It's been over a year since a train carrying hazardous materials derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, and President Joe Biden is just now coming for a visit. On Friday morning, ahead of that visit, former and potentially future President Donald Trump released an ad declaring how Biden's response came "too little, too late."
The ad highlighted how it's been 378 days and included news footage sharing how people were wondering "why the current president still has yet to visit," especially as he found time to travel around the country and around the world. The ad included footage of Biden not only traveling to Ukraine, but also political events in Pennsylvania, and enjoying one of his many vacations on the beach.
"While Biden was absent," a script reads, "Trump showed up." It goes on to declare Biden's actions are "Too Little, Too Late, Joe!"
Trump himself visited late last February, just weeks after the derailment, and a day before Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg did. The ad also showed footage of Trump interacting with Mayor Trent R. Conaway and Sen. JD Vance (R-OH).
The ad includes NewsNation coverage as well, as a resident shared a message for Biden that you've "already shown us, you know, how little you think of us."
Perhaps most damning of all is that the ad concludes with footage of one of the many moments Biden has appeared lost at the podium.
TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE! pic.twitter.com/gTaT5rKqCs
— Team Trump (Text TRUMP to 88022) (@TeamTrump) February 16, 2024
Republicans running for Ohio's U.S. Senate seat to challenge vulnerable Democratic incumbent Sherrod Brown also weighed in.
Businessman Bernie Moreno, who received an endorsement from Trump last December, highlighted how the timing came too late. "Joe Biden's visit to East Palestine is far overdue. While this administration and Democrats in the Senate have been focused on giving endless aid to Ukraine while neglecting our own nation, citizens of East Palestine have paid the price," he said in a statement. "I hope that Biden's visit will inspire him to confront challenges that Americans are dealing with everyday rather than continuing to fund endless wars abroad."
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Earlier on Friday, Moreno spoke with Fox News to blast Biden for his "far overdue" visit. He hasn't been afraid to go after Brown as well. In a post from last September, he called the senator out for being "too much of a coward to call Biden out for ignoring the people of East Palestine." The post also urged Brown to call on Biden to visit and criticized the senator for being "too much of a coward to stand up to Biden" over policy issues.
Sherrod Brown is too much of a coward to call Biden out for ignoring the people of East Palestine.
— Bernie Moreno (@berniemoreno) September 5, 2023
Just like Sherrod was too much of a coward to stand up to Biden to stop the trillions in reckless spending, his radical open border policies or Biden's Green New Deal extremism. https://t.co/AvmfIJfJHT
Moreno also spoke to Breitbart last year in the weeks after the derailment about how he facilitated the donation of a car to a mom who walking to the store to carry bottled water.
Secretary of State Frank LaRose similarly slammed Biden for taking so long in an appearance with Fox Business' "Varney & Co." When asked why Biden delayed his trip for a year, LaRose offered, "there's no explanation," adding "President Trump is right," that "it's an insult to the people of East Palestine, and it's also too little too late."
LaRose suggested that Biden's delayed visit was "another example of the hapless leadership--lack of leadership--from Joe Biden." He also insisted that "the village doesn't need a photo op or a field trip, they need help from the federal government," reminding that "when they needed that help, he was on vacation or visiting Ukraine."
In discussing the lack of a "rosy" reception, LaRose noted Ohioans "are disappointed in the lack of a response from the federal government," as he shared the financial and communication difficulties of local residents as examples of "why the president should have been there, building these relationships, and coordinating this response."
Too little, too late.
— Frank LaRose (@FrankLaRose) February 16, 2024
I joined @Varneyco to discuss President Biden's one-year late visit to East Palestine. tpic.twitter.com/FblcADVTlH
LaRose has also been profiled by local news outlet WKBN and posted to X about his recent visits to East Palestine one year after the derailment.
Those posts incorporated lessons he learned from the Army "that the best leaders are those who listen" and shared the stories he's heard from local residents while continuing to promise to "show up."
In the Army I learned that the best leaders are those who listen.
— Frank LaRose (@FrankLaRose) February 8, 2024
That’s why I visited East Palestine today to listen to residents and local leaders. I can promise you this, when I am serving Ohioans in the U.S. Senate, I won’t stop listening and working for you. pic.twitter.com/0rktrCBTMS
While in East Palestine, I stopped at Sprinkles on Top for dinner.
— Frank LaRose (@FrankLaRose) February 8, 2024
I met Doris who lives next to the site of the train derailment. Hearing how she was displaced from her home was eye-opening and her story is similar to so many I met. As your Senator, I will continue to show up… pic.twitter.com/70i8vijU6k
State Sen. Matt Dolan, who earned the endorsement of Mayor Conaway last year, criticized Biden in a statement for Townhall while also praising the mayor.
"Actions speak louder than words, and the fact that it has taken Joe Biden so long to visit East Palestine is a sad reflection of his priorities," Dolan said. "It’s important that his year-long absence does not distract from the hard work that has been done by Mayor Conaway, local leaders, first responders and many others who have worked to demand accountability and results for the people of East Palestine. In the U.S. Senate, I will never stop working to build upon their progress and deliver results for Columbiana County, the Mahoning Valley and our entire state."
The "East Palestine" trend taking place on X ahead of Biden's visit has been brutal as well, as residents shared they didn't even want Biden to come with the opportunity it would provide for him. Residents have also shared how they feel forgotten since they're not a blue state.
RNC Research also took the opportunity to remind that Biden has visited countless other places around the country and the world rather than go to East Palestine.
Later today, Biden will finally visit East Palestine, Ohio — 378 days after the toxic train disaster.
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) February 16, 2024
Here are the places Biden has visited instead of East Palestine:
Delaware (x30)
Pennsylvania (x13)
Camp David (x10)
Maryland (x9)
California (x7)
Virginia (x6)
New York (x5)…
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