In Post-Florence North Carolina, Donald Trump Continues to Fail in His Role as Comforter in Chief
President Trump reported to Hurricane Florence–torn North Carolina on Wednesday and committed the latest in what has been a series of empathy malfunctions during debilitating natural disasters. While surveying the flooding in hard-hit New Bern, including a home where a boat had washed up on a backyard, the president reportedly quipped with a smile, “At least you got a nice boat out of the deal.”
Gallows humor, sure—but this isn’t the first time Trump has floundered in the unspoken role of comforter in chief, relying on sarcasm instead of conveying sympathy. While visiting a devastated Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria last year, he crudely tossed rolls of paper towels into a room of survivors and told officials and emergency personnel, “I hate to tell you, Puerto Rico, but you’ve thrown our budget a little bit out of whack because we’ve spent a lot of money.” Those were just his words; his administration’s actions—or, more accurately, lack of action—were far more damaging: Its lack of preparation and support were part of what led to a humanitarian crisis in Puerto Rico, where new figures show an estimated nearly 3,000 people died because of Maria (a number the president refuses to acknowledge), while thousands remained without power more than six months later. And yet, the president initially celebrated that the island had dodged a “real catastrophe, like Katrina.”
On the mainland, after Hurricane Harvey, a storm that brought historic flooding to the greater Houston area and left more than 80 dead in the state, Trump initally didn’t visit with victims of the storm. Instead, he stood on a truck bed in Corpus Christi, waved the state flag and marveled, as he is wont to do, at his crowd size, booming, “What a crowd, what a turnout.” Trump pledged $1 million of his own money in aid to Texas, though as reports point out, he hasn’t always delivered on past promised donations until the press checks them out.
Then, and now, in the wake of Florence, there is a clear contrast between Trump’s detachment, awkwardness, and insensitivity and that of past presidents of both parties. After Harvey, former Obama White House photographer and Instagram subtweeter supreme Pete Souza shared photos of Obama holding a Hurricane Sandy victim close in 2012; additional photos have resurfaced of President George W. Bush hugging Hurricane Katrina victims (though one can’t forget his administration’s grave failures in responding to that storm) in 2005 and President Clinton with a child in each of his arms in the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew in Florida in 1992.
All of those presidents were imperfect, but they all seemed to share the basic traits of humanity, decency, and compassion when meeting with storm victims. They all seemed to know something that appears to elude Trump: that in times of crisis, America looks to the president for compassion and guidance; to tell us, like a dad (because they have all been men, after all), that everything will be okay. It’s a role Lyndon B. Johnson was called on to play after John F. Kennedy’s assassination and George W. Bush came to provide after 9/11. For all of Trump’s weaknesses, his inability to rise up and serve as comforter in chief is one of the most unpresidential: In the worst of times, it leaves you feeling cold.
Trump did have a tender moment while delivering meals in North Carolina this week. When a young boy asked him for a hug, Trump obliged. But the fact that this event made the news is telling in itself: Serving as the comforter in chief shouldn’t be the exception, but the rule.
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