The political impact from the administration’s response to the Norfolk Southern train catastrophe, which has left residents of East Palestine, Ohio, afraid and irate, poses a threat to President Biden and the White House.
Republicans have criticized the administration’s response to the incident on February 3 and questioned why Vice President Biden has not visited the affected neighborhood.
On a visit to East Palestine on Wednesday, former President Trump accused the Biden administration of “indifference and betrayal,” and the mayor of the town termed it a “slap in the face” since Biden traveled to Europe before going to the location of a potential environmental disaster. Biden, according to the White House, has not talked with the mayor.
It’s not as if Biden is at a political low point.
He returned late Wednesday from a dramatic trip to Ukraine and Poland to mark the anniversary of Russia’s invasion, completing a secretive and complex visit to an active war zone with no U.S. military presence.
That visit was a sign of the president’s strength and will be used by the White House and Biden allies to both shore up support for the Western effort to back Kyiv and to counter any suggestion that Biden lacks the strength and energy to do his job.
It is part of a broadly successful several weeks for Biden, who put Republicans on defense over Social Security and Medicare during his State of the Union address. The president’s approval rating increased to 49 percent, according to an NPR poll released Wednesday; it’s his highest mark in nearly a year.
