Trump Fiddles While Texas Floods

While calamity befalls America, Trump, like Roman Emperor Nero, can’t stop focusing on himself.

First, if you want to help those suffering from the hurricane and flooding in Texas, I’d recommend donating to All Hands, a charity with top ratings and personnel on the ground in the state.

Second, if you want some words of guidance and comfort as calamity strikes Houston and surrounding cities, you probably shouldn’t look at Trump’s Twitter feed.

While Texas is pounded by tempests, Trump seems unable to fix attention on the disaster at hand. Instead, he’s obsessed with his usual fixation: himself. Yes, he did peck out some tweets about the hurricane, and he highlighted Cabinet meetings in which he discussed the emergency response, but his notoriously short attention span was inevitably distracted by his notoriously inflated ego. He tweeted out the following:

I will also be going to a wonderful state, Missouri, that I won by a lot in ’16. Dem C.M. is opposed to big tax cuts. Republican will win S!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 27, 2017

With Mexico being one of the highest crime Nations in the world, we must have THE WALL. Mexico will pay for it through reimbursement/other.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 27, 2017

We are in the NAFTA (worst trade deal ever made) renegotiation process with Mexico & Canada.Both being very difficult,may have to terminate?

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 27, 2017

The streets of Houston are deluged in storm water, helpless people are scrambling to their roofs, and others are mourning their loved ones killed by the inexorable march of Nature, and what does Trump do? Tweet about his own election win, his party’s prospects for retaking the Senate, the stupid vanity project/boondoggle that is the border wall, and the empty threat of withdrawing from NAFTA. No words of consolation for those grieving, no exhortation to remain calm and avoid looting, and none of the somberness appropriate for the situation.

Speaking of somberness, to read Trump’s running Twitter commentary on Hurricane Harvey, one would think that he was watching a football game or cool special effects sequence in a movie. Observe:

Wonderful coordination between Federal, State and Local Governments in the Great State of Texas – TEAMWORK! Record setting rainfall.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 26, 2017

Just arrived at Camp David, where I am monitoring the path and doings of Hurricane Harvey (as it strengthens to a Class 3). 125 MPH winds!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 25, 2017

“Rah, rah, rah, GO TEAM! We are the Titans! Did you see that pitch? It clocked in at 95 mph!” This the kind of talk we get from our commander-in-chief in our hour of need.

New York Times columnist Nick Kristof recently wrote an op-ed comparing Trump to another notoriously unstable figure – the Roman Emperor Caligula. But I think Kristof was off a generation or two in his historical analogy. Trump is obviously like Emperor Nero – he’s fiddling while Texas burns floods.