As Katie reported on Tuesday, President Biden is embarking on yet another vacation while an array of crises rage at home, this time to sunny and warm St. Croix — and he's taking heat for his decision to leave the White House as the U.S. waits to learn the fate of Title 42 and Americans continue to grapple with winter weather that's killed dozens and upended air travel.
On Tuesday's episode of Outnumbered, host of the Sideline Sanity podcast Michele Tafoya made a stark comparison between the struggle faced by Americans in Buffalo, New York, and soon-to-be island vacationing President Biden.
"The optics of this are horrible," Tafoya said of Biden jetting off to St. Croix on Tuesday afternoon where temperatures are in the 70s and 80s. "Not only is it a vacation, but it's somewhere warm and beautiful while others are freezing, literally, to death," the former NFL sideline reporter noted.
"So this is really inadvisable," Tafoya continued. "If I'm his team, I'm saying 'you're not going, sorry, you're staying home and we are comforting the people of Buffalo,'" she added.
"Not only is it a vacation, but it's somewhere warm and beautiful while others are freezing, literally, to death," notes @Michele_Tafoya of Biden's trip to St. Croix as the death toll in New York climbs. "Mr. President, cancel your trip — it's not too late." pic.twitter.com/RRvcNfrsHN
— Spencer Brown (@itsSpencerBrown) December 27, 2022
Tafoya also questioned, in the wake of the deadly blizzard that swept across Buffalo and surrounding communities over the Christmas weekend, whether "the preparation was spot on."
"Were they ready?" she asked of federal and New York officials. "Look, There's mother nature, there's only so much you can control, right? But there are some things you can prepare for, and it seems like there was just no preparation for this, that it's all been reaction and response," Tafoya said. "It's devastating, it's heartbreaking — but Mr. President, cancel your trip. It's not too late."