THE UN-AMERICANS

A hot mike only added to the troubles Rep. David Trott (R-Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills) found himself in when he finally held a town hall for his constituents on Saturday, March 18. Trott has been criticized for not holding any town halls of late, and not being available at his district’s office to meet with people from the district. So, when the doors to the Suburban Collection Showplace in Novi opened on Saturday, March 18, for the one-hour event that started at 8 a.m., up to 1,000 were there, despite heavy snow – and hundreds were left out in the snow. While they loudly expressed their preference – or not – for Obamacare, education, budget cuts, and numerous other issues, the angriest reaction was when Trott said, “The American military was ‘the weakest it’s ever been,’ his justification for upping the military spending, funded by cuts to discretionary spending elsewhere in the budget. “That’s saying our military is unprepared and can’t take care of Americans,” said one noted Oakland County Democrat, who also took issue with Trott cherry-picking his questions. “You represent everyone in your district, and you treat them all the same. It’s not your job to cull the questions. It’s your job to respond to everyone, not just to Republicans, but to Democrats and the unaffiliated. Mr. Trott should know that – he’s been elected twice.” A hot mike left on as Trott was leaving the town hall caught him talking with aide Stu Sandler, who admitted to the congressmen that he had thrown out some constituents’ questions and then stated that they would take the crowd’s booing of funding for the military and write a different story, and “we’re going to promote the shit out of that,” adding “It’s un-American crap,” according to a broadcast tape of the event and The Washington Post. Trott hit the national airwaves with Fox television following the town hall and proceeded to write off the opposition in the room as “ Bernie Sanders socialists.” Remember, these are Trott’s constituents.