But if the past year and a half has taught us anything, it's that Trump is no ordinary president, and so his trips are bound to be extraordinary. Trump continues to be derided by Puerto Rico advocates for the manner in which he distributed paper towels after Hurricane Maria.
Though Trump has drawn heavy scrutiny for the faux pas, he still had to step out and do the presidential thing after Hurricane Florence. After all, the president himself characterized the storm, which battered the East Coast over the weekend, as an incredibly wet hurricane.
"This is a tough hurricane, one of the wettest we've ever seen from the standpoint of water. Rarely have we had an experience like it, and it certainly is not good," Trump said on Tuesday in a video statement posted to Twitter. "Florence has been a nasty one, a big one, like that area certainly has never seen before."
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 18, 2018
On Wednesday, Trump visited both North and South Carolina. One bizarre encounter saw the president telling a victim of Florence to "have a good time."
"I think he just said have a good time!" someone at the MSNBC studio broadcasting the moment live could be heard saying.
— Marcus Gilmer (@marcusgilmer) September 19, 2018
Trump was at that moment handing out food to people waiting in cars. He asked a couple others, "How's the house?"
— Fabian Reinbold (@fabreinbold) September 19, 2018
But that was just the beginning. The White House pool report is, by all accounts, much more awkward.
Trump was touring a neighborhood devastated by the hurricane when he came by a small brick house. Outside of it, a large yacht was shipwrecked against the house's porch. "Is this your boat?" Trump asked the homeowner. When the owner said that it wasn't, Trump assured him, "At least you got a nice boat out of the deal."
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) September 19, 2018
"I think it's incredible what we're seeing," Trump told reporters. "This boat just came here. They don't know whose boat that is. What's the law? Maybe it becomes theirs."
An elderly man also told the president that he named his dog after him. "That's nice," Trump replied.
