How real leaders act in a crisis:
Vice President Kamala Harris handed out meals, embraced a shaken family and surveyed Hurricane Helene’s “extraordinary” path of destruction through Georgia on Wednesday as she left the campaign trail to pledge federal help and personally take in scenes of toppled trees, damaged homes and lives upended.
She visited Augusta, where power lines stretched along the sidewalk and utility poles lay cracked and broken. The vice president spoke from a lectern erected in front of a house with a fallen tree teetering on its roof, acknowledging those who had died in the disaster while also trying to project a tone of unity and hope for communities now facing long and expensive rebuilds.
Harris and President Joe Biden, who visited the Carolinas on Wednesday, were seeking to demonstrate commitment and competence in helping devastated communities after Republican former President Donald Trump’s false claims about their administration’s response.
Harris said she wanted to “personally take a look at the devastation, which is extraordinary.” She expressed admiration for how “people are coming together. People are helping perfect strangers.”
The Democratic presidential nominee said that shows ”the vast majority of us have so much more in common than what separates us,” an echo of a line she frequently uses on the campaign trail.
Before delivering her remarks, Harris could be seen embracing and huddling with a family of five grappling with the storm’s aftermath. [snip]
Brittany Smith, an Augusta resident, walked away from the distribution center with Styrofoam boxes of food and some fruit cups, beaming that she got a photo with the vice president. She said there’s a hole in her roof and she had to send her kids elsewhere to live because it wasn’t safe.
Harris’ visit, she said, “made it better” despite the hardship.
Smith said she was encouraged that Harris traveled to the town instead of just appearing on television. “She’s a person. She’s not just a voice.”
About 200 miles north in the Carolinas, Biden was also surveying the storm’s aftermath. With many of the area’s roads inaccessible, he flew by helicopter over toppled trees, twisted metal and towering piles of debris in the normally tourist-friendly downtown of Asheville.
From the air, Biden saw flooded roads, piles of shredded lumber and displaced sandbags, emergency trucks and downed power lines. In one area, homes were partly underwater, and it was hard to distinguish between lake and land...
Vividly contrasted with a narcissistic sociopath's actions:
Trump, the Republican nominee, traveled to Valdosta, Georgia, on Monday with a Christian charity organization that brought trucks of fuel, food, water and other supplies. The former president accused Biden of “sleeping” and not responding to calls from Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp. However, Kemp had spoken with Biden the previous day, and the governor said the state was getting everything it needed.
Biden was infuriated by Trump’s claim, saying Trump was “lying, and the governor told him he was lying.” [snip]
The tone of both Harris and Biden was far different than Trump, who claimed without evidence that Democratic leaders were withholding help from Republican areas. He recently threatened that he would withhold wildfire assistance from California because of disagreements with Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom.
When Trump was president, Puerto Rico was devastated by Hurricane Maria, which killed 3,000 people. His administration waited until fall 2020, just weeks before the presidential election, to release $13 billion in assistance for Puerto Rico’s recovery. A federal government watchdog also found that Trump administration officials hampered an investigation into delays in the aid delivery. (our emphasis)
Among other traits, being a narcissist means not being able to understand or care about the feelings of others, something the Malignant Loser has in spades, whether it's fallen soldiers, immigrants, business associates, even family members. Why should anyone expect anything different at this point from this 78-year-old monster?
BONUS: While we're talking about leadership, let's remember how the Republican legislature may have contributed to the extent of damage, shall we?
(Photo: VP Harris briefed by State and local officials in Augusta, Georgia, yesterday/ via WJBF.com)
