So the man who proposed cuts to FEMA in his budget landed in flood-ravaged Texas today to appear “Presidential," while torrents of rain continue to inundate Houston and are taking aim at Louisiana, while levees are bursting, dams are overflowing and thousands of people remain trapped or are still being warned to evacuate at all costs.
And for someone who hasn’t bothered to fill several of the top posts in the agencies responsible for coping with this disaster, it must have seemed like the perfect time to to don a windbreaker and mouth some platitudes about the incredible response effort.
But it’s not such good timing, because this crisis is still going on. In many areas it’s getting worse. All Trump is doing at this point is obtaining a photo-op for himself, while siphoning some of the state and local officials and law enforcement that would otherwise be out in the field coordinating the recovery, simply so his entourage stays safe and dry.
While Trump isn’t actually going to Houston, but to Corpus Christie and Austin, wherever he goes will unnecessarily divert time and efforts better spent helping the actual victims of this disaster. And it doesn’t help that he is bringing half of his Cabinet with him:
According to the White House, the following people are expected to attend the Corpus Christi briefing: Department of Homeland Security acting Secretary Elaine Duke, Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, Small Business Administration Administrator Linda McMahon, and FEMA Administrator Brock Long.
That’s a whole lot of police protection that could be busy saving people’s lives.
None other than conservative Jennifer Rubin thinks this was lousy timing:
By visiting right now, before the rains have even ended, Trump necessarily imposes burdens on state officials. The Los Angeles Times reports:
Trump hopes to show himself as a leader of action and efficiency. But his visit poses its own potential problems. Law enforcement, medical and other emergency officials are often wary of diverting critical resources to presidential security and logistics while major relief operations are still underway.
Presidential visits require ordering hospitals on stand-by, closing air space and supplementing federal security detail with state and local officers.
Of course Trump's handlers want to avoid the criticism heaped on George W. Bush for that famously ill-conceived photo aboard Air Force One where he was shown viewing the devastation of Katrina from 10,000 feet. That photo, combined with the staggering incompetence of Bush’s FEMA Director Michael Brown, initiated a downward spiral for his Presidency from which Bush never recovered. Since then, every President knows to carefully to tread the line between appearing too distant and actively interfering with the rescue and recovery effort.
But if Trump were actually paying attention to what was happening in Texas right now, rather than preening himself in the mirror for his close-up in a few hours, he might realize that the best way to actually help the situation would have been to turn Marine One around and head back to Washington where he actually has the power to accomplish something.
[R]ather than rush to the cameras, maybe Trump should start filling empty slots at DHS, rule out the need for offsets (as Republicans did in prior natural disasters) and figure out how he’s going to keep the government open after the end of next month. (Hint: Drop the demand for funding the useless wall and rebuild Houston instead.)
But of course he wouldn’t do that. It’s not in his nature to think about anyone but himself.
From the comments, case in point—Trump taking two fire trucks out of action to be used instead as props.