Veterans confront vulnerable NJ Dem at town hall: ‘Are you helping me? No’

FIRST ON FOX: Vulnerable Democrat Rep. Tom Malinowski of New Jersey faced some criticism from veteran constituents during a recent town hall.

At a veterans town hall in Glen Gardner, New Jersey, Malinowski —who is one of the most vulnerable Democrats seeking re-election — was chewed out by unhappy attendees.

“Nobody’s above the law. You’ve got illegal immigrants crossing our border. Are they above the law?” one veteran asked.

“No,” Malinowski replied.

“Then how come they aren’t arrested? That’s federal law. They’re all over the country. How does that feel to a vet who bled for this country, and you spit at? Right back to Vietnam,” the veteran said.

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The same veteran would later rhetorically ask,”So are you helping me?” before answering for the congressman. “No.”

“You’re making my life worse,” the veteran said. “… You have accountability. You have the purse strings, you pay the bills.”

“One of the big things Vietnam veterans have is incompetence. We hate incompetence. You never served. Incompetence means if I have an incompetent person in my platoon, I die today,” the veteran said.

The veteran’s comments followed Malinowski saying he “advertise[s] for business” and inviting the veteran to his congressional office, saying, “If you’re going through a nightmare like that, give us a chance. Come to my office. At least you got another group of people advocating for you.” 

A spokesperson for Malinowski told Fox News Digital that the veteran was not criticizing Malinowski and that his frustration was with the Department of Veterans Affairs, adding that the congressman agrees with him.

In another conversation, Malinowski said what Democrats “were successful at is saving all those jobs, and rescuing almost all of those businesses.”

“That’s a lie. That is a lie,” a veteran interrupted. “I lost my business. Please don’t lie.”

“I said almost, almost,” Malinowski replied. “Sorry about that.”

“The pipelines were closed down, and the president sold oil to China,” another constituent said.

Malinowski replied that the U.S. has “been selling oil to China for the last 20 years.”

“Yeah but in this crisis, he shouldn’t be doing that,” the veteran replied, to which Malinowski responded it “doesn’t actually make a difference to the price of gas.”

“I didn’t say anything about the price, sir,” the constituent fired back.

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Amid the critical midterm election season Democrats find themselves in, Malinowski has made questionable comments that may come back to haunt him.

The congressman made headlines earlier this year when he called parental concerns about progressive ideology in kids’ classrooms a “fringe movement” of “made-up cultural bulls—-.”

Malinowski has also made headlines this year for continuing to make massive stock trades even as he faces down a congressional ethics investigation after failing to disclose hundreds of thousands of dollars in trades.

Kitchen table issues like the economy and education will play a major role in the midterm elections this November.

Houston Keene is a reporter for Fox News Digital. You can find him on Twitter at @HoustonKeene.