Trump Accuses Texans Of Gawking At Hurricane Harvey

HOUSTON, TX — President Donald Trump gave high praise to the U.S. Coast Guard for their rescue efforts during Hurricane Harvey.

Speaking at a briefing on the 2018 Hurricane Season at the Federal Emergency Management, Trump went on to insult Houstonians who were rescued by the Coast Guard, accusing them of gawking at Hurricane Harvey from their boats.

"Sixteen thousand people, many of them in Texas, for whatever reason that is. People went out in their boats to watch the hurricane,” Trump said. “That didn't work out too well.”

The Coast Guard did indeed make thousands of water rescues in the Houston/Galveston area during Hurricane Harvey, but they weren’t thrill seekers hoping to get a close-up look of a real honest to goodness Category 4 storm.

The Houston area experienced an unprecedented rain event that saw more than 51 inches fall in less than a week, flooding homes, and businesses, and turning city streets into murky lakes that claimed dozens of lives, including one Houston Police officer.

There were some Coast Guard rescues conducted off-shore as Harvey was coming ashore, but the vast majority of those were tugboats and commercial vessels, the Houston Chronicle reported.

In fact, the vast majority of the water rescues made by the Coast Guard, the Cajun Navy, firefighters and police, and countless friends and neighbors, were conducted within the confines of the various cities and counties that were inundated by flood waters.

Most political leaders took exception to Trump’s flippant comments with some either declining to comment at all, or others simply shaking their heads and rejecting the notion entirely.

Texas House Speaker Joe Straus dismissed the notion, calling those who used their boats to save their fellow Texans, heroes.

Marty Lancton, president of the Houston Professional Firefighters Association was shocked, adding he didn’t know anyone who really wanted to see the storm up close, particularly from inside a boat.

Image: Shutterstock: Rescuers in personal boats ride down the flooded Houston neighborhoods to help their neighbors.

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