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Uncounted millions of views on social media, picked up by national news network
By Paul Bean
Rep. Becca Balint (D-VT), Vermont’s first woman and openly LGBTQ+ member of Congress, ignited a viral firestorm of controversy following a remark made during a town hall in Newport Last week, claiming that without a path to get more immigrants here that we would not have anyone left to ‘wipe our a**es.’
VDC estimates our clip has been viewed 2.5 million times on X alone and millions more on national television.
What Balint was trying to say is that without increased immigration, there wouldn’t be enough people to perform essential jobs, for example in nursing homes where there is a shortage of workers in Vermont.
Her choice of words has drawn criticism from political opponents and sparked heated debate across the state and beyond.
“What a strange, dehumanizing thing to say” wrote Texas Senator Ted Cruz, sharing our clip which was also shared on the massive X account Libs of Tiktok. The video there now has 537.5K views.
“So did that…sound better in her head?” writes Utah Senator Mike Lee.
The video was initially posted to the Chronicle’s X page, where I and many more started to share it around with some of our contacts. With help from Vermont Republicans, we were able to get this video on the RNC Research X page. From there the video absolutely exploded.
The video also made primetime Fox News yesterday evening as well as Jesse Waters’ 8 PM news and commentary program. We will post those clips as soon as they are available.
Balint emphasized what she calls a need for legal pathways for immigrants to work and settle in the U.S., arguing that labor shortages are currently hurting our workforce, especially in Vermont.
However, her phrasing, which referenced a lack of workers to “wipe our a**es,” was deemed offensive by some, who interpreted it as reducing immigrants to menial labor roles.
Yesterday, at Governor Scott’s weekly press conference I asked him what Vermont was doing to ensure our nursing homes are staffed. “I actually think the nursing homes are doing a pretty good job at this point. We have increased their numbers, we’ve seen an increase in bed space availability over the last year or two. So I want to make sure that we recognize the hard work that they’re doing and the ground that they’ve made up,” said Governor Scott.
“Again we’re facing a workforce crisis in every single sector whether it’s healthcare or education or in transportation or in the trades, it’s everywhere. So the only way as I said earlier and said in my remarks, we need to turn our demographics around. I think one way to do that is to provide housing as well as make it more affordable in Vermont to live here,” he continued.
He also said he thought Becca’s remarks were “a poor choice of words.”
Vermont Republican Party Chairman Paul Dame condemned Balint’s statement, calling for an apology not only for the “crude choice of words” but also for what he described as a “disturbing sentiment” that implies immigrants are primarily valued for low-skill labor. “At the heart of these remarks is an opinion so offensive and so profoundly out of touch that it reveals a fundamental lack of respect for those who come to this country—abiding by the rules—in pursuit of freedom, opportunity, and a better life,” Dame said in a statement.
Balint told Fox News Digital Tuesday that in the last four months, the Trump administration “has repeatedly wrongfully detained, deported, and disappeared people – an immoral violation of fundamental human rights…He has made immigrants, regardless of status, feel unsafe and targeted all around the country. As Vermonters, we’re so proud that we are seen as a safe place to land. I’m unwavering in my position that immigrants and refugees are welcome in Vermont and that every worker in every job deserves dignity and fair wages, from doctors and scientists to carpenters and farmworkers…I’ve relentlessly condemned the Trump administration’s cruel practices targeting and separating immigrant families, and I will continue to stand up for the rights of every person in this country.”
The Chronicle’s efforts to reach Balint’s office have been unsuccessful.
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Turn it around and make it all about Trump but don’t apologies for your disgraceful remarks. Hey Becca maybe we could just claim the immigrants are slaves next and start buying and selling for throne duty!
Under the guise of Vermont non thinking voting practices we have reduced ourselves to this trash as representative of Vermont leadership. Do we deserve better? I think probably not as she will be elevated soon to senatorial status post Bernie.
Doesn’t look like sanity will return in the near term. Unless of course she continues to expose her well thought through verbal abilities on the national stage. In addition, there will be a ton of untraceable PAC money coming her way just in case .
