Ben Bergquam was on location in East Palestine, OH, to further evaluate the government’s response to the crisis there and to get some interviews of the community members who are most affected by the massive chemical spill into the air and water supply in the little rural town.
Bergquam had been in the area at the end of February and reported on the condition of the water there and the mysterious dead animals along the waterway:
During his most recent visit to check the water, Bergquam met a man named Clifford, who said he had gone to the area to investigate the ground and water on his own because he couldn’t trust most of the media. Seeing Bergquam’s hat, Clifford said that there was one network he was used to hearing play in the background at his family home and that his mother had trusted for accurate information- and that network was… Real America’s Voice.
Watch the exchange:
Real America’s Voice has sent Bergquam to the area numerous times to report what is happening from the people’s point of view on the ground.
That is not how most media handles the situation and certainly not how the Biden administration is handling the problems.
Noticeably to political watchers, the area of the train derailment and the following disaster is a relatively ‘red’ area with people who are ‘working-class conservatives.
The idea that the government has been slow to assist the area and the people due to their political beliefs is gaining traction with people, as Frontline America reported on Wednesday, as even a Bernie Sanders supporter identified that the people in the area were being ignored, and that was wrong:
Because of public pressure, Republicans in the US House began investigating why the Biden administration was so slow to response to the people of East Palestine, OH.
In his testimony before Congress, US Senator from Ohio JD Vance accused Thursday’s federal government and media of being slow to respond to the toxic train derailment in East Palestine because the people living there “have the wrong politics.”
Vance made the remark on Capitol Hill as Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw is being grilled by lawmakers over his company’s handling of the Feb. 3 disaster near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border.
It took 20 days for Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to show up on-scene at the dangerous derailment site, prompting an investigation by the House Oversight Committee into his “apathy.”
A CNN journalist also has categorized East Palestine on-air as a “hardcore Trump country” after the former president captured more than 70 percent of the vote in Columbiana County in the 2020 election.
“I think that our leadership, our media and our politicians were slow to respond to this crisis, in part because a certain segment of our leadership feels like the people of East Palestine are a little out of style. They have the wrong politics,” Vance said. “They’re a little too rural, maybe a little too White.”
Watch:
For more on that, read Fox News:
Norfolk Southern’s CEO apologized to Congress on Thursday and pledged millions of dollars to help East Palestine, Ohio, recover from the fiery hazardous materials train derailment as senators investigate rail safety and the Biden administration’s response to the disaster.
“I am deeply sorry for the impact this derailment has had on the people of East Palestine and surrounding communities, and I am determined to make it right,” CEO Alan Shaw said in prepared remarks released ahead of the Senate Environment and Public Works panel hearing.