Trump addresses Hurricane Harvey victims in Corpus Christi: “what a crowd, what a turnout”

After surveying Hurricane Harvey damage in Corpus Christi on Tuesday, President Donald Trump addressed victims of the storm and praised those who had gathered to hear his remarks, “What a crowd, what a turn out.”

According to a press pool report, Trump spoke to a “throng of hundreds” outside of the Annaville Fire House, though not all were supporters. Some, apparently, were protestors: “One banner read ‘Liar, cheat, racist’ another read ‘Latinas against Trump’ and another ‘You pardoned Joe, what about José?’” per the pool report.

The purpose of Trump’s visit to Texas was to survey damage and coordinate federal support for the storm-ravaged area. Harvey dumped more than 4 feet of rain on Houston, setting a new record for the greatest amount of rain recorded from a single tropical storm or hurricane in the continental United States. So far, at least nine people have died in the storm, and FEMA predicted Monday that at least 30,000 people will need temporary shelter.

But Trump, in the wake of the disaster, appeared focused on crowd size, treating his remarks like a rally.

“Thank you everybody, I just want to say: We love you, you are special, we are here to take care, it’s going well, and I want to thank you for coming out. We’ll get you back and operating immediately,” Trump told the crowd before remarking on the size of the gathering. He also said, per the pool report, “It’s historic, its epic, but I tell you it happened in Texas and Texas can handle anything,” and held up a Texas flag to applause.

This isn’t his first comment of this nature in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. Monday afternoon, when asked during a press conference if he had timed his pardon of Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio for Friday evening so that storm news might push it under the radar, Trump replied that he “assumed the ratings would be far higher than they would be normally” on Friday as the storm was about to hit the Texas coast.