CNN's Bill Weir gushes over Biden's insensitive remarks in Maui

AP photo

CNN's climate reporter, Bill Weir, fawned over comments made by President Joe Biden this week in Maui. The President drew a comparison between the most devastating fire the U.S. has seen in over a century and a minor kitchen fire that occurred at his home almost twenty years ago.

The wildfires that struck Maui earlier this month have resulted in the tragic loss of well over 100 lives, and over 1,000 individuals are still missing. Furthermore, close to 3,000 structures have been destroyed, as reported by state and local authorities.

“President and Dr. Biden spent several hours both over Lahaina on the ground here and meeting with both first responders and victims of this tragedy at the big shelter, the War Memorial shelter in central Maui,” Weir began.

Weir stated that Biden “said the right things in many cases when he came to the microphone to give his statements,” later adding that he “did serve as empathizer-in-chief after five days of being mostly silent on the issue publicly.”

CNN’s @BillWeirCNN praises Biden’s Hawaii visit: “He said the right things … He serve[d] as empathizer-in-chief” pic.twitter.com/UOLoQAVBSO

— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) August 22, 2023

Biden, who received strong criticism for taking a vacation and apparently not showing personal concern for the tragedy, visited the island on Monday. His visit led to further controversy due to the comments he made.

Biden stirred controversy when he likened the devastating fire to an incident at his home in the early 2000s, which the Associated Press had described at the time as "small" and "contained to the kitchen." The Delaware fire chief stated that they responded to the home swiftly, and the situation was brought under control within minutes.

“I don’t want to compare difficulties, but we have a little sense, Jill and I, what it’s like to lose a home,” Biden said. “Years ago — now 15 years ago — I was in Washington doing ‘Meet the Press.’ It was a sunny Sunday, and lightning struck at home on a little lake that’s outside of our home — not a lake, a big pond — and hit a wire and came up underneath our home into the heating ducts — the air conditioning ducts.”

“To make a long story short, I almost lost my wife, my ‘67 Corvette, and my cat,” Biden joked. “But all kidding aside, I watched the firefighters, the way they responded.”

“The smoke — and the firefighters here can tell you — sometimes smoke is so thick. From the windows out, it was that thick inside the home. And we were — we were insured. We did not have any problem, but being out of our home for a better part of a year was difficult,” Biden added. “I can only imagine what it’s like to lose your home completely burned to the ground.”

For the families and communities directly impacted by the devastation, the Biden comments appear to trivialize the tragedy, striking a discordant note at a time when empathy and understanding were most needed.