Unhinged Republican Congressman Backs Off Comments to Nuke Gaza
Jose Nino
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On March 31, 2024, Michigan Congressman Tim Walberg walked back comments that Gaza should be treated “like Hiroshima and Nagasaki.” He said that the comments were not literal, going back on comments that many viewed as an endorsement of the use of nuclear weapons.
Walberg made those remarks during a town hall meeting with constituents the week prior, with a video achieving virality shortly after. He stated that the US “shouldn’t be spending a dime on humanitarian aid” in the Israel-Hamas conflict and that Gaza “should be like Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Get it over quick. The same should be in Ukraine.”
In a statement he released on March 31, Walberg said his comments were simply a metaphor.
“As a child who grew up in the Cold War era, the last thing I’d advocate for would be the use of nuclear weapons,” he stated. “In a shortened clip, I used a metaphor to convey the need for both Israel and Ukraine to win their wars as swiftly as possible, without putting American troops in harms way.
“My reasoning was the exact opposite of what is being reported: The quicker these wars end, the fewer innocent lives will be caught in the crossfire,” he added. “The sooner Hamas and Russia surrender, the easier it will be to move forward. The use of this metaphor, along with the removal of context, distorted my message, but I fully stand by our allies.”
The nuclear bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, effectively ended the Pacific theater of World War II. These bombings killed roughly between 130,000 and 230,000 people, per academic estimates. Modern nuclear weapons are roughly 80 times more potent than the 1940s bombs.
The comments came at a time when over 34,000 Palestinians have perished in the Israel-Hamas conflict, with roughly all of the population of Gaza — roughly 2.3 million — have been displaced from their homes. Several thousand Palestinians, per the United Nations, face famine conditions due to how the Israeli government has limited humanitarian aid entering into Gaza.
These comments are psychotic to say the least. They represent the fanatic pro-Zionist wing of the GOP, which needs to be overthrown if there is going to be an America First revolution in our lifetime.
In an ideal world, these types would be relieved of the burden of holding higher office, while America First nationalists, who believe in the ideas of foreign policy realism and restraint, take over the party and fundamentally alter foreign policy.
This will not happen overnight but we have to start somewhere.
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