East Palestine, Ohio, was rocked by a toxic train crash on February 3, 2023. Environmental problems besieged the town since the train’s cargo was vinyl chlorides. Local ponds were contaminated, and the air quality tests were suspect. Relief workers were getting sick due to inadequate protection gear, including gloves.
The Biden administration dragged its feet responding to the disaster, finally dispatching failed Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to the area. However, it became more of a photo opportunity, featuring the secretary’s disaster gear, which some mocked as being from Brooks Brothers. Biden never visited the town, whose residents begged to be relocated due to the contaminants. He’s finally going because it’s an election year (via Fox News):
President Biden will travel to East Palestine, Ohio in February to mark the one-year anniversary of the disastrous train derailment in the town, a White House official confirmed to Fox News Digital.
Biden was heavily criticized at the time of the incident for never visiting the community in the weeks and months that followed. The official says Biden will discuss his administration's "comprehensive, whole-of-government response" to ensure railroad safety.
[…]
[Trent] Conaway [mayor of East Palestine] additionally told Fox, "The President is always welcome to our town," adding, "that being said, I don’t know what he would do here now."
Several other East Palestine residents spoke out against Biden in September for not visiting the town. Local residents Courtney Miller, DJ Yokley and Jami Wallace spoke with "Fox & Friends" guest host Dr. Nicole Saphier about the struggles they endured since the disaster that spewed toxic chemicals and caused health and environmental concerns.
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Like his mind, Joe is too slow to realize it’s too late to visit this area. But his administration’s lackadaisical response to the crash was probably intentional: East Palestine is hardcore Trump country. Yet, at the time, Biden’s team probably thought they had re-election in the bag, not knowing that the economy would remain dismal, inflation at ridiculous levels, and a world on the verge of total war. Biden’s autopilot presidency has led core Democratic voting groups—Hispanics, young people, labor unions, and blacks—to abandon him. If not, they’re so unenthused by his re-election bid that they might stay home. The Rust Belt will be in play since Muslim voters are infuriated over Biden’s support for Israel. I guess this man thinks he can be like his former boss, Obama, who would venture into deep red counties, knowing he wouldn’t win. But the dividend was not losing in these areas as heavily and showing voters you’re willing to venture outside your safe zones. Obama then ran up the margins in the areas he needed to do that, and the result was two successful national elections.
By speaking to voters in deeply Republican areas, Obama was able to clinch 35-40 percent of white working-class workers, which was enough to seal the deal twice. Biden can’t do that since he lacks his former boss’s political skill or mental sharpness.
There can be no other reason for why Biden is coming here now.
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