trump's fault. (Screenshot/ABC/TheView)
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"One lady I talked to, she said, ‘I never want to see another vehicle carrying chemicals come through my community again.’ And so while you have some on the GOP side saying, ‘less government,’ you have the residents of East Palestine saying that government is not doing enough," she recounted. "They have been failed by subsequent, many administrations. This is not just the Trump administration. It was the Obama administration, now it’s the Biden administration."