A spokesperson for President Joe Biden said that when Biden arrived in Maui — nearly two weeks after wildfires swept through western Maui — one of his priorities would be to make sure residents were aware that he had “been there since day one.”
The president and First Lady Jill Biden traveled to Maui on Monday — after reporters pressed Biden several times about when he planned to make the trip — to tour the damage to the historic town of Lahaina and the surrounding areas.
Biden spokesperson Olivia Dalton says Biden will "make sure that he communicates to [Maui residents] that not only have we been there since day one, has he been there since day one…" 🤔 pic.twitter.com/NgK2quOhxf
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) August 21, 2023
But in response to the claims made by spokesperson Olivia Dalton — namely that Biden had been there “since day one” — critics pointed out that on “day one” of the deadly fires that have left more than 100 dead and hundreds still missing, the president was actually on vacation.
Day 1 https://t.co/ecxh1X85Ol pic.twitter.com/JoCnvVWyee
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) August 21, 2023
When members of the press caught up with President Biden in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, they asked him directly about the rising death toll in Maui. His response, when asked whether he had anything to say on the subject, was simple: “No, no comment.”
Several days later, when he returned to the White House from his weekend at the beach, staffers kept members of the press corps cordoned off as he walked from Marine One to the West Wing, so far away from them that he couldn’t hear their shouted questions.
When he left Washington again, headed to Wisconsin for a speech touting his economy, he responded to reporters’ shouted questions with nothing more than a smile and a brief wave of his hand.
Biden again SMIRKS as he ignores reporters asking for comment on the rising death toll of the Maui wildfires pic.twitter.com/EYSkUM00e3
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) August 15, 2023
Independent journalist Glenn Greenwald pointed out the disparity in the way that corporate media had covered Biden’s failure to answer questions, noting that previous presidents had been vilified for far less.
“George Bush was mauled for merely flying over New Orleans as citizens drowned during Katrina. Ted Cruz was mocked in a week-long news cycle for leaving Texas during its electricity crisis. Not only hasn’t Biden visited Maui, but twice vacationed and has barely spoken on it,” Greenwald said early Monday, prior to Biden’s arrival there.
I always found these demands for symbolic gestures a bit overblown, but Biden's sitting on beaches and saying "no comment" during this horrific fire disaster is the worst of these.
Like 2020, most corporate media simply will not do anything that undermines his election chances.
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) August 21, 2023
“I always found these demands for symbolic gestures a bit overblown, but Biden’s sitting on beaches and saying ‘no comment’ during this horrific fire disaster is the worst of these,”Greenwald continued. “Like 2020, most corporate media simply will not do anything that undermines his election chances.”