As the disaster that is Tropical Storm Harvey continues to unfold, FEMA is already predicting 30,000 people will be displaced in shelters and almost half a million people will seek some form of disaster assistance. “We’ll be there for years,” the agency’s administrator said on Sunday.
Whether the federal government ultimately manages this tragedy as it should will play out over the course of that extended time span. In times of disaster, of course, it’s natural for people to look to presidents for leadership. Writing in Vox, emergency management researcher Samantha Montano noted that President Trump’s long-term response will be the most appropriate measure by which to make that judgement. “It’ll be tempting to gauge Trump by his social media impact,” she wrote. “But the real test is in his work over the long haul.”
On Friday, Trump signed the Presidential Disaster Declaration, giving state and local officials access to federal resources. He monitored the storm closely from Camp David over the weekend and announced he would be visiting Texas on Tuesday. His efforts were lauded by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Sunday. “I’ve got to tell you, I give FEMA a grade of A+, all the way from the president down,” he said. “I’ve spoken to the president several times, to his Cabinet members, such as secretary of homeland security, such as the administrator of FEMA, such as Tom Price, the secretary of health and human services.”
“All across the board, from the White House to the federal administration to FEMA, they’ve been very helpful,” Abbott added.
It should also be noted that FEMA administrator Brock Long is a Trump appointee.
Nevertheless, the president is taking heat for posting off-topic tweets during the storm, some of which were political in nature, from NAFTA to the Missouri Senate race to a recommendation of Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke’s new book. If we must analyze his tweets, Trump posted 15 times on Saturday and Sunday, only four of which were not related to Harvey.
And by all measures, none of this has affected the federal government’s response, which is clearly meeting Texas’ needs, according to Abbott. What, substantively, has the president done wrong since the storm hit? As with much criticism of Trump, detractors are getting tangled up in style over substance. Style can be important at times, but zeroing in on a fraction of off-topic tweets looks a lot like reaching for a reason to nitpick, especially when Trump and his administration now face the monumental task of leading the federal government’s critical long-term response efforts.
Perhaps it’s better to focus on that.
Emily Jashinsky is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
