Biden Tried to Show Solidarity With East Palestine. He Found Divisions Instead.

EAST PALESTINE, Ohio — President Joe Biden traveled to East Palestine on Friday to show solidarity with a community still reeling more than a year after a Norfolk Southern train derailed, spilling a toxic mess across this small Ohio town near the border with Pennsylvania.

But what he found when he got here were divisions on every corner.

On the main street, protesters accused the White House of neglect and asked why it had taken Biden so long to visit. More than 100 Trump supporters, some of whom had driven in from out of state, held up “Impeach Biden” signs. And still others said they were sick of their town being used as a political prop and wanted answers about their long-term health.

Biden alluded to some of those differences during remarks near the crash site, saying that “it doesn’t matter if you’re a Democrat or Republican or independent.”

“What matters is we’re all Americans,” Biden continued. “We look out for one another. We leave no one behind. And we come back stronger than before.”

Biden also said the National Institutes of Health would issue six grants to research universities to study “the short- and long-term impacts” of the toxic spill — a key concern among residents, many of whom complain of health problems since the accident.

Tens of thousands of tons of contaminated solid waste and millions of gallons of wastewater have been shipped out of East Palestine since the derailment, the Environmental Protection Agency said. Ohio declared the drinking water safe just weeks after the crash.

Still, the fact that it took Biden a year to visit East Palestine, a town of 5,000 people, bothered many people in the community, particularly because he had promised to do so soon after the derailment.

Republicans and many residents have said his absence was a sign of disrespect.

“It’s sad he waited so long,” said Kathleen Unkefer, 68, a lifelong resident of East Palestine and florist who watched the different rallies through the window of the Flowers Straight From the Heart shop. “I just feel it’s all political. It’s an election year.”

The White House has said Biden wanted to go at a moment when his visit would not be disruptive. And Biden administration officials have defended the federal response, saying the government has sent a steady flow of federal resources to the community, and deployed hundreds of people to assess the risks in the days after the spill.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times .