Exactly! Mystery Money! We have got to step up and fight!
She forgot to wear her sign, see if she had to wear a sign, Vermonters would have known, not to vote for her.
This so-called Ludicrous Congresswoman is nothing more than a moon Bat period!!
Wake up Vermonters wake up!!
She sure displayed her true colors.
She should hire an immigrant to wipe her mouth.
Is Balint trying to be a duplicate AOC?
Just further evidence that there is something seriously wrong with Balint. Unbalanced and dysfunctional. Ironically, she revealed how little respect she has for other people, especially migrants, and all the honorable and hard work they do for America. She’s a buffoon and it’s embarrassing to have her represent us. Time for her to get a real job.
Balint would make ,maybe a good ass wiper???
Yes! And that comment is also a back-handed insult to all the people who currently work in nursing homes and who do waaaaay more than change diapers (to put it in a more appropriate term). What ignorance and disrespect.
Thanks, Becca. You’ve embarrassed everyone. Now please leave so we can find a suitable replacement. Perhaps someone who is not a racist or considers herself a “mean little dyke”. Perhaps someone who is interested in promoting the Constitution, rather than herself might replace you.
She wants to use taxpayer funding on illegal immigrants. Only to use the immigrants as toilet paper holders. Came directly from her mouth. She received funds from FTX customer funding. Should’ve been investigated. We want leaders with courage and conviction for the good. We need leaders that stand out for Vermont and our country. No more Becca’s.
Guessing her speech writer was too busy celebrating Pride Month to focus on acceptable language
Yes! She absolutely doesn’t represent most of Vermont! We need to get rid of these people who are so narrow minded and don’t realize they were elected to represent all their Constituents whether they believe in what we WANT/NEED or not! Vermonters spoke loud and clear in November! We want illegal aliens removed from our Country! We don’t want any of these WOKE AGENDAS integrated into our lives. We don’t want gender anything taught to our Children in school. We want our children to learn the basics like schools were meant to teach. We don’t want them to be taught to pass a test we want them to actually learn. Real History, Civics etc! We told all our elected officials this at the Polls yet they continue to ignore us! I guess we need to speak louder at the mid-terms!!!
Pretty elitist statement doncha think? I believe I now have a better understanding of exactly why her party supports illegal immigration and it has very little to do with compassion for their fellow humans. More like exploitation and it is exactly why immigration must be managed.Arriving here illegally and living in fear puts people at the mercy of those needing their butts wiped…. like Ms. Balint. Just my opinion of course.
Don’t come here illegally and they won’t have to worry about that. I haven’t seen anyone working in the Nursing Home I went to that seemed to be illegal. I saw hard working Vermonters who chose to care for patients there! I’m sure they don’t mind wiping asses at all but that is a tiny part of all they do! Balint’s comment is totally disrespectful and disparaging to them!
She is a total embarrassment to Vermont and her Citizens!
She is unique. She has an ability that is quite rare in politics in that she can, and quite often does insult both sides of an issue . Can you imagine if Rand Paul had said this ? It would have been the lead story on NBC, CBS, ABC, MSNBC, CNN, and PBS .
Seems to me, Balint’s remark was much more than a “poor choice of words”. That statement speaks to her character and I, for one, am ashamed to admit that she is one of Vermont’s reps. I hope people are more selective the next time they vote!
If she had used the words,” Groomsman of the Stool”, maybe it would have sounded a little better? Butt, maybe not!
Margarita said she no do windows or wipe democRAT a$$es. When they call people dreamers, it do not think wiping butts is part of their dream.
Exactly. The stated reason for migration according to the World Bank and United Nations is because developing and third world nations will not make the transition to AI in the post labor economy. They needed to migrate to wealthy Western nations to take advantage of benefit programs. The truth is that ultimately most people will loose their jobs to AI and automation.
After Balint shoves it in the Vermonters backside, she will become a star or talk show host on TEL. LIE VISION. like the Bush family daughter. Vermont is just a stepping stone for her future career.
I’d say that she has a future on “The View” but she’s too skinny !
