President Trump vowed swift federal aid to victims of Hurricane Harvey during his visit Tuesday to the flood-stricken region, where he met with local officials and tried to boost spirits -- and still took a beating in the press.
Trump seemed to reference that and other coverage Wednesday morning when he tweeted: "After reading the false reporting and even ferocious anger in some dying magazines, it makes me wonder, WHY? All I want to do is
#MAGA!"
Absent any major gaffes, the first family's media critics instead took shots over everything from Melania Trump's shoes to the fact Trump did not visit the major flood zone in Houston.
“It was a presidential trip to a deluged state where the president didn’t meet a single storm victim, see an inch of rain or get near a flooded street,”
Politico wrote Tuesday of the president’s trip.
CNN reported that, “Trump ... dispensed no hugs or displays of compassion to victims of the storm, whom he did not meet—perhaps a symptom of the fact he insisted upon visiting the state in the immediate aftermath of the storm precluding him from visiting the most devastated region.”
The White House, though, had publicly said the president did not want to disrupt local recovery efforts, which a trip to Houston could have done.
“If he had gone, they would have said he was taking away from the recovery efforts,” New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said on “Fox & Friends” Wednesday morning. "In this situation right now with some members of the media, this president can't win, it's not fair."
Case in point: The day began with snickering from reporters and comedians on social media, about the first lady's high heels -- she wore black pumps as she walked toward Marine One with the president.
Vogue covered the first lady’s outfit, with the headline: “Melania Trump’s Hurricane Stilettos, and the White House’s Continual Failure to Understand Optics.”
“Why, oh why, can’t this administration get anything, even a pair of shoes, right?”
Vogue’s article read.
When the president and first lady landed in Corpus Christi Tuesday, though, MelaniaTrump was wearing a new outfit -- and sneakers.
The first lady's office hit back. “It’s sad that we have an active and ongoing natural disaster in Texas, and people are worried about her shoes,” the first lady’s Communications Director Stephanie Grisham told Fox News via email.
The mockery went so far that it even prompted a reality check from one of the administration's toughest critics.
“I don’t know why anyone should care what anyone wears when they’re on their way to help people,” “The Daily Show’s” Trevor Noah said Tuesday night.
But the Daily Beast then criticized Noah, slamming the comedian for failing to mention that Trump “has been plugging his own merchandise during the natural disaster.
Hey liberals. Shoes are important. It's good to focus on something so insignificant when people's lives are at risk. Good job. Give yourselves a pat on the back before your next violence riddled protest.
