Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg on Thursday said he feels “sorry” for President Trump, after Mr. Trump displayed what appeared to be an altered projected path of Hurricane Dorian showing the storm passing through Alabama.
“I feel sorry for the president, and that is not the way we should feel about the most powerful figure in this country — somebody on whose wisdom and judgment our lives literally depend,” Mr. Buttigieg, mayor of South Bend, Indiana, said on CNN’s “New Day.”
While giving an update on Dorian on Wednesday, Mr. Trump held up a previous map with a projected path of the hurricane showing it heading toward Florida. There was also an extra half-bubble in black that touched parts of Alabama, in contrast to a white shape around Florida.
Mr. Trump had warned earlier this week that Alabama was among states that would likely be hit much harder than expected by Dorian, though the National Weather Service said shortly after his warning that Alabama wouldn’t see any effects from Dorian and that the system would remain too far east.
“I don’t know if he felt it necessary to pull out a Sharpie and change the map; I don’t know if it was one of his aides [who believed] they had to do that in order to order to protect his ego,” Mr. Buttigieg said. “This is humiliating. This is an embarrassing moment for our country, and we seem to see a new national embarrassment every day.”
“What we’re seeing there is literally pathetic,” he said. “It makes you feel a kind of pity for everybody involved, and that’s not how I want to feel about the president whether it’s from my party or the other one.”
SEE ALSO: Donald Trump insists he was correct to warn Alabama about Hurricane Dorian
Mr. Trump has continued to point to other forecasts to back up a projection that is seemingly no longer all that relevant, with Dorian now moving up the East Coast.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.