Joe Biden's one event on his public schedule for the day was remarks concerning the "whole of government response" to the disastrous fire on Maui and the response to Hurricane Idalia in Florida.
"Whole of government response" seems to be a relative term when it comes to Biden and his Maui response, which has been bad, to say the least--not just because of his remarks and the optics, but also because of not getting answers and assistance to the people on the ground.
Biden started off by saying that he didn't think anyone could "deny the impact of the climate crisis," immediately seeming to ignore the facts in the case in Maui, which at this point seem to indicate the fire being started by downed powerlines, although there has not been a formal declaration as to "cause" yet. Maui County, though, did sue Hawaiian Electric,, so that's a pretty good idea about what they think.
But then he went on to talk again about the fire at his house in 2004, which the local fire company described as a small kitchen fire that was put out within 20 minutes. Again, Biden seems obsessed with exaggerating the nature of the fire, and he was at it again, while talking about Americans who had suffered true loss.
BIDEN: "Lightning stuck my house ... half the house almost collapsed!"
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) August 30, 2023
According to a 2004 AP report, it was “a small fire...contained to the kitchen” that “was under control in 20 minutes.” pic.twitter.com/4RBlQgV9E0
Biden claimed he and his family had to be out of their Delaware house for about seven months because so much damage was done to the house and "half the house almost collapsed." Now, his people must have told him to stop this nonsense, if they had any sense at all, yet he keeps doing it. So, it's psychopathy at this point. It's always about himself, at every turn. Looks at Mayorkas' eyes as he keeps blinking; he knows this is crazy.
As the folks at Hawaiian Rent-All said last week when they posted a sign in response to Biden's uncaring comments about his kitchen fire during his visit to Maui, "Sorry you almost lost your 67 Corvette in a fire." And when they posted a picture of the sign on Facebook, they added "sympathy is better than contrived empathy," and "It's not always about you" for Joe Biden.
Biden was asked if he was making any "contingency plans" to possibly having to address any of these questions, and he said he may, but he didn't know yet. He does, however, have his plans for his next vacation already in hand, as he's scheduled for another beach visit this weekend.
Biden had another garbled response when talking about wildfires. He was asked about cutting the power, which some think should have done as the fire hit Maui. Then he went into his spiel about wildfires and more area burning than the state of Maryland. I'm not sure what the heck it had to do with the subject.
BIDEN: "Well, but by the way, you know, we also know how many huge number of Americans have died! How many huge number of Americans have—for example, more forest has burned to the ground in the time I've been doing this..." pic.twitter.com/oCzOpZuWyY
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) August 30, 2023
Then Biden was asked what did he say to the House Republicans, who have said they're launching an investigation into the federal response to the Maui fire. Biden's answer was truly bizarre.
BIDEN: "I welcome a federal response in Maui" pic.twitter.com/oEE1iEDJM1
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) August 30, 2023
"I welcome a federal response," he said. Um, Joe? You are the guy who's supposed to be providing that federal response. He said he thought the members of Congress should go out and talk to the people in Hawaii, and he was sure they would provide the money. Again, it isn't the Republicans who have been slow here with anything, it's Joe Biden.
As he turned to leave, Biden was asked about Sen. Mitch McConnell running for reelection. Bizarrely, he then turned to Homeland Security head Alejandro Mayorkas and asked him, "Are you running?" to which Mayorkas said, "I am not, sir/" I don't know what was going on in Joe's head there; it might have been meant as some kind of shot at the reporter for asking. But truly, wrong time for being weird when you're supposed to be conducting a serious response to such concerns.
BIDEN: "Are you running?"
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) August 30, 2023
MAYORKAS: "I am not, sir."
BIDEN: "Okay, alright, thank you."
*walks away* pic.twitter.com/vibwkytZmN
Right now, with the immediate response, households in Maui are getting a one-time payment of $700 to meet immediate needs. But given that so many are out of their homes and everything is so expensive there, $700 is chump change and wouldn't be able to cover much. The FEMA Director seemed to indicate that there they might be able to apply for other aid, but the problem is that they're not getting it now when they need it.
Biden FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell says there are currently no plans to provide Maui wildfire victims with anything beyond one-time payments of $700 pic.twitter.com/oJZn9Oio8f
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) August 30, 2023
Given the amount of money that Biden is throwing at Ukraine, it's crazy that they can't adjust to deal with Americans who have been met with disaster.
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