Former US President Donald Trump speaks at the East Palestine Fire Department in East Palestine, ... [+] Ohio, on February 22, 2023. (Photo by REBECCA DROKE/AFP via Getty Images)
Take a wild guess as to whos providing Trump Water to residents of East Palestine, Ohio. And take a wild guess as to whos told everyone about it.
Well, you probably dont need 45 guesses. The answer to both of these questions was the 45th U.S. President and current Mar-A-Lago resident Donald Trump. On February 22, Trump visited the Eastern Ohio site of the massive train and environmental accident that Ive described for Forbes. This was one day before U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg was scheduled to visit the town in person for the first time since the Norfolk Southern NSC train derailed on February 3. And in addition to a fresh supply of red Make American Great Again hats and lots of references to himself, Trump did bring some other things: namely bottled water, cleaning supplies, and some Goya beans. In a speech given alongside local officials, Trump declared, Were bringing in thousands of bottles of water, Trump Water, actually. Most of it, uh, some of it, we had to go to a much lesser quality of water, as you can see in the video tweeted by journalist Aaron Rupar:
Bottled water was probably a welcome stopgap sight for East Palestine residents who have been clamoring for more attention from authorities. The whole train wreck of the situation has left many questions about the water quality there. The derailment and subsequent fire and controlled release of hazardous materials have resulted in billow and billows of dangerous chemicals like vinyl chloride going into the air and potentially into the land and water in the surrounding Eastern Ohio and Western Pennsylvania area. It remains to be seen what the longer term effects of all this pollution may be. So you can understand why the residents might be skeptical about drinking the tap water there.
Now, its not clear what would make Trump Water different from other types of water. For example, is it somehow wetter than other types of water? Some on Twitter have suggested that the water may be 13-years old, which may be good for wine but may not be great for water sitting in plastic bottles. For example, heres what Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-New York) tweeted:
And its not clear how many of the bottles provided by Trump actually had Trumps name on it or perhaps something like an image of him with lasers coming out of his eyes.
Nevertheless, a number of East Palestine residents thanked Trump for his visit and the supplies that he brought. He, in turn, couldnt quite keep his delivery bottled up and added, You want to get those Trump bottles more than anybody else. Trump also spent some time mixing with the East Palestine residents as the following tweet from The Associated Press showed:
His visit included a stop at, surprise, surprise, a local McDonalds, where he ordered food for first responders. During his visit, Trump, not surprisingly, criticized the Biden Administration for not doing more for East Palestine because criticize others is what many politicians do. For example, he told East Palestine residents, In too many cases, your goodness and perseverance were met with indifference and betrayal. Various residents did thank Trump for visiting and not forgetting about them.
Meanwhile, various politicians have continued their finger-pointing-from-far that has been going on for the past couple weeks. For example, Senator Marco Rubio (R-Florida) called Buttigieg m.i.a. on the derailment, which presumably meant missing in action rather than Miami International Airport. Buttigieg, in turn, fired back, accusing Rubio of signing a 2021 letter that supports waivers that would reduce visual track inspections, as you can see in the Twitter exchange below:
Trumps visit and deliverance of some bottled water drew praise from many of his supporters on social media. This helped the words Trump Water to trend on Twitter. However, others didnt keep their skeptical opinions about the Trump show bottled up. They blamed the East Palestine crash on the Trump Administration for rescinding rail safety protections that the Obama Administration had put in place. For example, The Lincoln Project called Trumps visit purely political theatre and a sad attempt to mask his failures as a President in the following tweet:
Theres also the question about how much the Trump Administration had weakened the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) during his time in office. After all, Trump wasnt exactly known as the environmental President. Hes the guy who once said, I never understood wind, when arguing against the use of windmills. And when he wasnt trying to break wind, Trump installed energy industry insiders Scott Pruitt and then Andrew R. Wheeler as EPA Administrators during his time in the White House. The Trump Administration also dismantled close to 100 policies that were focused on protecting the air, water, wildlife, and people against pollution and toxic chemicals, as described by Nadja Popovich, Livia Albeck-ripka, and Kendra Pierre-louis for the New York Times NYT .
Its not clear how much the Biden Administration has been able to re-bolster the EPA in the two years since President Joe Biden took office. Consumer advocate and environmental activist Erin Brockovich pointed out that the EPA has not exactly been swimming in resources:
So the bigger need is funding to assist with the clean up of all that junk thats been spewed into the environment. The EPA has announced that Norfolk Southern will be responsible for cleanup costs as this tweet from the CBS Evening News indicated:
But dont hold your breath about how much Norfolk Southern will end up paying until it actually happens.
One things for sure, theres been plenty of blame to go around for the current mess in East Palestine. While bottled water, cleaning supplies, and beans may seem to help East Palestine residents in the short term, they can only provide so much relief. They are far from enough to compensate for the lack of railroad safety regulations that could have prevented the derailment in the first place. At the same time, Trump wouldnt have had the opportunity to swoop in on Wednesday had there been more attention paid to the East Palestine residents during the nearly three weeks since the train went off its tracks. Additionally, the EPA needs to have resources to be able to prevent and respond to pollution and environmental disasters. Our environment isnt just some toilet bowl where you can dump some oopsies into and quickly flush them away. The Norfolk Southern accident could have wide-ranging effects on the surrounding ecosystem. In other words, it will be the people of the U.S. who will end up paying for it in many ways.
This Norfolk Southern disaster has gone off the rails in many ways. While providing bottled water may seem like a nice short term stopgap and makes for good photo ops, it doesnt really solve the bigger problems. It doesnt really provide more funding to relief and environmental efforts. It doesnt help prevent a similar situation from happening again. It ends up being essentially a watered down solution rather than one that actually fixes the bigger problems.
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Donald Trump Provides Trump Water To East Palestine, Ohio ...