Maui Residents Have a Message for Joe Biden Ahead of His Visit: We Don’t Want You Here
By Johnathan Jones August 17, 2023 at 8:52am
Residents of fire-ravaged Maui, Hawaii, have made it clear they do not want President Joe Biden around as they try to pick up the pieces following the devastating blazes last week.
At least 110 people died in the wildfires, and many more are missing, specifically in Lahaina, CNN reported Wednesday.
Biden was late to comment on the disaster, and when asked about the rising death toll over the weekend, he told a reporter, “No comment.”
After his reaction generated negative headlines, the White House announced Wednesday that he will tour the affected areas.
Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden and first lady Jill Biden will travel to the island next week.
“The President and First Lady will travel to Maui on Monday, August 21 to meet with first responders, survivors, as well as federal, state, and local officials, in the wake of deadly wildfires on the island,” Jean-Pierre said.
Numerous residents of Maui told the New York Post they would prefer if Biden didn’t bother.
“I don’t want him here,” Lahaina resident Jay Awan said. “He’s just coming to Maui to look good in front of the cameras.”
Awan said his home had been reduced to ashes and he doubted it would ever be fully rebuilt.
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“It’s like a f***ing warzone here,” the 45-year-old cook and tiki carver told the Post. “Maui’s never going to be the same. Lahaina’s never going to be the same.”
Awan said he expected affected properties to be purchased from destitute individuals by major corporations.
“They’re going to put resorts up all along here — Lahaina is going to lose its character as an old whaling village,” he said. “We can’t get the historical sites back.”
“It’s a waiting game now for someone to show up — the government, insurers,” Friedgen said. “I’ve just been down the beach, waiting for people to get into town.”
Meanwhile, one woman who lives on Maui said she wants Biden to visit — but only out of hope that it will inspire some empathy.
“We haven’t had federal support,” Kristi Bowman said. “We’ve had local support, not federal.”
The 60-year-old accountant “scoffed” at the president’s plan to give people who have lost everything a one-time payment of $700, the Post reported.
