President Trump said Thursday that he has canceled his upcoming visit to Poland to help "ensure that all resources of the federal government are focused on" Hurricane Dorian, currently a Category 2 storm but projected to swell into a potentially catastrophic Category 4 hurricane when it slams into Florida's eastern coast early Monday. "The storm looks like it could be a very, very big one indeed," he added.
In a video Trump posted to Twitter later Thursday, he said the government is "working very, very hard on Hurricane Dorian," which he said is "looking like it could be an absolute monster," maybe "bigger or at least as big as Andrew," the Category 5 hurricane that devastated Florida in 1992.
Trump said he will send Vice President Mike Pence to Poland in his stead. Originally, the Polish trip was to include a World War II commemoration ceremony and a visit to a military base where U.S. troops serve alongside Polish forces, but Trump had already scrapped the base visit, The Washington Post reports. He also abruptly called off the first half of the trip, to Denmark, last week.
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In fact, Trump "never appeared to be enthusiastic" about the second trip to Europe in two weeks, even before Hurricane Dorian, the Post reports. Also, "Trump owns several properties along Florida's eastern coast, including his Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach and three golf courses in West Palm Beach, Jupiter, and Doral, west of Miami."
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