The State of the Union is supposed to be a president’s report to Congress, and Rep. Eugene Vindman was clear Friday afternoon about how he would grade President Donald Trump’s report from earlier last week.
“I would give him an ‘F,’” said the Democrat, whose 7th District includes the Fredericksburg area.
Vindman made the comment to the Free Press at the Stafford County Government Center, where he presented a check for more than $1 million to the Stafford Sheriff’s Office to replace 345 mobile radios in patrol vehicles.
The congressman worked with local officials to solicit a request for the federal funding, move the associated project forward and make sure the grant was included in the appropriations bill Trump recently signed into law.
He said the first year of Trump’s second term was characterized by chaos, cruelty and corruption.
“Nothing on the fourth ‘C,’ which is costs, and very little addressed on how to make lives of American people and Virginians better,” said Vindman, who brought his twin brother, Alexander Vindman, to the State of the Union speech as his guest. Alexander Vindman is running as a Democrat for a U.S. Senate seat from Florida.
Rep. Vindman noted that the Supreme Court ruled recently that Trump’s tariffs were illegal, and he said the president is “completely discounting” the notion of affordability, which is “hammering people across Stafford” and across Central Virginia as they see high housing prices and increasing utility bills.
“That’s all just the domestic stuff,” he said. “Don’t get me started on the foreign policy stuff. We could be literally days away from a major war in the Middle East.”
He said Trump hasn’t laid out a rationale for a potential war with Iran, and that the president’s administration has been lying about the subject.
On the other hand, Vindman praised his 7th District predecessor, Abigail Spanberger. Now governor of Virginia, Spanberger delivered the Democratic response to the State of the Union from Colonial Williamsburg.
Vindman said he watched the governor’s speech early Wednesday morning after getting home from the U.S. Capitol.
“I think she did a magnificent job,” he said. “She laid out the case about the president’s failings and the three ‘C’s’ I previously mentioned. And she talked about a common-sense, Virginia way that is very reasonable to move forward.”
Vindman said he was proud of Spanberger, and that “she learned everything she knows from Virginia’s 7th Congressional District.”
Federal grants
The congressman visited Caroline County earlier Friday. There, in Stafford, he presented an oversized check to the sheriff’s office that represents a grant to pay for replacing radio equipment for that department and for Caroline Fire and Rescue. The check was for $967,000.
Rep. Eugene Vindman, left, presents a check for a federal grant to Caroline County Sheriff Scott Moser. (Photo courtesy of the Caroline County Sheriff’s Office)
Caroline Sheriff Scott Moser expressed his gratitude just as Stafford Sheriff David Decatur did.
“This grant is absolutely huge for Caroline County,” Moser said in a prepared statement. “Reliable communication is the backbone of public safety. Our deputies and firefighters rely on this equipment every single day to respond to emergencies, coordinate efforts and protect lives. Congressman Vindman and his team understood the critical importance of this need and worked with us to make it happen.”
