Hampton Roads asks "Where is Rep Kiggans?" (Part Two)
Kiggans still hasn't had a town hall - but is able to respond to this one.
[Check out part one here.]
It’s been a couple weeks since the “Where is Rep. Kiggans” Town Hall happened. She is still AWOL from her constituency who want a town hall, or some sort of way to actually get her to answer questions. Hundreds of Virginia Beach and Hampton Roads area citizens turned out to express their opinions on her following the Trump/DOGE line at the expense of their wallets and jobs.
She did respond to the town hall with a snide response though through local media outlets (I can’t find this anywhere on her social media). She responded by calling the hundreds of citizens that took time out of their day to show up to this event “phony paid protesters.” Right out of the right wing playbook, Kiggan’s office also blamed the “Soros Foundation who use “political terrorism” to advance their extreme left agenda.” Note that there is no such thing as the “Soros Foundation,” Soros’ foundation is called the Open Society Foundation. This Soros is behind everything is an anti-semitic trope has been a favorite of conservative politics for many years.
Now back to the speakers:
Virginia Beach resident and Rabbi Ellen Jaffe-Gill called out Kiggans religious hypocrisy saying, Kiggans was elected “in 2022 as an evangelical Christian. There is nothing Christian about her. There is nothing Christian about the entire Republican Party…”
Jaffe-Gill continued, “…the answer to the question, “What would Jesus do?” is exactly the opposite of what the Republican Party is doing.”
She also reminded the crowd of Commerce Secretary Lutnick’s comments on the potential of Social Security checks not being sent out and who would actually miss them. Lutnick claimed that, “My mother-in-law is 94. She wouldn’t call and complain. She just wouldn’t. She would think something got messed up and she’ll get it next month. A fraudster always makes the loudest noise screaming, yelling, and complaining.” “The easiest way to find a fraudster is to stop payments and listen,” he continued. “Whoever screamed is the one stealing.”
It might not be surprising that the mother-in-law of the billionaire Howard Lutnick might not miss her payment that she’s entitled to - but millions of others will. Social Security lifts 22 million people out of poverty according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, including nearly one million children.
Justin Burns, a public school teacher and a former candidate for the Virginia House of Delegates took the mic and pointed out a sign saying that there was “no mandate.” “There was no mandate to dismantle government, the institutions and norms that we rely on.”
Like everyone at this town hall, he was incensed that he was getting “canned response e-mails” from elected officials like Kiggans.
The final speaker of the town hall was Kimberly and her son Austin. Austin has multiple sclerosis, he is a wheel chair user. They rely on Medicaid for his medical care which the House GOP recently voted to slash by $880 billion. It would potentially kick hundreds of thousands off of Medicaid in Virginia.
Kimberly, told the hundreds of Kiggans constituency a heart-braking story about her son’s medical condition:
My son was 16 when he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, very progressive in this… he relies on a medication that literally to live because he has lesions on his brainstem and spine. The brainstem controls your heartbeat and your breathing, things that we don’t think about And the medication stops him from getting another lesion on his brain. So literally, without this medication it is sentencing him to a very to a very terrible fate. He relies on Medicaid to provide that essential infusion medication so that his heart doesn't stop and his breathing doesn't stop.
