The Florida Panhandle is being blown to hell or Kansas. Entire houses are bouncing down the middle of the street. Forty percent of the oil production in the Gulf of Mexico is shut down. It is the most powerful storm to hit the mainland United States in 50 years. But the president* has a rally scheduled in Erie, Pennsylvania, and he doesn't want to let his adoring public down. From The Hill:

Trump left the White House just before 4 p.m., tweeting about his decision to attend the rally. "Departing the @WhiteHouse for Erie, Pennsylvania. I cannot disappoint the thousands of people that are there - and the thousands that are going. I look forward to seeing everyone this evening," he wrote..."Well, I hear they have thousands of people lined up and so we are in a little bit of a quagmire," he told reporters at the White House. "I don't want to disappoint people. So, we'll probably go because what are you going to do? Tell thousands of people who've been waiting there all night that we're not coming? That's not fair either," he said.

Is there a tweet? There always is a tweet.

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Yesterday Obama campaigned with JayZ & Springsteen while Hurricane Sandy victims across NY & NJ are still decimated by Sandy. Wrong! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 6, 2012

I know some people in Erie—Hi, Liz! Hi, Eric!—and nobody I know in Erie is stupid or heartless, and everybody I know in Erie would understand if the president* told them that, what with the unprecedented hurricane in Florida, he had to stay and do some presidentin', and that he would come there and bask in their undying love some other time, when Florida wasn't set to become a coral reef. They would understand. I know they would. Shameless. Completely shameless.

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Charles P. Pierce Charles P Pierce is the author of four books, most recently Idiot America, and has been a working journalist since 1976.

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