To the editor:

On Aug. 21, President Biden went to Hawaii to see firsthand the wildfire devastation, on Aug. 8, of Lahaina on the island of Maui. Of course he did. Hawaii voted Democrat in the 2020 presidential election. On Feb. 3, a train carrying chemicals derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, sending toxic fumes throughout the community and the surrounding area for miles. A few days later Biden promised that he would visit East Palestine. To this date he has not. Of course he hasn’t. Ohio voted Republican in the 2020 presidential election. It is, of course, a far greater tragedy in Hawaii given the heavy loss of life and the almost total destruction of Lahaina. Within days of the Maui catastrophe Biden was asked if he had any comment on the rising death toll in Maui. “No. No comment”, was Biden’s pathetic response. No offering of condolences, thoughts, or prayers, or any offer of support. Then when he did go to Lahaina he made the tragedy about him when he compared the devastating wildfire to a fire in his kitchen years ago. He even said he almost lost his ’67 Corvette, and his cat. I understand firefighters put out the fire in a matter of minutes. What happened in East Palestine pales when compared to the tragedy in Maui, but the residents of East Palestine are no less concerned about their safety and their future. Cleanup of the chemicals released over seven months ago from the derailed tank cars continues to this day and the residents are yet to be assured their water is safe.

Hurricane Idalia made landfall in Florida early the morning of Aug. 30. Biden did make a trip to Florida on Saturday, Sept. 2, to see the devastation, but not to Georgia, or North or South Carolina. Of the four states, Georgia was the lone state to vote Democrat in 2020, but even Biden saw the political need to visit Florida. Democrats want to change the state to a blue state. When in Florida Biden was asked why he had not yet gone to the Ohio town of East Palestine. “Well, I haven’t had the occasion to go to East Palestine. There is a lot going on here, and I just haven’t been able to break”, Biden said. Biden may yet be shamed into going to East Palestine.

On Sunday, Sept. 10, Biden, on his way home from the G20 Summit in India, held a press conference in Vietnam. He stumbled and mumbled his way through his speech and rambled about so much that at one point his staff cut his mic in the middle of a sentence. During his speech Biden admitted that he was relying on his aides to tell him which reporters he would be calling on to ask questions. “They gave me five people here,” Biden said. “I’m just following my orders.” What? As president he should be the one giving the orders.

Making the tragedy at Maui about him, lacking empathy for the residents of East Palestine, and his continued incoherent speaking are recent instances of Biden’s incompetence.

A CNN poll released Thursday, Sept. 7, found more than half (56 percent) of Democrats and nearly three-quarters of Americans (73 percent) said they were seriously concerned for Biden’s physical and mental competence.

Chuck Peterson

Fort Dodge