Michigan Rep. and chair of the House Republican Conference Lisa McClain ridiculed “deranged” Democrats calling them “out of touch” for highlighting stories of fired federal workers, rather than those killed by undocumented immigrants or drug overdoses.
McClain also decried constituents who “hijack” Republicans’ town halls, as well as Democratic lawmakers who are setting up websites so that fired workers can share their stories of how actions or policies put in place by Trump, Musk, DOGE, and others have affected them.
McClain was whining about those defending fired workers on the same day that another 50 federal workers were fired from Detroit and Ann Arbor VA hospitals, including individuals involved in security, transportation services, veteran outreach and those responsible for cleaning and sterilizing surgical equipment.
The federal firings are disproportionately affecting veterans, who make up about 30% of the federal workforce.
One of those fired workers from the Ann Arbor VA hospital was Andrew Lennox, 35, a Marine Corps veteran who deployed to war zones such as Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria.
“They just spend so much time and effort trying to help our country, whether it’s our nurses, our doctors, our administrators ― the people that are driving veterans to their appointments, or people that left the private sector to make less money,” Lennox said of those he worked with.
Lennox said he was angry, and “from that side of the aisle, it’s been pretty tone deaf. … They’re the people who put, ‘Support Our Troops’ in their campaign slogans, and now they’re laughing when a veteran loses their job.”
Lennox from Mother Jones:
When asked when he began his job at the VA in December if he was worried about job cuts:
This is the VA. We are going to be at the very end of the list. And it might sound kind of selfish, but I thought, I’m a vet. I’m safe. It’s in my paperwork that I’m protected from a reduction in force because it’s something they have to take into account when choosing who to let go.
People from my past, throughout my Marine Corps career, even people that are on, say, the other political side of this situation are like: Man, I can’t believe this. When we thought of stuff like this happening, we never thought it’d be someone like you.
