Editor’s Note: Julian Zelizer, a CNN political analyst, is a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University. He is the author and editor of 25 books, including the New York Times best-seller, “Myth America: Historians Take on the Biggest Lies and Legends About Our Past” (Basic Books). Follow him on Twitter @julianzelizer. The views expressed in this commentary are his own. View more opinion on CNN.
On Wednesday, former President Donald Trump headed to East Palestine, Ohio, in an apparent attempt to gain a political edge over President Joe Biden, whose administration he criticized for being more preoccupied with international affairs than with domestic issues like the toxic train derailment earlier this month.
As Biden concludes a successful trip to Europe, where he paid a surprise visit to Ukraine and reaffirmed America’s commitment to stopping Russian aggression, the residents of East Palestine are still struggling with the fallout from the Norfolk Southern train derailment, which contaminated thousands of cubic yards of soil and more than 1.1 million gallons of water.
The train, which was carrying hazardous chemicals including vinyl chloride and butyl acrylate, set off a massive fire that lasted for several days. Residents in both Ohio and Pennsylvania were told to evacuate as authorities carried out a controlled release of toxic materials, which were diverted to a trench and burned off.
Many in East Palestine are understandably concerned about the effects these chemicals might have on their health. Even though federal air monitoring and water sample tests have indicated conditions are safe, residents have reported a number of ailments and thousands of fish have died in nearby creeks.
Trump, who donated water and cleaning supplies on Wednesday, has been critical of the federal response, saying earlier this week, “You have a president going to Ukraine and you have people in Ohio that are in desperate need of help.” On Wednesday, he said he hoped Biden has “some money left over” after he returns from Ukraine.
He isn’t the only one – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis also criticized Biden for “neglecting” a “lot of problems accumulating here in our own country,” while Republican presidential hopeful Nikki Haley made similar comments, asking, “Shouldn’t he be with those people in Ohio?”
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg admitted on CBS News that he “could have spoken sooner about how strongly I felt about this incident, and that’s a lesson learned for me.” Facing mounting criticism, Buttigieg is now planning to visit East Palestine on Thursday.
Despite this criticism, Democrats have been quick to point to the supposed hypocrisy of the Republican attacks, criticizing Trump for rolling back federal regulations on train safety, including one that would have imposed braking requirements for trains carrying certain hazardous material. (Given the ongoing National Transportation Safety Board investigation into the cause of the accident, it’s unclear whether any of those regulations could have prevented the accident. The specific regulation regarding braking would not have applied to the train in Ohio because it was not classified as a high-hazard flammable train.)
But the Biden administration needs to follow through and make sure that the government is providing the necessary support for people in East Palestine. Already, the Environmental Protection Agency has stepped in, saying that it will force Norfolk Southern to clean up the contaminated soil and water, reimburse the EPA for cleaning services, and more. It has also sent federal medical experts to the town to “assess the public health needs” at the site.
But the president needs to reassure the residents of East Palestine and make sure that the town has all the resources it needs for a comprehensive cleanup while calling for the establishment of safety regulations that can diminish the chances of this kind of accident from happening again.
While the Biden administration has tried more recently to emphasize the steps it has taken to address the accident, the president could pay a high political cost for appearing to ignore the domestic front in favor of the international realm.
One can look back at President George H.W. Bush, whose skyrocketing poll numbers after the US successfully forced Iraqi troops out of Kuwait without triggering a ground war was seen as a ticket to reelection. Within months, those hopes evaporated as Democrats criticized the administration for ignoring the economic recession gripping the nation. They pounced on the president, claiming he was out of touch with average Americans and that his administration was slow to respond to the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew in Florida.
The famous mantra of the Clinton team, “It’s the economy, stupid,” was meant to be a constant reminder to everyone on the campaign to keep highlighting the difference between a Democratic candidate whose focus was on the bread-and-butter concerns of Americans and a president whose primary interest was foreign policy.
The political finger pointing that has broken out after the train derailment comes at a time when people who live outside major cities harbor negative opinions about both parties, according to a report released by the nonprofit American Families Voices. According to a Washington Post-ABC News poll, 6 out of 10 Americans don’t feel that Biden has done much.
The good news for Democrats is that Biden is not George H.W. Bush. “Scranton Joe” is a politician who has always sought to connect with middle and working class voters. During the Obama presidency, Biden was tasked with making policy recommendations to tackle the challenges facing the middle class. And his administration has pushed a robust domestic agenda that has poured billions into local communities and bolstered family budgets. If Republicans want to really take him on with this issue, the president will have plenty to point to — from the Child Tax Credit to infrastructure projects.
It is not just Biden, either. From the New Deal to the Great Society to President Obama’s domestic agenda, Democrats have spent much of the 20th and 21st century championing federal programs to help achieve economic security. Biden also recently pushed his vision of economic populism in his State of the Union address.
Moreover, while inflation continues to be a serious problem for Americans, job growth is booming and the economy has bounced back from the devastating effects of the pandemic, with the American Rescue Plan having played a big role in that effort.
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In other words, Biden has plenty to work with to dispute the kind of claims being leveled by a Republican Party that has focused much more on supply side tax cuts, deregulation, and culture wars than on addressing the kind of crucial issues to emerge through the situation in East Palestine.
But former President Bush, who lost in 1992 after serving just one term, still has a lesson to offer. Biden can’t take his or his party’s record for granted, and if he runs for reelection, he must outline what more his party would be doing to address the kinds of structural challenges so many American communities face.
If Biden is indeed seeking reelection, he must make clear that he would be the candidate fighting hardest to make sure that America’s working and middle class families will be better off than when his presidency started.