(Trends Wide) — Former President Donald Trump visited the site of a train derailment on Wednesday and criticized the Joe Biden administration’s handling of the rail disaster that spilled toxic chemicals in East Palestine, Ohio, 19 days ago.
His trip to one of the most conservative regions of the red state occurred with many of the characteristics of a presidential visit, as Trump sought to contrast himself with Biden, who on Monday made a historic trip to the war zone in the Ukrainian capital.
While visiting Little Beaver Creek, a tributary of the Ohio River near the site of the derailment, Trump said he thinks it is “terrible” that Biden has not yet visited the site of the Feb. 3 derailment.
“They don’t forget,” Trump said as he stood with a small group of local officials, including Republican Sen. JD Vance, and first responders after a news conference at a fire station.
Former President Donald Trump speaks at the East Palestine Fire Department as he visits the site of the Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, Wednesday, February 22, 2023. (Credit: Matt Freed/AP)
The former president’s trip to Ohio came as the 2024 Republican presidential race begins to take shape, with intraparty rivals lining up to take on Trump. Other Republicans have also criticized Biden’s response to the derailment near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border.
“During any moment of crisis, go to your people immediately,” former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley said at a campaign event in Iowa on Tuesday.
Amid the pitched battle between Democrats and Republicans over whether the government has done enough to help the Ohio city, Trump sought to take credit for the growing federal response, saying Wednesday that the announcement of his visit “opened up the dam.” ”.
He said the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announcement last week that it was deploying teams to the area should have come “two weeks earlier, or at least a week earlier.”
Trump also said he had helped coordinate the delivery of thousands of water bottles to the area, some bearing “Trump” logos, from the former president’s hotel properties. He said some of the water had arrived on the plane that had flown in from Florida on Wednesday.
“If they don’t come back and give you the treatment you need, we’ll be back,” Trump said.
The derailment of the Norfolk Southern train carrying toxic chemicals has become a political flashpoint, and Trump’s decision to travel to East Palestine has also drawn attention to his own administration’s policies that encouraged deregulation of the rail industry. .
Trump ended a 2015 Obama-era regulation that required trains carrying “large volumes of flammable liquids” such as crude oil to have advanced brakes and speed restrictions, put in place after a series of deadly derailments.
“Many of the people who seem to find political opportunities there are among those who have sided with the rail industry time and time again, having fought rail safety regulations and hazardous materials tooth and nail. teeth,” said Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who announced Wednesday that he would visit the derailment site on Thursday. “If people are going to find religion about rail regulation, sometimes for the first time, I appreciate that.”
Experts told Trends Wide the regulations likely would not have affected the derailment in East Palestine because the train did not meet criteria set by the Obama administration-era regulation.
Republicans have largely ignored this argument, instead criticizing the federal government’s slow response, with some conservative commentators insinuating that the pace was due to residents of East Palestine being Republican voters.
Some have also contrasted Biden’s visit to Ukraine, where he traveled to Kyiv by train, with his absence in Ohio.
“That was the biggest slap in the face telling you right now that he doesn’t care about us,” East Palestine Mayor Trent Conaway, a Republican, said of Biden’s trip to Ukraine earlier this week on Fox News. “I found out this morning at one of the press conferences that he was in the Ukraine giving away millions of dollars to the people there and not to us and I am furious.”
Trump’s team coordinated the former president’s trip with various officials on the ground, including Conway.
Trump and his advisers have sought to take credit for the federal response seen in recent days.
“Since Trump announced the trip, the EPA administrator changed his schedule and left [a East Palestine], suddenly FEMA changes course and provides federal aid; Enough has happened that we’ve already accomplished much of what we hoped for even before we were on the ground,” a Trump adviser told Trends Wide.
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(Trends Wide) — Former President Donald Trump visited the site of a train derailment on Wednesday and criticized the Joe Biden administration’s handling of the rail disaster that spilled toxic chemicals in East Palestine, Ohio, 19 days ago.
His trip to one of the most conservative regions of the red state occurred with many of the characteristics of a presidential visit, as Trump sought to contrast himself with Biden, who on Monday made a historic trip to the war zone in the Ukrainian capital.
While visiting Little Beaver Creek, a tributary of the Ohio River near the site of the derailment, Trump said he thinks it is “terrible” that Biden has not yet visited the site of the Feb. 3 derailment.
“They don’t forget,” Trump said as he stood with a small group of local officials, including Republican Sen. JD Vance, and first responders after a news conference at a fire station.
Former President Donald Trump speaks at the East Palestine Fire Department as he visits the site of the Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, Wednesday, February 22, 2023. (Credit: Matt Freed/AP)
The former president’s trip to Ohio came as the 2024 Republican presidential race begins to take shape, with intraparty rivals lining up to take on Trump. Other Republicans have also criticized Biden’s response to the derailment near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border.
“During any moment of crisis, go to your people immediately,” former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley said at a campaign event in Iowa on Tuesday.
Amid the pitched battle between Democrats and Republicans over whether the government has done enough to help the Ohio city, Trump sought to take credit for the growing federal response, saying Wednesday that the announcement of his visit “opened up the dam.” ”.
He said the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announcement last week that it was deploying teams to the area should have come “two weeks earlier, or at least a week earlier.”
Trump also said he had helped coordinate the delivery of thousands of water bottles to the area, some bearing “Trump” logos, from the former president’s hotel properties. He said some of the water had arrived on the plane that had flown in from Florida on Wednesday.
“If they don’t come back and give you the treatment you need, we’ll be back,” Trump said.
The derailment of the Norfolk Southern train carrying toxic chemicals has become a political flashpoint, and Trump’s decision to travel to East Palestine has also drawn attention to his own administration’s policies that encouraged deregulation of the rail industry. .
Trump ended a 2015 Obama-era regulation that required trains carrying “large volumes of flammable liquids” such as crude oil to have advanced brakes and speed restrictions, put in place after a series of deadly derailments.
“Many of the people who seem to find political opportunities there are among those who have sided with the rail industry time and time again, having fought rail safety regulations and hazardous materials tooth and nail. teeth,” said Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who announced Wednesday that he would visit the derailment site on Thursday. “If people are going to find religion about rail regulation, sometimes for the first time, I appreciate that.”
Experts told Trends Wide the regulations likely would not have affected the derailment in East Palestine because the train did not meet criteria set by the Obama administration-era regulation.
Republicans have largely ignored this argument, instead criticizing the federal government’s slow response, with some conservative commentators insinuating that the pace was due to residents of East Palestine being Republican voters.
Some have also contrasted Biden’s visit to Ukraine, where he traveled to Kyiv by train, with his absence in Ohio.
“That was the biggest slap in the face telling you right now that he doesn’t care about us,” East Palestine Mayor Trent Conaway, a Republican, said of Biden’s trip to Ukraine earlier this week on Fox News. “I found out this morning at one of the press conferences that he was in the Ukraine giving away millions of dollars to the people there and not to us and I am furious.”
Trump’s team coordinated the former president’s trip with various officials on the ground, including Conway.
Trump and his advisers have sought to take credit for the federal response seen in recent days.
“Since Trump announced the trip, the EPA administrator changed his schedule and left [a East Palestine], suddenly FEMA changes course and provides federal aid; Enough has happened that we’ve already accomplished much of what we hoped for even before we were on the ground,” a Trump adviser told Trends Wide.
