Trump tweets warnings, touts federal response to Hurricane Harvey
President Trump's Twitter feed was dominated by posts about Hurricane Harvey Friday and Saturday, with the president posting warnings about the extreme weather while praising his administration's response to the storm so far.
The largest storm to hit the United States in a decade, Harvey is considered an important test for the Trump administration. "In an instant, natural disasters can become defining moments for a presidency," notes CNN's Jeremy Diamond. For example, "Hurricane Katrina, which hit the New Orleans area in August 2005, became a defining moment of [the George W. Bush] administration, whose response to the hurricane was marked by a series of errors in preparation and mismanagement that sent the president's approval rating to record lows." Trump's approval rating is already at record lows, so a fumble here could send him below 30 percent.
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) administrator William "Brock" Long is new to his post — he was confirmed by the Senate in June — but he has prior FEMA and state-level emergency management experience and is respected in his field. One of Trump's Saturday tweets, below, praised Long while reminding him "the world is watching." Bonnie Kristian
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.
-
Political cartoons for December 23Cartoons Tuesday's political cartoons include an eye on CBS, cracking the middle class, and Donald Trump's name on everything
-
Women carrying ChristmasTalking Point As the Christmas frenzy ramps up, many mums feel the pressure of ‘keeping the whole sleigh on the road’
-
Is Keir Starmer being hoodwinked by China?Today's Big Question PM’s attempt to separate politics and security from trade and business is ‘naïve’
-
CBS pulls ‘60 Minutes’ report on Trump deporteesSpeed Read An investigation into the deportations of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador’s notorious prison was scrapped
-
Trump administration posts sliver of Epstein filesSpeed Read Many of the Justice Department documents were heavily redacted, though new photos of both Donald Trump and Bill Clinton emerged
-
Trump HHS moves to end care for trans youthSpeed Read The administration is making sweeping proposals that would eliminate gender-affirming care for Americans under age 18
-
Jack Smith tells House of ‘proof’ of Trump’s crimesSpeed Read President Donald Trump ‘engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election,’ hoarded classified documents and ‘repeatedly tried to obstruct justice’
-
House GOP revolt forces vote on ACA subsidiesSpeed Read The new health care bill would lower some costs but not extend expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies
-
Hegseth rejects release of full boat strike footageSpeed Read There are calls to release video of the military killing two survivors of a Sept. 2 missile strike on an alleged drug trafficking boat
-
Trump vows naval blockade of most Venezuelan oilSpeed Read The announcement further escalates pressure on President Nicolás Maduro
-
Kushner drops Trump hotel project in SerbiaSpeed Read Affinity Partners pulled out of a deal to finance a Trump-branded development in Belgrade
