President Biden and first lady Jill Biden will be visiting Hawaii next week to tour the devastation wrought by massive wildfires on Maui, which have resulted in more than 100 deaths and an estimated 1,000 people missing. But he’s once again facing backlash for his response to the trip.
"Can you tell us about your Hawaii trip, sir?" a reporter asked the president on Thursday.
“No, not now. I’m going to be leaving, and I’ll be there on Monday," he said before walking away.
REPORTER: "Can you tell us about your Hawaii trip, sir?"
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) August 17, 2023
BIDEN: "No. Not now." pic.twitter.com/TkRKQWJomL
Social media users were none too pleased with the president’s response, which comes after controversy over his initial refusal to commit to visiting the island, prompting the White House to announce the Aug. 21 visit.
"In Maui, the President and First Lady will be welcomed by state and local leaders to see first-hand the impacts of the wildfires and the devastating loss of life and land that has occurred on the island, as well as discuss the next steps in the recovery effort," the White House said in a statement on Wednesday.
"The President continues to marshal a whole-of-government response to the deadly Maui fires, and he has committed to delivering everything that the people of Hawaii need from the federal government as they recover from this disaster."
Rather than cutting his vacation short last week to respond to the disaster, Biden remained at Rehoboth Beach and refused to provide a comment when asked about the rising death toll, torching his reputation as an empathetic leader.
Most transparent administration https://t.co/ykUDmsWwdn
— ALX 🇺🇸 (@alx) August 17, 2023
Joe Biden should have gone with, “No comment.” https://t.co/pigB8m6KEW
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) August 17, 2023
Plenty of criticism also went towards the media's response to his comment.
I was in the White House during Hurricane Katrina when Bush was excoriated for flying over New Orleans, rather than landing, because he did not want to divert resources from rescue efforts.
— Marc Thiessen 🇺🇸❤️🇺🇦&🇹🇼 (@marcthiessen) August 18, 2023
Can you imagine if he spent that week on the beach, and when asked to discuss his plans… https://t.co/szLWNFMhPk
Journos: "Ok well that's good enough for us" https://t.co/LfBrE9uDJv
— Comfortably Smug (@ComfortablySmug) August 17, 2023
And they thank him at the end of the clip. https://t.co/fnVQa30XiA
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) August 17, 2023
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