A top Team Trump official disclosed the moment that "really set the campaign on a trajectory to victory" – the day President-elect Donald Trump arrived in Columbiana County, Ohio, to survey the East Palestine train derailment.
"The ripples from that day do not get enough attention," White House communications director-designate Steven Cheung said on X, formerly Twitter, in retweeting an op-ed making that assertion.
In February 2023, a Norfolk-Southern train hauling caustic industrial chemicals – including vinyl chloride – derailed in a small community near the Pennsylvania border, causing immediate chaos and long-lasting, widespread damage to the region.
A controlled burn held shortly after the derailment released toxic phosgene into the air.
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On February 23 – Ash Wednesday – Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, hosted Trump at the site, where the former and future president highlighted Americans "forgotten" by President Joe Biden – who had not yet shown up and would not visit for several more months.
The Republican mogul handed out "Trump"-branded water and met with local officials. Meanwhile, officials in both Ohio and Pennsylvania were also visibly working to hold the railroad accountable.
In his tweet, Cheung was responding to an op-ed by Pittsburgh-based Washington Examiner writer Selina Zito, who covered the crisis at the time.
Zito wrote that Trump’s arrival had happened at a political nadir for the Republican, following the 2022 midterm losses and amid a then-close presidential primary race with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
She noted in a tweet that it was Vance – his future running mate – who brought him to the site.
Trump’s mantra of "you are not forgotten" to Rust Belt residents too often forgotten by Washington helped change minds in the area, Zito wrote, quoting a local resident who said she had "switched parties because of the way he spoke directly to the concerns."
"I have voted for him both times since then," the woman, who owns an East Palestine farm, said.
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Trump told residents that day that "in too many cases, your goodness and perseverance were met with indifference and betrayal."
The disparity between Trump’s eagerness to "show up" and Biden’s apparent putting-off of a visit to East Palestine helped turn the tide in the Republican’s favor, the column continued.
"100%," Cheung wrote in his tweet.
Trump’s former running mate, Mike Pence, also called out Biden at the time, saying he was "AWOL" and remarking to Fox News that the Delaware Democrat’s policies had "derailed the economy of East Palestine long before that train came through."
On the Pennsylvania side of the line, both Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro and his then-former gubernatorial opponent, state Sen. Doug Mastriano, R-Gettysburg, also responded quickly to the derailment.
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Shapiro lodged a criminal referral at the time, and Mastriano led hearings that hosted affected residents along the Ohio border wherein Norfolk-Southern CEO Alan Shaw notably no-showed.
"It is very disheartening to hear that these alleged delays and botched response approaches took place – especially since those in East Palestine, Ohio, and areas in my district here in Pennsylvania have been dealing with the aftermath of this derailment for over a year now," state Sen. Elder Vogel Jr. told Fox News Digital at the time, after a whistleblower had spoken out about alleged mistakes from Biden’s EPA response – which the agency disputed.
