



Ninety miles from the South Eastern tip of the United States, Liberty has no stead. In order for Liberty to exist and thrive, Tyranny must be identified, recognized, confronted and extinguished.
But no president has taken image-obsession to the level of Trump. The famously cable news-addicted president closely followed how his administration’s response to the past storms was graded and he’s taken steps to make sure he scores high on the upcoming one.
As Florence bears down on the American Southeast, Trump has hit the phones, calling up senators and governors and mayors to assure them that the federal government will make all necessary resources available to deal with and recover from what is expected to be a devastating natural disaster.
The phone calls began early this week—a spokesperson for Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam told The Daily Beast that he spoke with Trump on Monday—and they are vintage Trump storm prep activity, the former White House official said.
“He’s gonna start by talking to the political leaders because when they’re asked if they’ve talked to him he wants them to be able to say yes,” the source explained. “It’s one of the times that he is really dialed into federal government interaction with state and local leaders.”
During similar disasters in the past, the official added, Trump has called for regular updates in the Oval Office on what the federal government is doing in affected areas.
To a certain degree, coordinating between agencies and touching base with state and local officials is the role that all presidents play when hurricanes hit. “They’re kind of like the conductor,” said Alyssa Mastromonaco, President Barack Obama’s former deputy chief of staff. “The thing everyone forgets is presidents shouldn’t know every single thing to do but the people who work for him should.”
But for Trump, sources say, the briefings are rooted in large measure in fear over public perception. “He always wants to be able to say FEMA’s doing this and that.”