Trump hugs children and serves food in Houston, makes joke about his ‘big hands’
If Trump’s first visit on Tuesday to flood-ravaged Southeast Texas was all about projecting competence, then his Saturday return was about showing compassion
US President Donald Trump tried on the role of “comforter-in-chief” on Saturday, playing with children in an evacuation centre and passing out food and supplies to those in need after Hurricane Harvey’s assault on Houston.
Trump, dealing with the first natural disaster of his eight-month-old presidency, comforted victims and thanked volunteers and first responders after being criticised earlier in the week for not showing sufficient empathy on his first trip to the storm-battered Texas coast.
Trump, 71, was joined by his wife, Melania, as he passed out food and hugged, kissed and played with children at the “kid zone” in Houston’s NRG Centre, a 700,000-square-foot facility that was turned in to the city’s largest emergency shelter.
Trump appeared relaxed as he posed for photographs with volunteers and chatted with those relocated to the shelter alongside Texas Governor Greg Abbott.
“It has been a wonderful thing,” Trump said of his meetings with the children as he helped serve food to evacuees amid shouts of “Thank you, sir.”
Watch: Trump sees ‘a lot of love’ at Texas shelter