President Donald Trump has apparently learned from the experiences of George W. Bush when Hurricane Katrina hit.
Rather than waiting before responding, the White House has been on top of the ongoing flooding and devastation in the massive state, promising as much funding as they can release and reassuring the public that Trump is closely watching to determine what he can do. ICE and Border Patrol issued a joint statement promising that they wouldn’t be targeting undocumented immigrants trying to evacuate, and he’s already arranged a trip for Tuesday to the region.
By all yardsticks he’s doing everything right - everything, that is, except for talking about the cause of the crisis.
Trump wants to pretend this natural disaster means there’s no enemy, cause or policy discussion other than response and recovery. But the reality is Hurricane Harvey is part of a bigger conversation - one Trump doesn’t want to have.
It’s part of a conversation on climate change.
Scientists are already agreeing that Harvey’s severity is a sign of significantly changing the weather and the storm is as powerful as a smoothie blender. The National Weather Service had to update the color coding on its rain graphs while tracking Harvey because too much rain fell to accurately represent it in the existing color code.
The Gulf saw abnormally high temperatures all year, according to NPR. The entire region stayed above 73 degrees throughout the winter - and the warming region is the perfect condition for powerful, devastating hurricanes. The rising temperatures in the gulf will only increase the occurrence of deadly storms and hurricanes.
Despite what Trump wants this to be - a natural disaster he can respond to effectively and with strong leadership that no one will criticize - this issue absolutely comes down to policy, and unfortunately it’s policy he’s pushed back against already.
Earlier this year, Trump rocked global politics when he pulled our country out of the Paris climate accord that we helped create. He did so complaining that the terms were “unfair” to us and to American businesses. Of course, the countless business CEOs that came out in the days after his decision to condemn his action, affirm that climate change is real and insist that their businesses are dedicated to sacrificing and changing in the name of protecting the planet did nothing to change his mind.
Just a week before Harvey devastated Texas, Trump’s administration disbanded a federal advisory committee on climate change, and in his time in office, he has loosened or removed dozens of regulations related to environmental protections, seemingly in an effort to undo absolutely any action that his predecessor took, regardless of reason or content.
So while Trump puts on an impressive show caring for the victims of Harvey, which now number in the millions thanks to the devastation and flooding that swept Houston, he continues to support policies that will create more future hurricane victims.
Hurricane Harvey is not a one-time event. It’s part of a greater pattern reflecting the growing crisis of climate change. And under Trump’s administration, it’s going to get much worse. Unfortunately for us, the consequences will extend beyond our borders and beyond his presidency.