Even at an hour of grave calamity, Mr. Trump did not want to surrender the pedestal he had built on a racial lie.

More than 100 people had died; thousands of homes, along with hospitals, police and fire stations, water treatment plants, communication hubs and power generators had been wrecked or damaged. Among the places associated with his name (though not actually owned by Mr. Trump), The Trump SoHo New York hotel had no power for four days. Casinos in Atlantic City with the Trump name out front were shut down. Many people in three buildings called, at the time, Trump Place, part of the Riverside South development that was built above a filled-in lagoon, could not go to their jobs downtown.

He gloated about the building where he lived, which he does control and which escaped disruption from the storm, posting on Twitter that “people are having a great time in Trump Tower atrium,” as Mary Elizabeth Williams noted in Salon at the time.

Many public facilities ruined by the storm were originally built with federal tax money — and, in fact, had already been rebuilt with federal money after earlier disasters.

In Washington, rather than sticking with the same path that led to those mistakes, President Obama asked a group of state and local officials from both major political parties to suggest better plans. They came up with a thoughtful 55-page document, saying that when federal money was being spent, officials should take account of dangerous weather.