As Hurricane Harvey passed away, president Trump proclaimed a “National Day of Prayer” for the victims of said natural disaster (45.wh.gov/PrayForTexas).
Rather than calming, this is infuriating. Even though the legitimization of such proclamation in a secular nation is still a mystery to me, the real problem that I take with this, is that this people need REAL help, like food, clean water, and shelter.
This is no mystery for Mr. Trump, who pledged 1 million $ in donations to Harvey’s victims (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/31/us/trump-harvey-donation.html), but soon after, the White House started to walk back from Trump’s promise to donate his “personal money” (https://thinkprogress.org/white-house-walks-back-trumps-promise-to-give-1-million-of-his-personal-money-to-harvey-victims-4691cf5e6dd6/) .
“If Trump does indeed donate his “personal money” to Harvey victims, it’d represent a break from the pattern he established since the time of his last donation to the Trump Foundation in 2008.” But, and this is the most outraging part, “even if Trump does donate $1 million of personal wealth, his contribution represents a pittance in relation to the drastic cuts he’s proposing in environmental and disaster relief programs”.
One example of this is the 2018 Trump’s budget cutting the Superfund budget by 30%. Even though Scott Pruitt, the EPA administrator, has called cleaning Superfunds a priority (http://uk.businessinsider.com/hurricane-harvey-floods-toxic-waste-sites-epa-2017-9).
During the hurricane, Harvey Texas’ Highlands was flooded, an Acid Pit. “The threats to human health and wildlife from rising waters that inundate Superfund sites vary widely depending on the specific contaminants and the concentrations involved. The EPA report specifically noted the risk that floodwaters might carry away and spread toxic materials over a wider area.”
I doubt people can pray those acids away, sadly.
Another example is the FEMA fund getting cut by a billion dollars to build a border wall. This cut was proposed well before Harvey. (http://time.com/4922472/house-republicans-fema-funding-cut-border-wall/) And “with the proposal written prior to Hurricane Harvey, lawmakers are now expected to pivot funding directives to match the needs of the programs aiding recovery efforts.” But, Chris Gallegos said: “It is simply too early at this point to determine whether FEMA may need supplemental funding” (http://edition.cnn.com/2017/08/30/politics/donald-trump-congress-fema-disaster-relief/index.html).
The administration is surely taking this disaster the wrong way, but the media is not doing its part either.
Letting Kellyanne Conway slam Cuomo, the CNN anchor, by saying “Chris we’re trying to help the people whose lives are literally underwater and you want to have a conversation about climate change,” (http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/348678-conway-slams-cnn-anchor-for-asking-about-climate-change-during-harvey).
MSNBC shutting down a truth teller (http://www.rawstory.com/2017/08/msnbc-loses-connection-to-reporter-as-he-goes-off-on-oil-industry-for-robbing-locals-of-infrastructure-funds/)
But that’s not the point that I’m doing right now. What I’m trying to say is that in my opinion, prayer is the best way of doing nothing while not looking like a jerk for not carrying.
And I’m not sure whether Trump is the kind of people that enjoy helping others, but he is the kind of people that likes to receive good attention, I mean, even visiting victims he kept the attention on himself (https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/even-in-visiting-hurricane-ravaged-texas-trump-keeps-the-focus-on-himself/2017/08/29/3037a4a6-8cc3-11e7-84c0-02cc069f2c37_story.html?utm_term=.09c8aeaa3939).
So, we all know what this “National Day of Prayer” really means, and really represents, so don’t send prayers, send money, cause that’s what those people really need.