Six months ago the White House claimed that Joe Biden would visit East Palestine, Ohio, “at some point,” yet he still hasn’t managed to find the time between his vacations to make it out there to visit the area and residents affected by the train derailment.
He still hasn’t made it there, but he did (eventually) visit Maui and then Florida.
It was during his visit to Florida that Biden was called out on over not visiting East Palestine… and his response was ridiculous.
“You said in March that you would go to East Palestine, Ohio, you came here,” a reporter pointed out. “How come you haven’t come to East Palestine yet?”
“I haven’t had the occasion to go to East Palestine,” Biden claimed. “There’s a lot going on here, and I just haven’t been able to break. I was thinking that I would go to East Palestine this week, but I’ve been reminded I’ve gotta go literally around the world,” he continued. “I’m going from Washington to India to Vietnam to — so it’s gonna be awhile. But we’re making sure that East Palestine has what they need materially in order to deal with the problem.”
BIDEN: “I haven’t had the occasion to go to East Palestine. There’s a lot going on.” pic.twitter.com/YfQAt7DoYK
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) September 3, 2023
The Biden administration was criticized for its slow response to East Palestine, and it is widely believed that had it not been for Donald Trump, the Biden administration might never have given East Palestine the little attention it eventually got. It wasn’t until after Trump announced his intention to visit East Palestine that FEMA finally agreed to bring resources and assistance there. In fact, aid from FEMA was rejected multiple times. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg had also failed to visit East Palestine, only finding the time and resources to go after Donald Trump announced his plan to visit. Buttigieg’s visit took place (literally) the day after Trump’s, which is also when FEMA finally started to approve aid.
Many have speculated that because East Palestine is in a very conservative area of Ohio, Biden didn’t want to waste time there.
Biden, who claims to be a man of empathy, has been very selective about which communities he visits in the wake of tragedy. Biden never visited Waukesha, Wisc., after a black nationalist supporter of Black Lives Matter drove an SUV through a Christmas parade, killing several people, including a child. The excuse? The trip “requires a lot of assets.” Biden also never visited Brooklyn, N.Y., after black nationalist Frank Robert James went on a shooting rampage in the subway last year, Nor did he visit Orange County, Calif., after a church shooting left one dead and five wounded.
But Biden’s excuse for not being able to visit East Palestine just doesn’t hold up. He visited Ukraine around the same time his administration was telling the country he would eventually go to Ohio, but, again, he never has. If Biden really wanted to go to East Palestine, he most certainly would. It’s been six months. There’s no excuse, and, frankly, these trips can be planned rather quickly. After the racially motivated mass shooting in Buffalo, N.Y., last year, Biden was on site within three days. It fit the narrative.
Between Biden’s politics-driven selectivity about which communities he visits, and his penchant for telling whoppers to those he does visit, it’s hard to imagine how he gets away with claiming to be a man of empathy.