Take a wild guess as to who’s offering “Trump Water” to residents of East Palestine, Ohio. And take a wild guess as to who’s advised everybody about it.

Effectively, you most likely don’t want 45 guesses to determine the solutions. The reply to each questions was the forty fifth U.S. President and present Mar-A-Lao resident Donald Trump. On February 22, Trump visited the Japanese Ohio web site of the huge prepare and environmental accident that I’ve described for Forbes. This was sooner or later earlier than U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg was scheduled to go to the city in particular person for the primary time because the Norfolk Southern prepare derailed on February 3. And along with a contemporary provide of pink “Make American Nice Once more” hats and plenty of references to himself, Trump did carry another issues: specifically bottled water, cleansing provides, and Goya beans. In a speech given alongside native officers, Trump declared, “We’re bringing in 1000’s of bottles of water, Trump Water, truly. Most of it, uh, a few of it, we needed to go to a a lot lesser high quality of water,” as you may see within the video tweeted by journalist Aaron Rupar:

Bottled water was most likely a welcome stopgap sight for East Palestine residents who’ve been clamoring for extra consideration from authorities. The entire prepare wreck of the scenario has left many questions on the water high quality there. The derailment and subsequent hearth and “managed launch” of hazardous supplies have resulted in billow and billows of harmful chemical compounds like vinyl chloride going into the air and doubtlessly into the land and water within the surrounding Japanese Ohio and Western Pennsylvania space. It’s nonetheless not clear what the long term results of all this air pollution could also be. So you may perceive why the residents may be skeptical about consuming the faucet water there.

Now, it’s not clear what would make Trump Water totally different from different kinds of water. For instance, is it by some means wetter than different kinds of water? Some on Twitter did counsel that the water could also be 13-years previous, which can be good for wine however will not be nice for water sitting in plastic bottles. For instance, right here’s what Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-New York) tweeted:

And it’s not clear how lots of the bottles offered by Trump truly had Trump’s identify on it or maybe one thing like a picture of him with lasers popping out of his eyes.

However, quite a few East Palestine residents thanked Trump for his go to and the provides that he introduced. He, in flip, couldn’t fairly preserve his supply bottled up and added, “You wish to get these Trump bottles greater than anyone else.”

Trump additionally spent a while mixing with the East Palestine residents as the next tweet from The Related Press confirmed:

His go to included a cease at, shock, shock, an area McDonald’s, the place he ordered meals for first responders. Throughout his go to, Trump not surprisingly criticized the Biden Administration for not doing extra for East Palestine as a result of that’s what politicians do. For instance, he advised East Palestine residents, “In too many instances, your goodness and perseverance had been met with indifference and betrayal.” Varied residents did thank Trump for visiting and never “forgetting” about them.

In the meantime, Senator Marco Rubio (R-Florida) known as Buttigieg “m.i.a. on the derailment,” which presumable meant “lacking in motion” slightly than “Miami Worldwide Airport.” Buttigieg, in flip, fired again accusing Rubio of signing a 2021 letter that “helps waivers that would scale back visible observe inspections,” as you may see within the Twitter trade under:

Others have blamed the East Palestine crash on the Trump Administration for rescinding rail security protections that the Obama Administration had put in place. For instance, The Lincoln Challenge known as Trump’s go to “purely political theatre and a tragic try to masks his failures as a President” within the following tweet:

There’s additionally the query about how a lot the Trump Administration had weakened the U.S. Environmental Safety Company (EPA) throughout his time in workplace. In any case, Trump wasn’t precisely generally known as the “environmental President.” It’s not clear how a lot the Biden Administration has been capable of re-bolster the EPA within the two years. Client advocate and environmental activist Erin Brockovich identified that the EPA will not be precisely swimming in assets:

The EPA has introduced that Norfolk Southern will likely be chargeable for cleanup prices as this tweet from the CBS Night Information indicated:

One issues for certain, there’s been loads of blame to go round for the present mess in East Palestine. Whereas bottled water, cleansing provides, and beans do assist East Palestine residents within the quick time period, they will solely present a lot reduction. They’re removed from sufficient to compensate for the shortage of railroad security rules that might have prevented the derailment within the first place. On the similar time, Trump wouldn’t have had the chance to swoop in on Wednesday had there been extra consideration paid to the East Palestine residents through the almost three weeks because the prepare went off its tracks.