Trump’s East Palestine, Ohio, visit a campaign turning point: adviser

Former President Donald Trump began to separate himself from his 2024 rivals after he visited East Palestine, Ohio, in late February following the derailment of a train carrying toxic materials nearby, an adviser tells The Post.

The 77-year-old’s criminal indictments — the first of which was handed up in late March — are commonly cited as the catalyst for his commanding polling lead in the race for the Republican nomination.

However, according to the adviser, “the first pop that we saw in [terms of] a degree of separation was after the president’s trip to East Palestine, Ohio.

“That’s when we saw the first real move — was right after that,” the person reiterated during a background briefing earlier this month at the former president’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

At the time of the Feb. 22 visit, Trump had held few events since launching his 2024 White House bid the previous November, though he still enjoyed a national polling lead of around 15% over Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, according to data complied by RealClearPolitics.

During his visit, Trump distributed 13 pallets of eponymously branded bottled water to residents who feared the local supply had been contaminated by toxic chemicals. He also accused the Biden administration of not adequately responding to the disaster.

Republicans and local residents heavily criticized President Biden for not going to the town to see the situation for himself. The White House argued at the time that other federal agencies had been taking care of the issue and that they were “all hands on deck” because of Biden’s coordination.

Nearly a year after the derailment, Biden still hasn’t traveled to the city — despite vowing on March 2 to visit East Palestine at “some point.”

RealClearPolitics polling data show Trump experiencing a two percentage-point bump in the week after his trip, though much of his polling lead does coincide with his ongoing legal battles.

The 45th president saw a large boost in average polling after his first indictment on March 30 by Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, who’s accused him of 34 counts of falsifying business records to hide hush-money payments to ex-porn star Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal.

Trump also faces three other indictments related to keeping national security documents at his Florida home, attempting to overturn the 2020 election and trying to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia.

Make America Great Again Inc., the super PAC backing Trump’s re-election efforts, has also claimed that the rise of his polling numbers and the decline of DeSantis can be attributed to their attacks on the Florida governor.

The Trump backers have spent $23 million on negative ads against DeSantis so far in the campaign.

DeSantis hopes to overtake Trump in Iowa, the first state holding caucuses on Jan. 15 and where his campaign has focused the majority of its resources.

Trump is polling at 51.3% in Iowa, compared to DeSantis’ 18.6%. Former ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley is nearing the Florida governor with 16.1%, according to RCP’s average.

The Trump campaign is bidding on a blowout in the Hawkeye State and has deployed an army of surrogates to get new caucus-goers to turn out for the former president and end the race before most voting can even begin.