Could John Bossange or Kevin Ellis please send in a short essay to help me understand how the words that went out of her mouth, “if we don’t have avenues to come here legally to work or to build a home here… We’re not going to have anyone around to wipe our a$$es because we dont’ have enough people”. to what she really ment, What Balint was trying to say is that without increased immigration, there wouldn’t be enough people to perform essential jobs, for example in nursing homes where there is a shortage of workers in Vermont. Her statement was nothing about worker shortages, it was about a$$ wiping.
“Words mean things”. – Rush Limbaugh
In Balint’s statement she used the word “legally”, but the fact is she doesn’t care if it’s LEGAL or not. If she did, she wouldn’t be so critical of the current Federal crackdown in Vermont and across the nation.
Listen, the Dems have had a majority in the US Congress with a Dem Pres. and they choose not to fix this issue. However, Pres. D. Trump in his 1st term made a bold proposal to issue Green Cards to Illegals who did not commit crimes and were willing to be complaint with US Laws and I believe learn English. However, there would be NO path to citizenship since they came here illegally; he did want to reward their illegal actions.
One can wonder as to why they wold agree to help the very people they pine for? They lose there ready made voters!
The courts and dems have been working overtime to destroy our democracy. Prior to Khalifa Obama illegal immigrants could not be counted in the census. His Exec. Order put them in the count. When Pres. Trump took Office his Exec. Order to undo the Khalifa Obama’s was overruled by the courts. hence we now know one of the true purpose of Biden’s 11 Million new illegals. this is one area the Republicans should pass a law excluding them; they upset the True American congressional seating.
I really have to question the “staffing crisis” as I have been looking for employment for some time. There is very little professional employment. Most available jobs pay low wages. I applied for a State job with DCF that was part time (20 hours). It offered no benefits. The best
part time employment option i could find was with the post office as a federal employee. These jobs paid far better than most State or private sector jobs and offered full benefits to part time employees.
She was insulting NEK people as well as immigrants. Apparently she thinks we talk that way. Apologize or resign.
I suggest she do both-apologize AND resign. Even before this she hasn’t impressed me in many ways. We deserve better in her position. I don’t think the LGBT, etc. should be happy with her representation either.
She needs to be DOGED! Get her Elon!
The only immigrants that are worried and scared are the ones that are here illegally and are criminals in this country. And human rights are not even in the picture; especially for the U.S. citizens rights to feel safe in Their own country. And illegal immigrants are just that. They are not citizens and have no rights except for being treated humanly as they are kicked out of the country that they entered illegally.
Scott: “I actually think the nursing homes are doing a pretty good job at this point. We have increased their numbers, we’ve seen an increase in bed space availability over the last year or two. ” Who is paying for the beds – empty or not? Who is collecting the money to house the infirmed elderly/disabled and who is responsible for their care? What is the truth?
“In 2025, the cost of nursing home care in Vermont is among the highest in the United States, with semi-private rooms averaging $14,099 per month and private rooms averaging $15,664 per month, according to SeniorLiving.org. Vermont’s costs are significantly higher than the national average for both semi-private and private rooms. ”
“The Vermont Ombudsman Project is required to report on conditions in
long-term care facilities and the quality of long-term care. Below are the top
concerns for Local Ombudsmen:
1) A lack of sufficient staffing for nursing facilities or home health care;
2) Inadequate coordination between facilities and home health agencies
before a facility discharges a resident to the community;
3) Facilities transferring their residents to the hospital because they feel
they cannot take care of them;
4) The poor quality of food for care recipients;
5) A lack of access to physical therapy; and
6) A lack of compassionate and skilled care for individuals with mental
health challenges who need long-term care.
Long-term care is not affordable or accessible in Vermont. According to a
national survey conducted by AARP, Vermont is in the bottom-half of the
country in terms of affordability and access to long-term care services at
home and in nursing facilities.”
https://vtlegalaid.org/sites/vtlegalaid/files/publications/FY2024-Vermont-Long-Term-Care-Ombudsman-Project-%28limited-accessibility%29.pdf
Yes, Becca Balint acts like an entitled twit. Yet, an issue got pulled into this fray and per usual – the Panderer-In-Charge white washed it. The facts and experiences speak volumes over lies and omissions.
