On Friday, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and his running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, are traveling to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to tour damage from recent flooding that has killed at least 13 people and destroyed more than 40,000 homes; more than 70,000 people have registered for federal assistance. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson and FEMA head Craig Fugate were in Baton Rouge on Thursday, overseeing federal recovery efforts, but Hillary Clinton has not announced any plans to visit Baton Rouge, nor has President Obama.
In an editorial on Thursday, The Advocate urged Obama to break from his Martha's Vineyard vacation to fly down and bring attention to the flooding and "decisively demonstrate that Louisiana's recovery is a priority for his administration." But in a press conference Thursday, Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) said that while "the president is welcome to visit whenever he wants to visit," at this point a visit by Obama would be a burden on police and other first responders. "I am not complaining about our federal partnership in any way," he said. "The only downside to not being prominently displayed in the news across the country as it relates to this event, is that perhaps the national attention isn't on it as it relates to donations."
Subscribe to 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.
-
'His disdain for international rules could eviscerate the laws of war'Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Getty Images and Shutterstock merge into a picture powerhouse to combat AIThe Explainer The $3.7 billion deal is one of the largest in the industry's history
-
House GOP unveils bill for Trump to buy GreenlandSpeed Read The bill would allow the U.S. to purchase the Danish territory — or procure it through economic or military force
-
Death toll rises in LA fires as wind lull allows progressSpeed Read At least 24 people have died and 100,000 people are under mandatory evacuation orders
-
Biden cancels Italy trip as raging LA fires spreadSpeed Read The majority of the fires remain 0% contained
-
Fast-spreading Los Angeles wildfires spark panicSpeed Read About 30,000 people were under an evacuation order as the inferno spread
-
Hundreds feared dead in French Mayotte cycloneSpeed Read Cyclone Chido slammed into Mayotte, a French territory in the Indian Ocean
-
Thirteen missing after Red Sea tourist boat sinksSpeed Read The vessel sank near the Egyptian coastal town of Marsa Alam
-
Global plastics summit starts as COP29 endsSpeed Read Negotiators gathering in South Korea seek an end to the world's plastic pollution crisis, though Trump's election may muddle the deal
-
Biden visits Amazon, says climate legacy irreversibleSpeed Read Nobody can reverse America's 'clean energy revolution,' said the president, despite the incoming Trump administration's promises to dismantle climate policies
-
At least 95 dead in Spain flash floodsSpeed Read Torrential rainfall caused the country's worst flooding since 1996
