September 19, 2018

Trump Visited Rain-Drenched North Carolina and It Went About as Well as You’d Expect

“At least you got a nice boat out of the deal.”

Trump stands in front of a home that suffered damage from Hurricane Florence; in the background is a yacht that washed ashore.Evan Vucci/AP

After Hurricane Florence dumped 34 inches of rain on the Carolinas, swelling rivers and flooding neighborhoods and towns, President Donald Trump toured the particularly hard-hit areas in North Carolina. As of Wednesday, 37 people had been killed by the storm. The president, who is still being criticized for pelting survivors with paper towels after Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico last September, has once again attracted criticism for the way he spoke with survivors of Hurricane Florence on Wednesday.

According to White House pool reports, while Trump was being briefed before his tour began, he asked an official about Lake Norman, a town near Charlotte. When the official told him it was doing just fine, Trump responded with, “I can’t tell you why, but I love that area.” One likely reason for his affection might be that there is a Trump National Golf Club located there.

Later on, while in New Bern, Trump encountered a man whose house was damaged by the storm, and whose insurance company, he said, had refused to pay for the damages. Trump was more distracted by the yacht that had washed ashore during the storm. Then, this happened:

https://twitter.com/JoePerticone/status/1042458427912597509

According to reports, when the president found out the man was not the owner, Trump smiled and said, “At least you got a nice boat out of the deal.” 

More Mother Jones reporting on Climate Desk

THE FACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES.

At least we hope they will, because that’s our approach to raising the $350,000 in online donations we need right now—during our high-stakes December fundraising push.

It’s the most important month of the year for our fundraising, with upward of 15 percent of our annual online total coming in during the final week—and there’s a lot to say about why Mother Jones’ journalism, and thus hitting that big number, matters tremendously right now.

But you told us fundraising is annoying—with the gimmicks, overwrought tone, manipulative language, and sheer volume of urgent URGENT URGENT!!! content we’re all bombarded with. It sure can be.

So we’re going to try making this as un-annoying as possible. In “Let the Facts Speak for Themselves” we give it our best shot, answering three questions that most any fundraising should try to speak to: Why us, why now, why does it matter?

The upshot? Mother Jones does journalism you don’t find elsewhere: in-depth, time-intensive, ahead-of-the-curve reporting on underreported beats. We operate on razor-thin margins in an unfathomably hard news business, and can’t afford to come up short on these online goals. And given everything, reporting like ours is vital right now.

If you can afford to part with a few bucks, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones with a much-needed year-end donation. And please do it now, while you’re thinking about it—with fewer people paying attention to the news like you are, we need everyone with us to get there.

payment methods

THE FACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES.

At least we hope they will, because that’s our approach to raising the $350,000 in online donations we need right now—during our high-stakes December fundraising push.

It’s the most important month of the year for our fundraising, with upward of 15 percent of our annual online total coming in during the final week—and there’s a lot to say about why Mother Jones’ journalism, and thus hitting that big number, matters tremendously right now.

But you told us fundraising is annoying—with the gimmicks, overwrought tone, manipulative language, and sheer volume of urgent URGENT URGENT!!! content we’re all bombarded with. It sure can be.

So we’re going to try making this as un-annoying as possible. In “Let the Facts Speak for Themselves” we give it our best shot, answering three questions that most any fundraising should try to speak to: Why us, why now, why does it matter?

The upshot? Mother Jones does journalism you don’t find elsewhere: in-depth, time-intensive, ahead-of-the-curve reporting on underreported beats. We operate on razor-thin margins in an unfathomably hard news business, and can’t afford to come up short on these online goals. And given everything, reporting like ours is vital right now.

If you can afford to part with a few bucks, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones with a much-needed year-end donation. And please do it now, while you’re thinking about it—with fewer people paying attention to the news like you are, we need everyone with us to get there.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate