Trump Notices Nasty Thing Biden Did While Giving 'No Comment' to Rising Death Toll in Maui
Nearly 100 people have died in the devastating Lahaina fire in Hawaii, with more than 1,000 still missing. But a smiling President Joe Biden told reporters Sunday that he had “no comment” on the most deadly American wildfire in the last century.
Former President Donald Trump, the front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination in 2024, took a somewhat different tack than the current commander in chief.
In a video released Monday — a day after Biden’s now-infamous two-word response and facial expression when asked about the Hawaii fire by a reporter — Trump said Biden’s response was “horrible and unacceptable,” adding the president’s remark was “a disgraceful thing.”
For those who missed it, here is Biden’s response when asked about the rising death toll in Maui as he visited his Delaware beach home over the weekend:
Reporters GASP as Joe Biden runs from their questions about rising count of Americans DEAD from Maui wildfire disaster to tan at the beach: “NO COMMENT!” pic.twitter.com/MHOkr2kRUz
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) August 14, 2023
While the president signed an emergency declaration last week and deployed federal assets to Maui, The Washington Post noted Monday that Biden hadn’t made any statement about the tragedy since he expressed support for those affected on Thursday.
Considering that our knowledge of the full scale of the horrors wreaked by the blaze has grown considerably since then, one would think some kind of comment on the situation would be in order.
The White House insisted that Biden would speak about the tragedy when he has the chance.
“You’ll hear from the president,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said during a Monday briefing.
“This is something that the president clearly is deeply concerned about,” she said.
But clearly, he’s busy with other stuff:
After a couple hours on the Rehoboth beach, @potus was asked about the rising death toll in Hawaii
“No comment,” he said before heading home pic.twitter.com/Y0UmXirju9
— Justin Sink (@justinsink) August 13, 2023
This, may I remind you, is the same president who refused to come back to Washington from his Camp David retreat for days as Afghanistan fell to the Taliban in 2021.
You can’t say the man doesn’t have priorities. Bad priorities, sure — but priorities nonetheless.
Trump, meanwhile, began his message to those affected by the tragedy by saying he “would like to express my sympathy and warmest regards to the people of Hawaii, and specifically all of those who have been so gravely and irreparably hurt by the tragedy of the wildfires in Maui, something the likes of which have seldom been seen anywhere at any time.”
“The death caused by this catastrophic event will be far worse than ever expected now that houses and cars and other areas are being inspected,” he continued. “The sad thing is it should never have happened. Our government was not prepared.”
After criticizing Hawaii Gov. Josh Green for speciously blaming the fires on climate change while “wanting to do nothing” but use the tragedy for environmental scare-mongering, he took aim at Biden’s “no comment” response.
“When asked about it today, as he was getting into a car — perhaps coming home from the beach, where he has been spending a great deal of time — Crooked Joe Biden, the most incompetent president in the history of our country, with a laugh and a smile said he had no comment on the death and the tragedy,” Trump said.
“To say no comment is oftentimes fine — but to be smiling when you say it, especially against such a tragedy as this, is absolutely horrible and unacceptable.”
Statement from President Donald J. Trump on Devastating Maui Wildfires pic.twitter.com/ReHhmhfYj6
— Team Trump (Text TRUMP to 88022) (@TeamTrump) August 14, 2023
And, as Trump noted, this is a pattern for the president.
“It is a disgraceful thing that Joe Biden refuses to help or comment on the tragedy in Maui just as he refused to help or comment on the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, for a very, very long time,” he continued.
“In any event, hopefully everyone will be able to pull together so that a horrible situation does not get even worse,” Trump concluded. “To the families affected, I give you my love and sympathy. Nothing can ever replace your loved ones. But you will always have the memories and will feel their great love surrounding and embracing you. Together, we will continue to carry their legacy forward and I love you all very much.”
Keep in mind that, unlike in the case of the left’s accusations that Trump and other conservatives were leveraging the East Palestine rail disaster for political gain in a swing area, there’s no question who’s going to win Hawaii come 2024.
Biden, Kamala Harris and Hawaii’s all-Democratic congressional contingent could collectively moon the residents of Lahaina, and all that would change is the massive margin of victory they’ve historically enjoyed would be a slightly less massive margin of victory next time around.
However, the point is that isn’t what a president does. And while the idea of mooning Hawaiians may be rhetorical hyperbole, it’s not that way by much: In addition to the “no comment” and that daft, senescent smile of his, the only real assistance the president has provided the victims of the fire — aside from the pro forma move to send federal disaster resources into the island — is to provide $700 “one-time” payments for those affected.
(It didn’t help that this pittance was dispensed during the same week the Biden administration announced Ukraine was getting another $200 million in American military funding, no audits attached. Again: priorities, just not good ones.)
Donald Trump is currently besieged by an onslaught of charges from a weaponized criminal justice system, and yet he had time to record a video in which he extended his sympathies to the victims of a horrific natural disaster.
Joe Biden apparently couldn’t fit that into his busy schedule of staring at the oceanic shoreline at Rehoboth Beach, likely scanning the horizon for a glimpse of the riverbank on the other side.
Anyone who still has questions about presidential fitness when it comes to the potential 2024 rematch between the two men should use this incident as an object lesson — and vote accordingly.
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