Roger L. Simon:
Has Harvey shaken America seriously enough to diminish the cold civil war that has overtaken our country? Has it made our divisions seem at least a tiny bit more trivial?
No doubt a hardcore of hate-filled bozos drunk on some witless ideology will always be with us. There’s still a market for Guy Fawkes masks for adjunct junior college professors to pretend they’re violent anarchist revolutionaries out of some Dostoevsky novel they never finished. And the tone-deaf nitwits on the L.A. City Council did choose the occasion of an ongoing massive natural disaster to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day, to include a paid vacation for all city employees (but not the myriad other taxpayers of the vast metropolis).
Nevertheless, a flood of Noah-like proportions has a way of focusing the mind, at least for some, maybe even most, of us.
And Donald Trump has clearly done well thus far in his capacity of crisis-manager-in-chief. It seems the presidential activity he was born for, the one most akin to running a large hotel construction job or renovating an historic ice-skating rink. Moreover, reconstruction is certain to go on for quite a while and remain a focal point of our national attention for a significant period. Trump should know how to handle it as well as anybody who has held the office.
For this reason, Harvey will likely be the turning point in the Trump presidency. His adversaries sense it too. You know the Never Trumpers of the left and right are pretty hard up when all they have to obsess about are Melania Trump’s stilettos that she only wore onto a plane anyway.
Now I’m not saying that it will be clear sailing from now on. I would have to be a moron. There may be six more wacky tweets, including three attacks on Rosie O’Donnell or some other monumentally trivial figure before you read this, causing many of his supporters to groan. But the impact will be less. Trump is proving himself under fire in a situation immeasurably more important than Twitter sideshows. Nitpickers now seem more what they are — pickers of nits. And those accusing Trump of racismsexismhomophobiaIslamophobiayaddayaddayadda will appear to be exactly what they are as well — dim-witted bores who wouldn’t know a real racist when they saw one. (Most likely that would take a mirror.)
More importantly, by continuing to act as he has, Trump will defuse whatever eventually comes down from the Mueller investigation, unless, of course, it is proven that the Russians caused Harvey, in which case all bets are off (kidding, I hope). Moreover, he will achieve that Holy Grail of Holy Grails, the tax reform he spoke of in his speech Thursday.
Liberals and Hollywood wackos are too busy trying to use Harvey as a weapon against Trump claiming if Trump had kept america into the junk science inspired Paris Accord this would never had happened and some egghead in Florida said Texas deserved Harvey for voting for trump and now the fool is out of a job IF YOUR EVER IN TAMPA BAY LADIES AND GERMS AND CHILDREN OF ALL AGES BE SURE TO SEE THE UNIVERSITY CLOWN STAND ON HIS HEAD AND WHISTLE MUSKRAT LOVE
Does anyone realllly think if Trump and his administration do every last detail perfect that will change a thing. Those without flood insurance will not be made whole by Fema so those people wont be delighted, Fema wont cover large deductibles they are in the hurricane zone where they are sky high. Houses underwater for possibly weeks are a total loss if they are wood framed not cement block.
Houston will be reeling for a long time.
The media will magnify and Blame Trump for thing they see fit.
The army corps isn’t giving Texas a good forecast, its best to get out if at all possible.
Statement on Trump’s assistance from the Governor of Louisiana (D):
“First of all, let me tell you the federal government has been excellent,” Edwards said. “The president has called twice, he signed the declaration we requested within a few hours of our making the request on Sunday evening. Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Duke has been wonderful, and FEMA administrator Brock (Long) has been great as well.”
Don’t you know that will make RW and Gullible Greggie apoplectic?