For many pundits and commentators, Hurricane Harvey became another political battlefront.
Each week, USA TODAY’s OnPolitics blog takes a look at how media from the left and the right reacted to a political news story, giving liberals and conservatives a peek into the other’s media bubble.
This week, even as the diverse population of Houston came together to weather Hurricane Harvey and Americans rallied in support of the flooded city, the country’s partisan divide remained as deep as ever. As the waters rose, some pundits and politicians bickered over everything from the role of climate change to the first lady’s shoes.
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Many liberal commentators pointed to climate change as the primary cause of Harvey’s historic rainfall.
The hurricane was a “terrifying and deadly display of what happens when nature collides with urban life on a planet radically altered by climate change, ” wrote Jeff Goodell for Rolling Stone.
Goodell cited increased evaporation due to rising temperatures and bigger storm surges because of rising sea levels as examples of climate change’s impact. And he did not see any policy changes on the horizon to stave off what he calls the coming “great coastal retreat.”
The simple truth is, it’s not just Houston that’s done a poor job of thinking about the future — it’s all of us. We’ve spent 40 years denying the risks of climate change, thinking that if we can just get everyone to buy a Prius and recycle their plastic, everything will be OK. The message of Hurricane Harvey is that it will not be OK. We’re living in a new world now, and we better get ready. Mother Nature is coming for us.
A lot of conservatives slammed those linking climate change to Hurricane Harvey. Scott Pruitt’s EPA called such attempts “an attempt to politicize an ongoing tragedy.”
Breitbart News’ James Delingpole said for “all these blowhard charlatans” every “major weather event — especially ones that cause millions of dollars of damage to property and claim human lives — is never really a disaster or even a crisis but a heaven-sent opportunity to promote their alarmist narrative.”
Delingpole argues Harvey was “a local weather event, not a harbinger of climate doom.” He cited major storms that hit Texas in the relatively cooler 1960s and 1970s and the country’s recent hurricane drought as evidence.
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Several voices on the left accused conservatives, especially Texas conservatives, who normally oppose federal spending of hypocrisy for accepting federal disaster relief in Harvey’s wake.
One of the main targets was Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.
“The hypocrite who tried to block Hurricane Sandy aid to the East Coast in 2012 is now demanding the federal government expedite emergency funds for the survivors of Hurricane Harvey, ” wrote The Nation’s Joan Walsh.
Cruz claimed he voted against Sandy aid because “it was larded with pork, ” wrote Walsh. “It was not. But even in a disaster, Cruz can’t help lying.”
A viral photo of a man carrying a mother and her baby through Houston flood waters resonated with many conservatives who saw it as an affirmation of traditional gender roles.
“The picture struck a chord with many people because it seems so instinctively right: the woman protecting her child, the man protecting the woman, carrying them all through danger, ” wrote Ben Shapiro for the National Review. “This is the vision of humanity that carries us through our darkest trials: men as protectors, women as guardians, children as innocents.”
“And yet this vision of what it means to be a man has been shattered over the course of the last several decades, ” wrote Shapiro.
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Celebrity pastor Joel Osteen received a storm of criticism after his Houston megachurch closed its doors after Harvey hit. The church said it was initially closed due to “severe flooding” and eventually did provide shelter for hurricane victims.
“Even though he eventually reversed himself and defended his conduct in evasive media interviews, Osteen’s message was clear: Don’ t count on religious leaders to do what’s right, ” wrote Matthew Sheffield for Salon.
“That message is one that many have been hearing for quite some time, as American Protestantism has moved from focusing on humble public service to greed and naked political ambition, ” wrote Sheffield.
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When first lady Melania Trump was photographed wearing stiletto heels as she boarded Air Force One with President Trump to travel to Houston, social media attacked her as out of touch and clueless. Conservatives pointed to the reaction as an example of reflexive anti-Trump hysteria on the left.
“Instead of focusing on our first lady choosing to accompany her husband to a state dealing with utter wreckage, cynics chose to fixate on her choice of fashion because ‘optics, ‘” wrote Britt McHenry for The Federalist. “
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