Donald Trump’s crappy response to Hurricane Harvey already has “Katrina” trending

| 11:05 pm EDT August 25, 2017
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I’ve been through a few hurricanes over the years, and I’ve been very fortunate. I’ve seen others lose their homes or even their lives in the same storms that only cost me a tree or a front porch. It’s why I’m firmly rooting for Donald Trump to handle the Hurricane Harvey aftermath in competent fashion; we need him to somehow get this right for once. But based on how he’s already responded to it today, I don’t see it happening. And based on what’s trending right now, neither does anyone else.

After Trump’s initial tepid reaction to the Charlottesville white supremacist terrorist attack, I wrote that it could end up being his Hurricane Katrina. But I was speaking in metaphorical, political terms. And sure enough in the following he days he went on to make it much worse for himself by siding with the white supremacists. But now we’re facing an actual hurricane. And the nation’s confidence in Trump’s ability to get this right is so low that Katrina is suddenly prominent in the national discussion.

Not only is “Katrina” a trending topic on Twitter tonight, some unlikely figures are invoking it. Republican Senator Chuck Grassley of all people tweeted this message at Donald Trump tonight: “keep on top of hurricane Harvey don’t make same mistake Pres Bush made with Katrina” (link). But many among the general public are being far less optimistic than Grassley, and are flat out stating their expectation that Trump will blow it.

Donald Trump has already shown that he has little understanding of the seriousness of the Hurricane Harvey crisis. He headed out on vacation for the weekend while yelling “Good luck everyone” when asked what his message was for those in the path of the storm. And while he has appointed a FEMA Director, he’s left more than 80% of federally appointed jobs vacant, raising the question of whether FEMA will be in position to respond.