Hurricane Florence is bearing down on the East Coast and stands poised to visit widespread destruction when it makes landfall this Friday. The storm is already rated a Category 4 and is being monitored as one of the most powerful hurricanes to hit the East Coast in decades.
President Trump, of course, has a terrible track record when it comes to preparing for and responding to natural disasters. His administration completely botched the Puerto Rico relief efforts in the wake of Hurricane Maria, and the death toll is now estimated to be as high as almost 3,000 people, a stunning loss of innocent life.
While one sincerely hopes that Trump handles Hurricane Florence better, his inability to even so much as admit that Puerto Rico was mishandled doesn’t inspire confidence. As recently as today he lauded his team’s response to Maria as “incredibly successful.” The simple fact is that he doesn’t care about dead Americans because he can simply gaslight the country and deny the reality of his failures.
Today, Trump spoke to the press about the hurricane. Surrounded by posters outlining the path of Hurricane Florence, he made the completely inane observation that the storm is “tremendously big and tremendously wet.” It’s a hurricane. Of course it’s big and wet.
The president sounded more like a child giving a science report on something they don’t really understand rather than the leader of a nation bracing for a massive natural disaster. It was a stark reminder that we are in very poor hands.
TRUMP sounds the alarm about Hurricane Florence during Oval Office press availability: "They haven't seen anything like what's coming at us in 25, 30 years, maybe ever. It's tremendously big and tremendously wet." pic.twitter.com/p5YljZK8oL
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 11, 2018
Trump on lessons learned from last year's hurricane in Puerto Rico, where the federal govt initially drastically undercounted the death toll of nearly 3,000 people: "I think Puerto Rico was incredibly successful…I actually think it was 1 of the best jobs that's ever been done." pic.twitter.com/kNLO3qYWvU
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 11, 2018
TRUMP on how FEMA specifically plans to help states affected by Florence: "They will be coming in to the various states that will be affected. They will be coming in very strongly. They are already lining up… they will be in great shape." pic.twitter.com/IFXT505MxU
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 11, 2018
