Washington Free Beacon reporter Elizabeth Harrington discussed Tuesday on Fox News the optics of the presidential candidates’ responses to the Louisiana flooding and the "double standard" media coverage of President Obama’s own response.
Trump and running mate Gov. Mike Pence (R., Ind.) visited Baton Rouge last Friday and handed out supplies. Obama, who was criticized for continuing his summer vacation during the flooding without coming to see the damage, paid a visit on Tuesday after his Martha’s Vineyard excursion concluded.
Clinton, however, has not yet gone to Louisiana, and said she will go in the future when she won’t be disruptive. Harrington did not buy Clinton’s spin, seeing as Trump and Obama both visited without incident.
Fox News host Stuart Varney surmised the mainstream press would not point out Clinton’s big-money Hollywood fundraising this week and its contrast to the scenes of devastation in Louisiana. Clinton has rubbed shoulders with such celebrities as Justin Timberlake and Magic Johnson this week in fundraising events for big Democratic donors.
"I think it is a bad optics situation when you’re hobnobbing with celebrities at a $34,000-a-plate fundraiser, and really, Trump, he can keep talking about this," Harrington said. "He, of course, is a master at this. If he hits her on it, the media will maybe be forced to talk about it, but it certainly doesn’t look good for Hillary when she’s at Justin Timberlake’s house and saying that it’s just a disruption if she goes, when it clearly wasn’t a disruption for Trump to go or for President Obama to go today."
Harrington agreed with Varney that the media was not covering the politics of the flood response even-handedly, particularly with Obama’s response.
"I think you see the contrast with President Obama as well," she said. "We all remember the huge controversy with President George W. Bush during Katrina. If a Republican was in office, they would be scrutinized to the end, weeks of coverage. Even Trump, he doesn’t really get credit for going down there ... He actually showed up, and he led the way on this, and Obama just now visited, and Hillary is off in L.A. with all her celebrity friends, so obviously the double standard is clear."