Trump Ridiculed for His Response to Victims of Hurricane Florence
NORTH CAROLINA — September 22, 2018
During his tour of an area in North Carolina hit by the storm, President Trump addressed people who were left without power and housing, and even tried to joke with them.
Trump told one of the victims he "got a nice boat out of the deal", in reference to a large shipwrecked yacht that had washed ashore during the storm. Trump asked the man if the boat behind his house belonged to him, according to a White House pool report.
He said "No" and laughed.
"At least you got a nice boat out of the deal," Trump answered.
Trump to a homeowner in New Bern, NC, who had a yacht wash up in his backyard: “At least you got a nice boat out of the deal.” pic.twitter.com/twtT3it8ul
— Mark Landler (@MarkLandler) September 19, 2018
Trump added that he thought the boat was "incredible" and suggested that under the law it might now belong to the owners of the home.
"They don’t know whose boat that is," he said. "What’s the law? Maybe it becomes theirs.”
“They don’t know whose boat that is,” Trump tells us, in the backyard of a house where a boat was washed ashore in flooding caused by Hurricane Florence.
— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) September 19, 2018
“What’s the law? Maybe it becomes theirs.” pic.twitter.com/LOQMAgDJjF
Trump made the comments while visiting New Bern, N.C., a town that was hit hard by Florence when it made landfall late last week.
Earlier on Wednesday the President told local officials and residents in the Carolinas that his administration will support recovery efforts “One hundred percent.”
"We will be there one hundred percent, and all of the folks from the federal government that are around the table, they're confirming it," he said during a briefing at the Marine Corps Air Station in Cherry Point, North Carolina. "That’s why we started early and we’ll be here late."
Trump visited New Bern in the early afternoon Wednesday before heading to South Carolina to visit parts of that state affected by the storm.
At least 37 people have died from Florence, which has been downgraded to a tropical depression since making landfall. The storm caused lengthy power outages and severe flooding in parts of North Carolina and South Carolina after dumping significant rain on the two states. Florence has also impacted Virginia.