President Donald Trump engaged in Harvey response
President Donald Trump appears to be handling the federal response to Hurricane Harvey actively and aggressively so far, regularly releasing updates on how closely he is supervising the situation and bragging about how well the rescue and relief efforts are going.
Trump plans to visit a site of storm devastation in Texas on Tuesday, White House officials announced. The president pledged on Twitter that his personal involvement will be intense, writing, "The focus must be life and safety."
Up to this point, there have been no reports of massive federal government failures and no extensive criticism of Trump's performance. But the impact of the storm is growing and in many ways the problems are just beginning, with five people reported dead so far, thousands stranded and millions affected by torrential rain and catastrophic flooding.
The stakes for Trump are high. Not only are storm victims relying on the government for help, but the country and the news media are scrutinizing Trump as a crisis manager as never before. This is the first major natural disaster of his presidency.
Trump appears to understand how much is riding on his performance. He is doing his best to reassure the country that he is an effective, hands-on leader able to handle this crisis.
Trump declared Texas a disaster area late Friday, freeing federal resources to help deal with the storm. White House officials have been regularly releasing updates and photos designed to show that Trump is meeting regularly with aides on what to do next, coordinating with the appropriate governors and lower levels of government, and prodding the federal government to help those in need as aggressively as possible.
During a visit last weekend to the presidential retreat at Camp David, Maryland, Trump tweeted praise for first responders such as firefighters and medical personnel. "Great coordination between agencies at all levels of government," Trump wrote on Twitter Sunday. "Continuing rains and flash floods are being dealt with. Thousands rescued." Trump also tweeted, "Many people are now saying that this is the worst storm/hurricane they have ever seen. Good news is that we have great talent on the ground."
He said, "Wow - Now experts are calling #Harvey a once in 500 year flood! We have an all out effort going, and going well!"
On Saturday, Trump tweeted, "Wonderful coordination between Federal, State and Local Governments in the Great State of Texas--TEAMWORK! Record setting rainfall."
Trump appears to be attempting to avoid the specific problems that President George W. Bush faced in presiding over what turned out to be a weak government response to Hurricane Katrina when it struck the Gulf Coast in August 2005. Bush was harshly criticized for the lapses, and his performance severely damaged Bush's reputation as a crisis manager.
Among the criticisms were that Bush was too far removed from the crisis and not paying enough attention while he was vacationing at his Texas ranch; that the federal, state and local responses to Hurricane Katrina were chaotic and ineffective, and that no one took charge and corrected the initial problems.
Today, Trump is portraying himself as concerned, engaged and insisting on fast action to deal with Hurricane Harvey.
Copyright 2017 U.S. News & World Report
