Scandal-ridden former President Donald Trump is slated to pay a visit to East Palestine, Ohio, at the site of the recent catastrophic toxic train derailment, and it seems he’s not as welcome as he would hope to be, as even the mayor is now speaking out against what appears to be Trump’s attempts to turn the tragedy-stricken town into “political pawns.”
According to a new report from Politico, Trump is scheduled to arrive in East Palestine on Wednesday. The report notes that some members of the Biden administration are welcoming the PR stunt as an opportunity to highlight the former administration’s lackluster safety record, while other critics of the corrupt ex-president are pegging Donald’s visit for exactly what it is — political theater and grandstanding for a 2024 presidential candidate who’s struggling to breathe any life into his dead-in-the-water campaign.
Ray LaHood, a former Republican congressman who served as the Transportation Secretary in the first Barack Obama Administration’s Department of Transportation, spoke out on Trump’s visit and didn’t mince his words when he said, “It’s clear that it’s a political stunt. If he wants to visit, he’s a citizen. But clearly, his regulations and the elimination of them, and no emphasis on safety, is going to be pointed out.”
Pete Buttigieg, the current transportation secretary under the Biden Administration, was a bit more guarded in his remarks regarding Donald Trump’s East Palestine visit and his administration’s safety record, likely due to reservations about potentially violating the Hatch Act when making comments on a current political candidate.
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However, it wasn’t difficult to read between the lines of Buttigieg’s remarks when he said, “There is a chance for everybody who has a public voice on this issue to demonstrate whether they are interested in helping the people of East Palestine or using the people of East Palestine. A lot of the folks who seem to find political opportunity there are among those who have sided with the rail industry again and again and again as they have fought safety regulations on railroads and [hazardous materials] tooth and nail.”
Donald Trump and his jockeys have unsurprisingly been quick to launch an attack against the Biden Administration and the president’s failure to send in a high-ranking administration official to the scene of the toxic tragedy. Buttigieg has confirmed that he would pay a visit to East Palestine “when the time is right,” however, locals of the disaster-stricken town have expressed their wariness and suspicion of visits from any national political figures.
East Palestine Mayor Trent Conaway spoke out on the matter and made it very clear, “We don’t want to become political pawns.”
Conway, a registered Republican, ultimately said Trump was welcome to pay a visit to the town and went further still to walk back his recent criticism of President Biden for paying a visit to Ukraine before he went to East Palestine in the wake of the toxic train derailment tragedy.
“We don’t want to be a soundbite or a news bite,” the East Palestine mayor made clear. “We just want to go back to living our lives the way they were.”
Read Politico’s full report here.
Featured image via Political Tribune Gallery
