The US president was waiting in a state of disaster. Donald Trump will go this Friday, July 11 to the victims of the devastating floods that left at least 120 dead this weekend in Texas, including girls who participated in a vacation camp.
If his Secretary of Internal Security, Kristi Noem, was on the site on Saturday, the head of state preferred to wait a week to go to the disaster scene.
“I could have done it today (the travel editor’s note), but we would have been on his way,” said Donald Trump last Sunday, evoking the work of rescuers who help residents and are looking for missing people.
“A period of delay”
The displacement of an American president, closely followed by the agents of the Secret Service, requires substantial logistics and requires security controls that can alter emergency equipment on the site.
“When research and rescue operations are still underway, that the waters have not yet decreased, that the first stakeholders are fulfilling their duty and try to understand what is happening in families, it is more judicious that the president arrives a little later,” he said in 2018 in the media Lars Anderson, a former official of the Federal Agency for the management of emergency situations (FEMA).
At that time, Louisiana had her dead after violent floods. The then president, Barack Obama, was not there until August 23, when the natural disaster began on the 12th.
“Part of the president’s role is to be the main comfort. But for any disaster, there is a period before the elected representatives intervened,” Dennis Alpert also explained, in charge of the organization of Vice President Al Gore (1993-2001), in the same media.
Joe well, then Donald Trump did not deviate from this practice. During the Megafia of California last January, Donald Trump had only arrived in Los Angeles on the 25th, while the flames had devastated the region since 7.
Risky trips
The movements of US presidents in places of natural disasters, attacks or shootings are still closely examined by the media. They can lead to surprising images, such as George W. Bush had grabbed a megaphone in the ruins of the Twin Towers, on September 14, 2001, to support rescue teams and share their “compassion” for the families of the victims.
But be careful with the false steps in communication. In 2005, after Hurricane Katrina, President Bush himself had been photographed aboard Air Force One that observes the houses destroyed through the ox eye and the swallowed districts, without landing in the place. The sequence had caused animated controversy, especially because its administration was criticized for the slowness of its reaction to the events.
George W. Bush then acknowledged that the photo had made him look “separate and indifferent”, “a big mistake” according to him.
In a completely different record, Donald Trump had been criticized in 2017 for his manifestly disadvantaged attitude during his trip to Puerto Rico, afflicted after Hurricane Maria.
In an emergency center, the Republican had launched the crowds of windshield wiper, while throwing a basketball ball. “They were very grateful for what I did. I think it was a great day,” he defended.
Source: BFM TV
