White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Monday drew a hard line against quickly blaming the government in the midst of a tragedy – in this case, the deadly floods in Texas.
“Many Democrat elected officials are trying to turn this into a political game; it is not,” Leavitt said, amid suggestions linking the tragedy to Trump’s cuts to the National Weather Service.
She added: “I just do think those comments are depraved and despicable, especially when so many Americans are mourning the loss of their children.”
Less than 24 hours before Leavitt’s comments, though, it was her boss, Trump, who was levying blame – not on the incumbent government, but the previous one.
“If you look at that water situation, that was really the Biden setup,” Trump said.
Trump quickly clarified that he wasn’t actually blaming Biden – he cited the historic nature of the floods – but there is no question he was attempting to shift potential responsibility for any government missteps to his predecessor.
Pretty much the same thing happened on the Guadalupe in 1987. We’ve kicked this can down the road for a generation.