After
the press and the public heaped scorn on the Trumps for their inauthentic visit
to the Houston area earlier this week and their failure to connect with any of
the first responders or flood victims—plus a far better visit by the Pences
thereafter dressed in work clothes, comforting victims, and helping remove
flood flotsam from the side of buildings—the Trumps returned to Houston on
Saturday.
There
were a few superficial differences. Melania didn’t wear her fashionable olive
drab bomber jacket or Manolo Blahnik BB pump 4-inch stiletto heels ($595 at
Neiman Marcus). She toned down to comfortable shoes, and replaced her FLOTUS
cap with a TEXAS cap. (What is it with the Trumps and their caps? How many are
they selling, anyway, at $40 a pop?)
Nevertheless,
Donald was wrapped in a black jacket over a long-sleeved shirt on a warm day in
Houston, seemingly to disguise his considerable girth. His hair was uncovered
and shredded all over his head, not held in place with the usual superglue or his
previous USA hat.
The
Trumps toured the Houston NRG Shelter, ordinarily a 700,000-foot exhibition
space and now the largest storm shelter in Texas. The facility contains huge
separate halls providing sleeping space for single women, families, and single
men. Ordinarily, this same space houses champion steers and craftspeople’s
booths during livestock shows. The shelter currently also includes a childcare
center, a medical services hospital in miniature, an impressive section for
donated supplies, and a mess hall. Displaced musicians provide entertainment.
Trump’s
comments to the press at the Houston NRG Shelter were inane and inappropriate
as always, e.g., things were “wonderful,” he was “really happy,” “it’s been
really nice to visit [to VISIT?],” “there’s a lot of water but it’s leaving
pretty quickly [although dangerous brown sludge harboring all sorts of noxious,
dangerous elements may linger for weeks or months, and no one will drink it,
cook with it, bathe in it, breathe it, or even touch the stuff].”
And
then, suddenly, with a gesture, Donald Trump remarked to the press, “My hands
are too big! [bless us and save us].” He also made his nauseating thumbs up
gesture over and over (as if it were still election night and he were in yet
another rally venue).
Melania
offered food in closed styrofoam containers to various displaced people or passed
containers to Donald, who would (rather than looking down) thrust them forward
to the nearest person without bothering to close the lid as he posed for the
cameras or practiced his thumbs up gesture.
Trump
bragged to journalists about formally asking Congress for $7.85 billion in
initial relief benefits which lawmakers may actually approve quickly as a down
payment for recovery costs. Well and good. The appropriate province of a
capable chief executive. (Just about the only indication of same visible in
Houston today.)
Trump
posed for dozens of selfies with a variety of displaced Houstonians, flashing
his all-too-familiar broad public smile, leaning over to gingerly kiss several
tiny children on the forehead with a tiny peck. Then he picked up a toddler in
pigtails, holding her uncertainly at arm’s length, depositing her back on the
floor rather than actually putting his arms around her. (Was he afraid of
germs? Getting too close? Mussing his clothes? What is wrong with that man?)
We
remember Presidents Clinton, Bush, and Obama encircling adults in their arms to
comfort or greet them and picking up and cradling small children—whether at
disaster, campaign, or routine events, always natural and an extension of their
humanity. These other presidents interacted with individuals in a manner which
forever eludes Donald Trump (what can you say about a man who is virtually
without a soul?).
Texas
Governor Greg Abbott, who accompanied Trump on his visit to Houston, was a
study in contrasts. He moved via a manual wheelchair, acquired as a newly
minted lawyer out for a jog while studying for the bar exam when a tree suddenly
fell on him. He hasn’t walked since. But he is clearly able to govern and
interact on a human level with far more empathy than Donald Trump.
Witness
the governor picking up a small girl while only a few feet from Trump at the
Harvey Shelter on Saturday, placing her on his lap and giving her a short ride
in his wheelchair while the child showed the governor her new doll. Her equally
diminutive sister was at their side. Greg Abbott could have been your favorite
uncle or grandfather.
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