While Texas is enduring one of the worst storms to hit U.S. soil in recent history, President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump have attracted increased scrutiny—and not to the benefit of Hurricane Harvey’s victims. It started before they even boarded the plane, as Melania stepped out in snakeskin stilettos and aviator glasses (though it was overcast), while an aide carried two Louis Vuitton suitcases on board. Even though she changed into white Stan Smiths during the flight, she arrived at the airport wearing a branded FLOTUS cap. The president donned matching headgear: a white cap which featured “USA” on the front and read “Trump” in the back—for sale on Trump’s campaign website for $40.

In Texas, the president and his entourage stuck close to officials and rally-style gatherings instead of visiting local residents and shelters. Addressing supporters near Corpus Christi, Trump praised the crowd size, saying, “What a crowd,” and “What a turnout.” Journalists noted that there was hardly a mention of the hurricane’s victims, though Trump did praise the way officials have reacted to the disaster (keeping in mind President George W. Bush’s much-criticized response to Hurricane Katrina), describing FEMA director Brock Long as “a man who’s really become very famous on television in the last couple of days.”

Former White House photographer Pete Souza, who has worked in the Reagan and Obama administrations, posted a suggestion for how Trump should have reacted during his visit. It didn’t involve stilettos, branded caps, or boasts about crowd size. Instead, the photo showed President Obama hugging a victim of Hurricane Sandy.

“There are no Democrats or Republicans hurting in Houston; there are just Americans,” Souza wrote. “At a time like this, it shouldn’t be about selling baseball hats or commenting on crowd size. It’s about helping our fellow human beings.”

A question might arise that, during a disaster that has taken the lives of at least 31 people, flooded around 30 percent of the land in Harris County (which includes Houston), and will land more than 30,000 people in shelters, why are we still talking about what the president or the First Lady wore, or what one Instagram says?

Truth is, no one is expecting Melania to be of practical help in any rescue missions, or even step a foot in water. Nor is anyone expecting Trump, or any other president, to physically participate in reconstruction. The reason is that the president and the First Lady have access to something much more powerful: the ability to, faster than anyone else, transmit a message across the entire country. Texans will always receive much more practical support from local shelters, non-profits, and rescue officials, but it will always be the president and the First Lady they’ll see on their TVs, their smartphones, or on the screens in a shelter. Like an image, fashion has the power to speak without words, and it is exactly in times like these that a photograph of one hug could provide support to many more.