United States President Donald trump was faulted for not meeting people affected by Hurricane Harvey and talking about crowd sizes during his brief visit to Texas. Reports say that Trump's administration is working smoothly with state officials to deal with the humanitarian crisis caused by Hurricane Harvey. However, critics say that the Republican failed to live up to his unofficial role as chief consoler during his visit to Texas to meet with state officials and disaster response teams. In a commentary on CNN, David Axelrod said that one of the unofficial roles of a President is to support and encourage to fellow citizens.
Trump did not comfort affected families
Axelrod, a former senior aide to former US President Barack Obama, said that surprisingly, Trump did not pay homage to the people who lost their lives to storm Harvey. Mr. Axelrod added that Trump offered no solace for the tens of thousands who were evacuated from their homes, some of whom had been isolated from their families, and are now camped in arenas, left to wonder what the future holds. As Hurricane Harvey continued to batter Houston, Trump lauded the efforts of the people heading the rescue efforts.
Hurricane Harvey was downgraded from a hurricane to a tropical storm over the weekend. The storm caused massive flooding in the southern region of Texas.
Trump and his entourage avoided Houston and adjacent areas, where the huge majority of the approximately 17,000 people looking for shelter from Harvey had congregated. According to The New York Times, The White House stated that Trump avoided the area to avoid disrupting rescue efforts.
Trump was pleased by the big crowds
Addressing a crowd outside a fire station in Corpus Christi, Trump told the people that he loved them, and his government would take care of them.
Trump also marveled at the crowd that turned up to meet him. Political observers and Twitter users made fun of Trump for marveling at the size of a crowd of people chased from their homes by Hurricane Harvey. According to The Independent, people tweeted images of former US Presidents hugging people affected by past hurricanes.
One of the photos showed Barack Obama comforting a woman who had been affected by Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
Before his trip, people on social media produced Trump's old Twitter posts in which he claimed former President Barack Obama would use Hurricane Katrina to win another term in office. In response to the criticism he received during his visit to Texas, Trump tweeted his condolences to the people of Texas on Wednesday.
