It’s a tough time to be President of the United States.
Hurricane Harvey just got through inflicting a billion dollars in damage to Houston, the Nation’s fourth most populous city. In Texas, no less, the home of the climate change denial movement (Big Oil) and politicians who daily declare that they don’t need the help or intrusion of the Federal government. President Trump was quick to lend a hand, though.
We’ll see if those proud Texans decline Federal disaster assistance. My guess is they won’t.
To make matters worse, Hurricane Irma is bearing down on south Florida and will probably rake the entire southeastern United States. It’s one of the largest hurricanes ever recorded, and, as we speak, is wreaking havoc on Caribbean island nations. Hard to believe, but Irma has the potential to out-destruct Harvey. We’ll know by Monday.
Even harder to believe is the fact that a third Category 4 hurricane named Jose is following in the same path, just behind Irma, preparing to pile-on, as they say in football. It’s just not fair.
Not surprisingly, this is exactly what 97 percent of the world’s scientists have been predicting for years: because of man-made global warming, the seas are warmer, and it will cause hurricanes to be more frequent and severe. President Trump, at least during his campaign, called those predictions hogwash.
(Interesting sidebar: Rush Limbaugh, the syndicated radio windbag for all right wing causes…
…opined this past week that all the forecasts of doom about the impact of Hurricane Irma were a liberal conspiracy to push the climate change agenda. He pooh-poohed the danger, predicting that the meteorologists were trying to scare people, and that his own prediction, coming from years of living in Florida, was that nothing of consequence would occur. Tellingly, though, Limbaugh and his crew abandoned their Florida studio on Friday, just ahead of the 5.6 million Floridians fleeing north to high ground.)
President Trump has been surprisingly presidential this week, putting politics aside and moving quickly to provide the Federal assistance that Texas and Florida need right now. There have been no childish rants this week from the Tweeter in Chief. Someone (possibly ex-General Kelly, his new White House Chief of Staff) must have ordered the President to grow up and suit up for action.
Mr. Trump did something the other day that I actually agree with. In the midst of the Harvey catastrophe, and anticipating another body blow from Irma, the President cut a deal with Democrats to put aside the normal spitballing in Congress for a few months and get disaster relief funds to Texas ASAP. By doing so, he gave up a little leverage to the Dems, but he got a “win” for a change…actually accomplishing something of value for his country. Hooray, Mr. President!
The GOP leadership (an oxymoron, for sure) in D.C. was appalled that the Prez would cut such a deal with their sworn enemy. I guess that the Republicans would rather argue about policy positions with the Democrats and with each other for the rest of the year than do their job…which is what the McConnell/Ryan team has been doing for about nine years now.
I’m not sure what is worse for our Country…an inexperienced, narcissistic, and impulsive President or a Congress which is experienced in spinning its wheels, and can’t break the habit. A well-aimed ICBM from North Korea, targeting Washington D.C., might solve both problems…and, could happen, if President Trump doesn’t stop teasing and threatening the North Korean dictator.
That’s a bad joke, for sure. But, it’s sad to say, America needs a kick in the pants every so often to clear its head and boldly move forward. The Civil War, the Wall Street Collapse of 1929, Pearl Harbor, 9-11, etc. jolted the country into action. It’s times like that when you find out what your leaders are made of. The devastating one-two punch of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma will demand strong leadership. It will be interesting to see if Donald Trump can step up his game.
Wouldn’t it be great if he did?