Trump addresses supporters atop fire truck in Corpus Christi: "What a crowd, what a turnout"
Donald and Melania Trump took off for Texas this morning in order to visit areas affected by the devastating flooding that has followed Hurricane Harvey, a trip The New York Times said gave Trump a chance to “reclaim [the] power to unify” a deeply divided country that seems to get more divided every time Trump opens his mouth. Well, they’ve arrived, and according to investigative journalists on the ground, it looks like the New York Times was giving Trump too much credit for once.
What did Trump do upon his arrival in the beleaguered state? He addressed a crowd of supporters (who appeared to have been tipped off to his presence) while standing atop a big-boy fire truck in Corpus Christi. “I love you, you are special, we are here to take care of you,” Trump said, making no mention of those who have been injured or killed by the storm. Reporter Christina Wilkie was there:
Speaking of The New York Times, its own Doug Mills was there too:
Trump has yet to brag about his electoral college victory in the state, but the day’s not over yet. The Trumps are currently on their way to Austin, where they will tour Texas’ emergency operations center and meet with state officials, according to the Texas Tribune. The paper adds that, aboard Air Force One, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters that Trump would not be visiting the hardest hit areas of Houston because “the president wants to be very cautious about making sure that any activity doesn’t disrupt any of the recovery efforts that are still ongoing, which is the reason for the locations we are going here today.”
Before he left town, though, Trump made a point to congratulate FEMA Administrator Brock Long, saying he’s “becom[e] very famous on television in the last couple of days.” He did tell Governor Greg Abbot that “we won’t say congratulations. We don’t want to do that … We’ll congratulate each other when it’s all finished,” so maybe he did learn something from George W. Bush.