The overlooked message behind Republicans' response to the Ohio train derailment
The overlooked message behind Republicans’ response to the Ohio train derailment
The response to the toxic Ohio spill by Trump and key Republicans is about more than just Joe Biden.
By Ben Jacobs Feb 23, 2023, 9:41am EST
https://www.vox.com/politics/2023/2/23/23611697/ohio-train-derailment-east-palestine-trump-republicans
"SNIP........
Ideological realignments don’t happen overnight. Former President Donald Trump’s visit to East Palestine, Ohio, on Wednesday was not notable for its rhetoric or its optics. Instead, Trump’s visit to a community that features the type of Rust Belt diners where, since 2016, journalists by the dozen have been dispatched to do cultural anthropology served as another waypoint on the Republican Party’s ongoing shift to become a party centered on non-college-educated voters.
The disaster in East Palestine has received national attention, particularly in conservative media, after a freight train carrying hazardous chemicals derailed just outside the east Ohio town located near the border with Pennsylvania. It wasn’t so much the derailment that captured national attention, but the controlled burn of vinyl chloride released from freight cars in the aftermath of the accident. The apocalyptic images of clouds of black smoke reaching into the sky provided compelling visuals to go along with the health concerns of residents and evidence of fish die-offs in local streams as chemicals spilled into the ground from the wreck.
The derailment also sparked a furious reaction from the right, as it presents a potpourri of issues for Republicans to grapple with — corporate power, the growing skepticism toward public health authorities post-pandemic, and, of course, simple partisan critiques of a Democratic president. But it wasn’t just partisan critiques. As Jon Schweppe, the director of policy and government affairs at the American Principles Project, a conservative think tank, told Vox, “What’s nice about it from my perspective — it’s not uniquely, ‘This is all Biden’s fault.’ It’s not just politics. There’s an understanding that there are other forces at play that led to this happening.”
While Republicans can freely blame President Joe Biden and his administration for its response — with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg facing particular scrutiny — the East Palestine disaster also presents an opportunity for the GOP’s populist wing to further break from party orthodoxy and target corporate America. In this case, the easy target is Norfolk Southern, the railroad conglomerate that owned the derailed freight train.
........SNIP"
Applegrove:
This is the new GOP myth: they hate corporations too and they are of the people. What a bunch of ****. The GOP needs to support union power of shut er up. I can't wait to see how the Biden administration calls their bluff like they have been doing. First thing to do, get Republican groups to join Democratic groups to challenge Citizen United in the courts...... Bueller....Buehler.
= new reply since forum marked as read
