Trump promises quick recovery in Texas
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — With flag-waving optimism, President Donald Trump answered Harvey’s wrath Tuesday by offering in-person assurances to those in the storm zone that his administration will work tirelessly to help the region recover from the massive flooding and storm-inflicted destruction.
“We are going to get you back and operating immediately,” Trump told a crowd that gathered outside a Corpus Christi fire station about 30 miles from where the storm made landfall Friday.
For all of his eagerness to get the federal disaster response right, though, Trump missed clear opportunities to strike a sympathetic note for multitudes who are suffering. The president did not mention those who died in the storm or those forced from their homes by its floodwaters. And he basked in the attention of cheering supporters outside the fire station where officials briefed him on the recovery.
“What a crowd, what a turnout,” Trump declared before waving a Texas flag from atop a stepladder positioned between two firetrucks. “This is historic. It’s epic what happened, but you know what, it happened in Texas, and Texas can handle anything.”
The president kept his distance from the epicenter of the damage in Houston to avoid disrupting recovery operations. But he plans to return to the region Saturday, and Vice President Mike Pence will visit as well.
What little damage Trump saw — boarded-up windows, downed tree limbs and fences askew — was through the tinted windows of his SUV as his motorcade ferried him from the Corpus Christi airport to the firehouse in a city that’s already nearly back to normal.
Then it was on to his next stop, Austin, to meet with officials at the state emergency operations center.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Trump showed “genuine compassion” on the short flight to Austin as they watched video footage of the flooding in Houston. “The president was heartbroken by what he saw,” the governor said.
But Ari Fleischer, who served as press secretary to former President George W. Bush, said there was something missing from Trump’s remarks in Corpus Christi: “Empathy for the people who suffer.”
“The first thing he should have said was that his heart goes out to those people in Houston who are going through this, and that the government is here to help them recover,” Fleischer told Fox News Channel.
But in Rockport, about 20 miles outside Corpus Christi, John Murray had a pair of boards in front of his hair salon spray-painted with “Bet They Blame Trump.”
“He could go for a walk and they’d find something to complain about,” like jaywalking, Murray said.
Trump, wearing a black rain slicker emblazoned with a presidential seal, traveled with first lady Melania Trump and Cabinet secretaries who will play key roles in the recovery. Mrs. Trump traded in her usual stiletto heels for a pair of white sneakers and wore a black cap that read “FLOTUS,” an acronym for “first lady of the United States.”
In a statement, the first lady said that “what I found to be the most profound during the visit was not only the strength and resilience of the people of Texas, but the compassion and sense of community that has taken over the state.”