Release the epstein files
And she was in Newport, a border town.
As usual, most of the commenters do little more than whine, moan, pi-s and fart about Balint’s language but ignore the underlying substance of her remarks. I don’t like Balint, but the she correctly pointed out that that Congress has done absolutely nothing in the direction of enacting the comprehensive immigration reform that has been sorely needed for decades. Several decades ago the late Teddy Kennedy and Orrin Hatch put forth such a package of reforms intended to increase the the number of temporary work visas, generally streamline and speed up the work visa and entire legal immigration process. Unfortunately, the far right “Freedom Caucus” types and the Far Left “open border” types blocked that legislation. Thus we have the current divisive mess. Remember folks, you voted for some of those idiots.
Same people who complain about Reagan closing mental wards. These things happened decades ago and yet no one with a brain has showed up with easy solutions to be voted for b/c the world is all the stage for the drama class. Feelings first, hard work tabled for some never-arriving later date.
There is no easy solution b/c of endless can-kicking. Therefore, all we have now is the battle between cry-babies and mob types. We can’t fix anything without “oppressing” someone.
Maybe there could have been meaningful conversation if the issue was discussed with the public. This would have needed to occur prior to opening the boarder and then gaslighting the public that the boarder was secure. The previous administration used tax payer funds to pay for the migrants to get here, working with cartels, and the United Nations and its army of stakeholders to bring 13 million migrants into the country in a short 4 year period. Add further injury by making taxpayers pay the housing, food and other expenses for this population. When my grandparents came to America, taxpayers didn’t provide them with housing and food for five years. Immigrants were required to care for and support themselves. No one is against immigration reform per say, but exactly what type of reform do you reference, open boarders?
That’s because most Americans don’t believe anyone who came here illegally has a right to have a path to Citizenship! They need to be deported period!
Those that want to become Citizens legally should still be vetted intensively! We also need to cut back on work Visas… there are Americans who do this jobs so we don’t need to have people come here on Special Visas for these jobs!
They voted against those earlier bills for a good reason!
When you have one county in the state, deciding who’s going to represent, you tells you what’s wrong with Vermont. I left 15 years ago because of its political biased I ever go back no. Citizens of Vermont need to wake up so they’re gonna lose everything it’s gonna be a little California.
The ironic gatekeepers of the hi-tech futuristic investment class are pushing for the perpetual underground railroad that never evens out anything except to create more riders on their endless train.
crude and embarrassing for our state. she should be replaced.
For the life of me, I don’t understand why we keep sending Democrat’s to Washington, and after they get there… others have to wipe up their crap?
It happens over and over, and under… again and again.
When will we ever learn?
They sure are full of crap…in all due respect.
I got a better idea ,swap toilet paper, for the paper ballot and let’s all jointly wipe them right out of office.
No more Klingon’s… Vote (WIPE) them out !
Where did this woman come from?
I don’t know if she is from VT
Balint came to America from Germany to NY state then to Vermont.
Immigrate huh KG?
this is what you get when you
elect flatlanders to represent us.
I grew up here and was taught to be self reliant.
I’ll wipe my own, thank you.
WOW, FORTY FOUR COMMENTS and now do you think she really cares about what you think about her??????
Paul Bean’s story is on the front page of this weekend’s Newport Daily Express: https://newportvermontdailyexpress.pressreader.com/the-newport-daily-express
Balint has done the near-impossible: plunged public discourse and standards of decency to levels even lower than they already were. What a feat!
Her comments might appeal to others of her ilk who wallow in the “progressive” gutter, but to those with higher standards who expect better behavior from an elected official, they stink!
“Balint emphasized what she calls a need for legal pathways for immigrants to work and settle in the U.S.”
Does she not understand that pathways exist for legal immigration? Is she that stupid? Am I missing something?
Even Megyn Kelly gave her a shout out while basically laughing at her lack of decency. Horrible person.