Trump in N. Dakota: “You have a little bit of a drought. [Texas] had the opposite. Believe me, you’re better off” https://t.co/M2EA55SbH0
— NBC Politics (@NBCPolitics) September 6, 2017
The full extent of the damage on Hurricane Harvey has yet to be assessed. The $7.9 billion aid bill overwhelmingly passed by Congress today is just the down payment on what will likely be billions of dollars of repairs. Donald Trump, who has visited the area not once but twice, would in theory understand the gravity of the situation. And yet, comments today would indicate perhaps he doesn’t.
Trump was speaking in North Dakota as part of his discussion of potential tax reforms, a sticky and complicated subject in of itself. As one would reasonably expect, he took a moment to discuss the tragic events in Houston. Except, it took an unusual turn:
“And I know you have a little bit of a drought. They had the opposite, believe me, you’re better off.”
For context, so far, sixty people are confirmed dead due to floods from Hurricane Harvey, including Alonso Guillen, who was in the country under the Obama-era DACA provisions Trump seeks to rescind. North Dakota, meanwhile, is facing a drought unlike any the state has experienced since the 1980s, with several counties declared disaster areas. North Dakotans will be facing potentially billions of dollars in economic damage. A reminder that their fellow Americans a thousand miles away have it worse arrives to farmers and cattle ranchers facing the loss of their livelihood, and perhaps Trump should have said nothing at all.
(via NBC News)