Joe Biden left for an extended vacation on July 28 at his Rehoboth Beach house and then his house in Wilmington. He returned to the White House on August 7.
He then went on a four-day swing to Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah where he gave a few speeches and attended a few campaign events. In the middle of all this was a disastrous interview with Weather Channel. He also declared a new national monument, cutting off about a million acres of land, and that is raising questions about national security and how it is impacting the people in the local area. Biden also descended into complete incoherence during a speech in New Mexico.
Biden returned to the White House on August 11 and then was off out the door again back to Rehoboth Beach.
In the meantime, there’s been a big disaster in Maui with a fire that’s killed at least 93 people, with hundreds still missing and the number of dead likely to go higher. The town of Lahaina took a massive hit with its historic area and many homes were destroyed.
Drone footage reveals the extent of the destruction caused by raging wildfires that razed the historic Lahaina to the ground. pic.twitter.com/RfiR52UqSK
— AccuWeather (@accuweather) August 12, 2023
Biden did issue a pro forma statement when the fire hit last week and declare a disaster when the scope of the death toll wasn’t clear.
But then when he was asked about it at the beach, on what the RNC Research folks said was his 371st day on vacation, his response was very brief. He was riding a bike (fortunately not falling off this time) and was asked if he planned a visit. He then said, “We’re looking at it.”
“We’re looking at it,” Biden tells us Sunday about a potential visit to Maui to survey wildfire damage. pic.twitter.com/PZ6aGi6D5W
— darlene superville (@dsupervilleap) August 13, 2023
Then he spent hours on the beach.
Biden is back at the beach pic.twitter.com/CocESstb6L
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) August 13, 2023
When asked about the rising death toll that had now reached horrible levels, Biden’s remark was a cold one. “No comment,” he said, according to Justin Sink, White House correspondent for Bloomberg.
After a couple hours on the Rehoboth beach, @potus was asked about the rising death toll in Hawaii
“No comment,” he said before heading home pic.twitter.com/Y0UmXirju9
— Justin Sink (@justinsink) August 13, 2023
Now let’s be real. If former President Donald Trump had that kind of a response to such a disaster, refusing to even comment when asked about the death toll of such a disaster, the media would have ripped him to shreds. We would have been told that his enjoying himself biking and on the beach was evidence that he didn’t care. But with Biden, don’t expect the same response, because he has the magical “D” after his name. I’m surprised frankly that Sink even reported it. But so much for “Empathy is back” in the White House.
— Larry O’Connor (@LarryOConnor) August 14, 2023
How do you not respond with a comment when asked about Americans dying in a disaster? Even Kamala Harris — who can’t seem to stop talking about Venn Diagrams — at least had a better response here.
The Vice President: “The President and I are deeply concerned about what’s happening in Hawaii”
The President: “No comment.” https://t.co/HLMwKdMitd pic.twitter.com/AKIlZELt8w
— Kate Hyde (@KateHydeNY) August 14, 2023
Is Biden so out of it at this point that he can’t even muster that up? People talk about the response to the 3:00 a.m. call in the morning, but Biden can’t even get it together for the right response in the broad light of day when he’s allegedly wide awake. We saw this kind of response to East Palestine where there were no deaths, where Biden said he would be going to visit the area to see how it had been affected by a train derailment. But then he never went, perhaps hoping that people would just forget what he said about going. With all the trips to the beach, he just couldn’t figure out how to work it in.
But in the face of so many deaths, this is just astonishing, even for him.
