U.S. Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine) appeared Monday on the National Public Radio (NPR) sponsored Maine Calling radio show to discuss a variety of issues, including his recently proposed bills targeting China with tariffs, his changing position on gun control, and his opinions on the Israel-Hamas war.
[RELATED: Maine Rep Pushes for Increased Tariffs on Chinese Auto, Renewable Energy Imports…]
Although Rep. Golden was given a cordial reception by the show’s host, Jennifer Rooks, during his interview he was faced with far less amicable comments from listeners calling into the show.
The contention was largely over Golden’s continued support for Israel.
“I’m wondering, Representative Golden, why you continue to support sending weapons to Israel even though they are blatantly committing war crimes. I wonder if you can speak to how you can justify supporting war criminals,” said one woman calling in, supposedly from Bowdoin.
The woman did not give any examples of alleged war crimes, and Golden responded with a denial that they were happening at all.
“The entirety of my Palestinian family has died, and you continue to cosign this genocide that’s going on,” said another caller.
Golden responded by acknowledging the tragedy of civilian deaths, but called those deaths an unavoidable consequence of war, and hopes that if Hamas releases its hostages, a cease fire will follow close behind.
The two calls were followed by a slew of emails critical of his policies on Israel, most of which Rooks declined to read on air.
One emailed question accused Golden of taking large amounts of campaign funding from AIPAC, a coalition of American Jews who support Israel, and suggested that the funding was the real reason behind his support for Israel.
Golden disputed claims from Open Secrets, a group dedicated to following money in politics, that he has received over $114,000 dollars either directly or indirectly from AIPAC.
Golden claimed that Open Secrets was actually bundling money from individual sources, which unfairly skewed the numbers, and argued that Open Secrets is, on the whole, unreliable.
The question led Golden to criticize “dark money” donors, and the influence of money on politics in general.
[RELATED: Campus Protest Funders Also Donate to Top Maine Democrats…]
Despite his comments, Golden has received thousands of dollars in campaign funds from the family of George Soros, who is often involved in “dark money” political megadonor groups.
The final question about Israel came from a caller criticized Golden for taking money from pro-Israel sources and claimed that Israel has been using White Phosphorous as a weapon in Gaza.
“The facts are on my side,” said Golden “I’m just gonna stand by the fact that the numbers are inaccurate and highly misleading.”
As support for Israel has become an increasingly contentious issue among Democrats, with President Joe Biden withholding military aid from Israel in an attempt to stop it from invading Rafah, a city on the Southern boarder of Gaza which Israel believes is the last stronghold of Hamas.
Golden has opposed the president’s policy on Rafah, and maintained support for Israel despite the anger of large swaths of the Democrat base.
“I think that what makes the most sense in this situation is the return of all hostages taken by Hamas from Israel, many of whom are not Israelis,” said Golden, “All of whom should be released before there is talk of a ceasefire.”
He criticized Democrats for focusing on gaining votes from places like Michigan, which has a high Arab population, rather than the realities of the situation in Israel.
Prior to the contentious questions, the interview began with a discussion of Golden’s positions on gun control following the October 25 Lewiston Shooting, in which Robert Card murdered 18 people.
Golden, who has historically broken with his party and opposed many gun-control measures, changed his position following the shooting and expressed his support for laws that would ban the majority of assault rifles.
During the interview, Golden expressed his dissatisfaction with the Maine legislature’s recent gun control efforts, which he believed should have focused on assault weapons, rather than measures that would not have stopped the Lewiston shooting such as waiting periods and expanded background checks.
“I think they did the wrong things, I in some ways think they did too much, focused on the wrong things,” said Golden.
They then moved on to discuss Golden’s proposed tariffs, which would impose a 125 percent tax on cars originating in China, as Golden fears that China is planning to flood the U.S. with cheap electric cars as parts of the U.S. try to transition to the allegedly renewable vehicles, which would significantly damage the domestic auto industry.
That bill would also stop China from avoiding the tariffs by outsourcing their vehicle production to Mexico.
His other proposed anti-China bill would impose tariffs on any renewable energy components, such as solar panels, imported from China.
Golden pointed out that many of the anti-China tariffs are a bipartisan issue, as many of them were imposed by Former President Donald Trump, but were kept and expanded upon under the Biden administration.
Biden was, however, initially critical of Trump’s tariffs when he was running for office.
Golden advocated for an end to “free trade” between nations, as he believes that those policies have ultimately failed America, harmed the middle class, and damaged the U.S. economy.
He highlighted the 68,000 acres of Maine farmland owned by foreign investors, and argued that the U.S. needs to reestablish control of its own economy.
During the discussion, Golden explicitly endorsed a tariff measure which has been pushed by President Trump in his re-election campaign, and which would impose a baseline 10 percent tariff on all foreign imports.
“One of the key platforms of the Trump campaign is to put forward a ten percent, across the board tariff on all imports, which is a policy I’m going to be putting out in the form of my own legislation, and one that I have long supported,” said Golden.
While responding to a question about his tariff position from a listener, Golden expressed his concern that the U.S. relies on China, officially designated as a foreign adversary, for essential products such as pharmaceuticals.
“There are some things I just don’t think we should depend, I don’t feel safe depending on other countries for, and one of them is definitely medical, and specifically pharmaceutical,” said Golden.
There is still time for you also to join the Trump Train, But leave the 1st district home!
The NPR listeners need to take some lessons in Middle Eastern history and look at the facts. It has been documented that on Oct 7th Palestinians by the thousands followed their terrorists into Israel to murder and loot. As well, they had elected Hamas as their government. Why won’t neighboring Arab countries take in the Palestinians? Because they promote chaos and attempt to overthrow governments. As well, they should watch the videos that expose the atrocities committed by the terrorists.
Not one question on the transgender madness. Too bad
Standing next to aspiring tyrant Shenna Bellows is worse than standing with OR against Israel
Golden will go with whatever way the wind blows. Golden got upset because protestors showed up at his home. Where was he when they showed up at Justice Kavanaugh’s home? Where was he when BLM was burning cities down? Not a word. He is just like every other DemoRat/Marxists, he marches to the DemoRats drumbeat.