Locals lash out against Biden’s visit to Maui after deadly wildfires: ‘I don’t want him here’

MAUI — Hawaiian residents are saying they don’t need Joe Biden to go to them on Monday because the president continues to face backlash this week for showing aloof following the state’s largest pure catastrophe.

With strain mounting for him to go to and focus on the federal authorities’s response to the Maui wildfires, Biden introduced Wednesday that he would visit the devastated island come Monday, a lot to the dissatisfaction of some island residents.

“I don’t need him right here,” Jay Awan, of Lahaina, informed The Submit. “He’s simply coming to Maui to look good in entrance of the cameras.”

Awan, 45, a cook dinner and tiki carver, mentioned nothing could be gained from the 80-year-old president’s go to, as his city, a once-popular resort space, has been “burned to the bottom.”

He famous that even after reconstruction, which officers estimated would value round $6 billion, the beloved island would by no means return to its former glory.

“It’s like a f–king warzone right here,” he mentioned of the devastation. “Maui’s by no means going to be the identical. Lahaina’s by no means going to be the identical.”

“They’re going to place resorts up all alongside right here — Lahaina goes to lose its character as an previous whaling village. We will’t get the historic websites again,” he lamented.

Peter Friedgen, one other Lahaina resident, agreed with the sentiment, including that he “don’t care if the president comes.”

The 66-year-old guitarist mentioned he misplaced all the things within the fireplace aside from his instrument, which he strum whereas ready on the outskirts of the charred metropolis for officers to return.

“It’s a ready recreation now for somebody to indicate up — the federal government, insurers,” he mentioned. “I’ve simply been down the seashore, ready for individuals to get into city.”

Kristi Bowman, 60, an accountant who lived within the metropolis, mentioned that she does need Biden to go to, however solely to assist relay the devastation with the remainder of the world and verbalize the federal authorities’s dedication to serving to the island.

“We haven’t had federal assist,” Bowman mentioned. “We’ve had native assist, not federal.”

Bowman slammed FEMA for its strict forms that was inflicting stress on the island, with the accountant seeing a latest declare filed on behalf of shoppers who misplaced their residence get instantly rejected.

“I filed an software for any individual for catastrophe funding and it already acquired denied, saying they didn’t have proof from the insurance coverage firm over how a lot their losses have been — however there’s no potential option to get that data proper now.” 

She additionally scoffed at experiences that Biden promised to ship $700 one-time reduction grants per family to these impacted by the fires.

With the residents’ frustration, Biden faces an uphill battle to ease the individuals of West Maui, and his latest gaffes haven’t helped.

The president on Tuesday broke his silence in regards to the staggering demise toll at an economy-focused speech in Milwaukee, however at one level appeared to forget the name “Maui” and referred to it as “the one the place you see on tv all the time.”

Two days earlier, Biden had replied “No remark” when requested for his response to the tragedy — stoking criticism even from fellow Democrats.