Donald Trump was ahead in the polls early last year but his numbers were stuck at about 42 or 43 percent, only 10 points ahead of Ron DeSantis who had not yet even launched his campaign.
Then a train carrying hazardous chemicals derailed in rural Ohio: Trump country.
The former president knew what to do. He took his campaign to East Palestine. So while the federal government was accused of being slow to react the former president was delivering red MAGA hats, pallets of water and a message.
‘What this community needs now are not excuses and all of the other things you’ve been hearing but answers and results,’ he told his audience at the local fire station.
Insiders say that was the day, February 22, when he locked up the Republican nomination for the 2024 election.
Former President Donald Trump delivered water and a huge media spotlight to the people of East Palestine, Ohio, on February 22 last year
Photograph taken from a drone shows portions of a Norfolk and Southern freight train that derailed outside the town of East Palestine last year
‘That is quintessential Trump,’ said Chris LaCivita, senior adviser to the campaign.
‘And it reminded everybody of what he does. And that’s when we saw the first real separation.’
Within a week, Trump’s lead was up to 16 points and he never looked back.
The place is back in the news. President Joe Biden is finally due to visit, more than a year after the disaster, and as residents say they still need help to rebuild their community.
Back then, frustrations in East Palestine, with its population of nearly 5,000, were running even higher, fueled by anger after the 150-car Norfolk Southern Corp. train derailed.
Democrats said the problems stemmed from rail deregulation under Trump,. Republicans wanted to know why they were still waiting for Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to visit three weeks on, and why the president had prioritized a trip to Europe over the crisis in rural Ohio.
Locals simply wanted to know about hazardous chemicals — including vinyl chloride, which is carcinogenic — that leaked into the soil and air.
What they got for the day of Trump’s visit was attention.
‘Have fun, everybody,’ he told fans after signing autographs at a McDonald’s where he bought Big Macs for first responders.
He toured the area with state and local leaders in a motorcade — giving off the air of a presidential visit.
Trump flew to East Palestine on Trump Force One three weeks after the huge chemical spill
Trump talking to residents of East Palestine, Ohio, during his visit last year
Trump delivered pallets of his own-branded water to residents after streams were polluted
President Joe Biden is due to visit East Palestine on Friday, more than a year after the disaster
And he used the occasion to deploy his familiar politics of grievance not to berate his personal opponents but to speak up for people in need.
‘The community has shown the tough and resilient heart of America,’ he said.
‘That’s what it is … this is really America right here. We’re standing in America.
‘Unfortunately, as you know, in too many cases your goodness and perseverance were met with indifference and betrayal.’
Josh Martin, whose father-in-law’s ice cream store was used as a staging area for the former president, said it was exactly the morale boost the community needed.
‘I think people people knew that it wasn’t going to change things overnight him showing up here,’ said Martin, assistant superintendent at Columbiana County Board of Developmental Disabilities.
‘The streams, the water weren’t gonna get cleaned or the air wasn’t going to be purified overnight, but you at least had a national figure who was here, willing to lend their support and lend their name to the cause.’
A large plume of smoke rises over East Palestine, Ohio, last year after a controlled detonation of a portion of a derailed Norfolk Southern train to burn off hazardous chemicals
This is crucial territory for Republicans with presidential aspirations. Ohio may no longer be the political swing state it once was, but a strong showing here is vital for Republicans hoping to win the White House.
And at times Trump’s speech veered far into rally territory rather than community pep talk. As he thanked staff from the Federal Emergency Management Agency he could not help but boast that he had a ‘great relationship’ with them when he was president.
There was also a digression into how Trump saved the Ohio State football season with his COVID-19 response and a phone call to the head of the Big 10 football conference asking him to resume games.
‘I called the commissioner and he did a good job,’ he said.
But the point, said LaCivita, was that he reminded forgotten parts of the country that he was their champion.
‘Here’s a part of the country that’s just being ignored,’ he said. ‘And, and that’s not the way it’s supposed to be.’