Don’t Mess with Texas
President Trump doesn’t get to be graded on a curve. The Texas visit was a complete failure. No mention of the victims. No empathy for the survivors. More silly asides about crowd size and cable-TV fame. Once again, Trump proved that he will always be the “I” of the storm. Houston and Texas (and NextDraft readers in the path of the storm) deserved better remarks from their president. So I wrote them myself: A Real President Addresses Texas.
+ As the storm hits shore again, this time along the Texas, Louisiana border, we’re hearing more stories, both horrific and inspiring. Authorities made the grim discovery of the van that had been swept away with two adults and their four grandchildren. And Port Arthur’s mayor says his whole city’s under water. NPR has the story of school counselor rescuing his students and their families. And a doctor made it to a hospital (via canoe) in time for a scheduled surgery.
+ “When first responders reached them, police said, Sulcer was floating facedown in rising floodwaters. The toddler … was clinging to her mother’s back.”
+ “The impact of hurricanes on health is not captured in the mortality and morbidity numbers in the days after the rain. This is typified by the inglorious problem of mold.”
+ WaPo with an amazing, interactive look at some stories from the storm: Where are we supposed to go?
+ “It’s worth noting that Houston’s problem was in part a Washington problem, a slow-motion disaster that was easy to predict but politically impossible to prevent.” How Washington Made Harvey Worse.
+ And this lede from AP is not a good look for DC: “President Donald Trump is promising billions to help Texas rebuild from Hurricane Harvey, but his Republican allies in the House are looking at cutting almost $1 billion from disaster accounts to help finance the president’s border wall.” (In the end, the costs associated with Harvey will provide a way for Congress to reject any new spending for the wall. Call it Harvey Wall-banger.)