The Idiocracy Goes to Texas

Melania Trump sporting her new fashion statement
of the obvious during a briefing in Corpus Christi, TX

Three cheers for Republican Florida Congressman Ron DeSantis.

A day after this clown introduced an amendment to the House spending package that would cut off funding of special counsel Robert Mueller's ongoing investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, Trump took a day trip down to Texas for an ill-timed photo op / distraction event.

And 45 wasn't rolling solo either.

The elusive Melania Trump accompanied him, cementing her position as First Lady Of the Obvious by sporting a custom made black baseball hat with the words FLOTUS stitched on the front - as if people would be wondering who the woman who stepped out of the White House this morning in stilettos, Capri pants and aviator sunglasses was.

Thanks Melania, I think we got it. (Shaking my head)

Can you just imagine the backlash from Fox News and right-wing un-intelligentsia if Michelle Obama had appeared next to the President with a black hat with the words FLOTUS on it?

As the Times of Israel reported, Melania's fashion choices for a visit to a flood-ravaged Texas prompted one snarky female Twitter user to crown her, "Flood Watch Barbie".

Based on her delusional narcissistic husband's comments at a hurricane relief event in Corpus Christi, Texas earlier today, I'm not sure the flood, or the reality of what was going on 215 miles to the northeast in Houston, was even on his mind.

As Trump spoke today, at least 9,000 evacuees were sheltering in the George R. Brown Convention Center in downtown Houston - grateful for cots with warm blankets, dry clothes, hot meals and still trying to cope with the scope of the disaster that has upended their lives.

Houston PD Sergeant Steve Perez

On Monday, while Trump gleefully rescinded Obama's executive order limiting the types of military equipment that could be transferred to local police and sheriff's departments, Houston police were desperately searching for Sergeant Steve Perez.

A 34-year year veteran of the Houston Police Department who was one day shy of his 61st birthday when he left home on Sunday to drive to work despite the flooded roads and highways.

Today a visibly shaken Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo confirmed that police divers had located his body under at least 16 feet of water beneath an overpass.

He drowned on his way to help others.

Any normal  president (or anyone in their right mind) would have made mention of Sergeant Perez's name - but not 45.

A normal president speaking at an event during one of the worst storms on record would have at least attempted to offer some words of sympathy, hope, reassurance and meaning to the people who came out to hear a commander-in-chief lead.

But as an article on RawStory.com noted, the clinically insecure Trump stood atop a ladder suspended between two fire trucks and once again made the event about himself with the crass observation:

"What a crowd! What a turnout!"

As if he was at the opening of some cheesy casino in Atlantic City rather than standing in front of people partly traumatized from days of relentless rain wondering how the federal government is going to help thousands of Texans to rebuild their lives.

The comment prompted one Texas Twitter user named Laura to remark "Get him out of Texas."

Felix Sater and Trump

I'm not sure what word best describes Trump's visit to Texas. Surreal? Unnecessary? Bizarre?

In my view it was nothing more than a taxpayer-funded distraction from the New York Times article on Monday revealing that the sleazy Russian-born businessman and Trump-associate Felix Sater wrote an email to Trump's personal lawyer Michael Cohen at the start of 45's 2016 presidential campaign in which he bragged:

"Our boy can become president of the USA and we can engineer it. I will get all of Putin's team to buy in on this."

If the White House is desperate enough to strong-arm Republican Florida Congressman Ron DeSantis into adding an amendment into the Congressional spending bill that seeks to cut off funds for the special counsel investigation into the Trump campaign's collusion with Russia to intentionally interfere with the 2016 election, then they'd certainly hastily arrange a trip for him to grab some free media attention by flying down to Texas for a photo-op.

Aside from shilling for the 2020 presidential race, why else would he go down there?

Remember this is the guy who, just a week ago, rescinded the Federal Flood Risk Mitigation Standard introduced by the Obama administration in 2015.

The Houston cityscape - wth more rain to come

It would have required infrastructure projects that receive federal funds to plan and account for flood damage to minimize costs to U.S. taxpayers who must foot the bill for costly damage due to flooding.

So think about that.

When the billions in infrastructure repair work begins for Houston and other parts of Texas and Louisiana ravaged by Harvey (roads, bridges, highways, levies etc.) thanks to the Trump administration, none of that construction will have to adhere to design and construction standards that factor in lessons learned from Katrina and Harvey.

Does that make sense? No of course it doesn't.

No more than the White House budget proposal back in March that would have cut an astounding 12% ($1.3 billion) from the budget of the U.S. Coast Guard for fiscal 2018 - just as coastal flooding and severe storms are projected to worsen as the ocean temperature continues to rise.

But that's the kind of Idiocracy that this White House administration represents, it's just unfortunate that it had to travel down to Texas in the midst of one of the worst natural disasters in the state's history.

As if Harvey wasn't enough for Texans to deal with.

Oh and ten bucks says Melania's FLOTUS hat is available on sale on Ivanka Trump's Website within a week.