Trump pitches in at shelter for Harvey victims

President Donald Trump cupped a boy’s face in his hands and then gave him a high-five. He snapped on latex gloves to hand out boxed lunches of hot dogs and potato chips. And he loaded relief supplies into vehicles, patted storm victims on the shoulder and declared the work “good exercise.”

An upbeat and optimistic president visited with victims of Harvey on Saturday, touring a Houston megashelter housing hundreds of displaced people and briefly walking streets lined with soggy, discarded possessions. Trump met the scene with positivity, congratulating officials on an emergency response still in progress and telling reporters that he’d seen “a lot of love” and “a lot of happiness” in the devastation the storm left behind.

“As tough as this was, it’s been a wonderful thing,” Trump said of the Harvey

response after spending time with displaced children inside NRG Center, an emergency refuge housing about 1,800 evacuees.

The trip, to Houston and Lake Charles, Louisiana, was Trump’s second to survey the damage since Harvey hit and a chance for a president to strike a more sympathetic tone. He’d rushed to Texas on Tuesday, heading to Corpus Christi and Austin to talk to first responders. The trip, which included scant interaction with residents or extended expressions of concern, was criticized as being off-key for a presidential visit to discuss communities in crisis. “What a crowd, what a turnout,” he’d said as he stood outside a Corpus Christi firehouse.

Trump’s trip Saturday was something of a doover. Joined by first lady Melania Trump, the president went directly to the NRG Center and was greeted warmly by volunteers and children. The Trumps brought coloring books and crayons and sat with families that had been displaced. Trump lifted one little girl into his arms and gave her a kiss. Before he left, he signed his name on the wall by the children’s artwork.