As Joe Biden settles in to enjoy his New Year's vacation, Americans are left to ring in 2024 by dealing with a tanking economy, crime rates through the roof, and conflicts abroad. The people of East Palestine, Ohio, have the added bonus of still coping with recovery efforts stemming from the February 3, 2023, Norfolk-Southern train derailment that left their small community a virtual toxic chemical dump. The toxic chemicals that poured into the air and water supply in East Palestine read like an alphabet soup of hazardous waste. Vinyl chloride, ethylene glycol, ethylhexyl acrylate, butyl acrylate, and isobutylene have made residents chronically ill with ailments such as headaches, coughs, fatigue, and skin burning. 

REMINDER— 324 days since the train derailment in East Palestine, OH. Said to be the worst chemical spill in U.S. history. Joe Biden has taken countless vacations, & ZERO trips there. Never forget it’s always Americans last with Joe Biden. FJB 🖕🏽

— 🔥🇺🇸 KC 🇺🇸🔥 (@KCPayTreeIt) December 24, 2023

But the citizens of East Palestine can take comfort in the fact that the White House insists that nearly a year after the derailment, Joe Biden plans on visiting them. On Thursday, White House Spokesman Jeremy Edwards said, “The president continues to oversee a robust recovery effort to support the people of East Palestine, and he will visit when it is most helpful for the community." Kind of hard to oversee things when you haven't shown up to see what is happening. As late as September, the White House continued to say that Biden would visit.  One person who did show up to offer support and help was former President Donald Trump. Trump visited East Palestine weeks after the accident with pallets of water and cleaning supplies and met with East Palestine Mayor Trent Conaway, Sen. JD Vance (R-OH), and other officials. Trump also treated firefighters and other first responders to lunch at the local McDonalds.

Ironically, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg visited the next day and tried to explain why he had not visited sooner, saying, “What I tried to do was balance two things. My desire to be involved and engaged and on the ground, which is how I am generally wired to act, and my desire to follow the norm of transportation secretaries, allowing NTSB to really lead the initial stages of the public-facing work." He added, ” I felt strongly about this and could have expressed that sooner."

Residents of East Palestine, Ohio, feel abandoned by President Joe Biden as they struggle to recover from a train derailment that caused a toxic chemical spill. They believe Biden's absence is disrespectful and that he prioritizes politics over their… https://t.co/lTrZr1GQbJ

— The America One News (@am1_news) December 29, 2023

But as 2024 — a presidential election year — approaches, the fact that following the derailment, Joe Biden had plenty of time to go to Ukraine but has yet to visit East Palestine, and the possible reason why is not lost on residents. Krissy Ferguson lives roughly one mile from the derailment site and said, “I believe that it is political for [Biden]. I believe that if we were in a blue area, he would have come, and that hurts.” Another resident, Jessica Conrad, said bluntly, "I feel like I don't matter." 

Ferguson and Conrad are probably on to something. East Palestine sits in Columbiana County, Ohio. Donald Trump took that county with more than 70 percent of the vote in the 2020 election. Contrast that with the fact that in September, Biden made a beeline to stand in support of striking auto workers in Michigan. It's a valid observation. Also, any visit to East Palestine now would make for some excruciatingly bad optics, something the Biden campaign no doubt wants to stay far away from as Biden's job approval numbers continue to tank, and Trump leads Biden in a head-to-head match-up in nearly every swing state. Add to the bad optics that the people of East Palestine would likely not hold back in telling Joe Biden exactly what they thought of any too-little-too-late visit now. What could he possibly offer them now? 

Whether Joe Biden will ever actually go to East Palestine is unknown. The people would know exactly why he was there. They also know who cared enough to show up when they needed help. If Joe Biden remains a no-show, at least they won't have to hear the kitchen fire story.   

It's been almost a year already since the toxic train derailment and intentional burning of deadly chemicals in East Palestine, Ohio.

No one has been fired. No one has been jailed.

No one has even talked about drinkable water in months. pic.twitter.com/N3GPosaHuB

— Todd Peterson (@toddamtrib) December 28, 2023