EAST PALESTINE, Ohio — The sleet and rain were unforgiving here on Feb. 22, 2023, the day former President Donald Trump came to this small Columbiana County village. Despite the weather and concerns about what was in the air or what kind of chemical was lurking in the pools of mud they were walking in, folks by the hundreds lined up along Main Street as Trump’s motorcade filled with state and local law enforcement sirened its way into town.

Men and women, young and old, children, teenagers, and a couple of dozen Amish families all waited in the icy rain along the designated route in anticipation of Trump showing up to their town, just under a month after a 38-car Norfolk Southern train dumped poisonous residue into the air. First, there had been the fiery derailment, whose immediate effects went on for two days, followed by a controlled burn that released hydrogen chloride and phosgene into the air and water.