(VitalNews.org) – Major natural and environmental catastrophes usually draw Presidential visits to tour the scene, survey the damage, and reassure residents that the federal government will be there to help rebuild.
But President Joe Biden has not set foot near Palestine, Ohio, where about 50 train cars carrying toxic chemicals derailed, forcing residents to flee the area. GOP lawmakers are furious that the President hasn’t visited Ohio but found time on President’s Day to visit Ukraine to promise that country’s President more than half a billion dollars in aid and military armament.
House Representative Matt Gaetz, a Republican from Florida, said Biden “naps.” At the same time, the US has a border immigration crisis and tells the public things are “fine” while a derailed train in Ohio burns, releasing clouds of toxic gas for miles around.
He said he wasn’t surprised that Biden “is ditching America for Ukraine” with the President’s surprise visit to the capital city of Kyiv. Gaetz added that Ukraine can “keep him.”
From Missouri, freshman Republican Senator Eric Schmitt said it was easy to understand why so many Americans were frustrated with the President considering that he’s in a foreign country instead of visiting his own country’s state experiencing a crisis.
Never one to mince words, Georgia Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene took to the social media platform Twitter to say Biden’s actions were “incredibly insulting.” The President chose Ukraine over his own people, she said, while using American taxpayer dollars to fund a foreign war.
South Carolina’s Republican Representative Nancy Mace joined the chorus, tweeting that she hopes Biden will pay a visit to East Palestine, Ohio, on his way back from Kyiv. Perhaps he could bring Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg as well, she quipped.
Buttigieg has also been under heavy criticism for perceived incompetence in his role managing the country’s transportation infrastructure. As the chemical crisis from the derailed Ohio train was unfolding, Buttigieg was making public statements about achieving racial “equity” in hiring for infrastructure jobs.
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