'It is an election year': East Palestine resident reacts to Joe Biden's visit one year after toxic train derailment on 'Fox & Friends'
NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: DJ Yokley, a lifelong resident of East Palestine, Ohio, shared his take on President Joe Biden visiting his community with the co-hosts on the January 31 episode of 'Fox & Friends.'
The President's visit comes one year after the city was devastated by a toxic freight train derailment.
A Norfolk Southern train carrying hazardous chemicals that got derailed on February 3, 2023, was burned by officials to avoid explosions. Residents have complained of a rise in health issues in the region since.
A ploy for the upcoming elections
Claiming that citizens have seen "right through" Biden's tactics, Yokley said, "The American people have awakened to realize that our the leader of our country did not show up to the greatest catastrophe of 2023."
"Now he's going to show up because it is an election year, and obviously, the polls show that President Trump, came and supported us when he didn't have to, and I think we saw right through it from the beginning."
"I will support any president that serves our country because otherwise, it's like… rooting against your favorite team's quarterback just to see the backup," he continued.
"It's a scenario where we know what (Biden)'s doing. The American people see it, and now it's, hey, we have to go visit Palestine because we haven't done that yet, and... check it off the books."
East Palestine was left to fend for itself
Yokley believes it is the "resilience" of the community that "has kept East Palestine moving forward and moving the chains," for which he is very thankful.
"It's been really frustrating from a standpoint of leadership," he said.
He also added, "(Biden) is elected into a position of leadership to lead the free world. We see everything that he's doing across… different countries, but as American citizens, we understand that there's nothing that he's done for us and nothing that this administration has done for us other than say that he'll be coming."
The President will be greeted by empty buildings during his visit as people had to move out of their homes after the disaster, shared Yokley.
"We had to move. It was either adapt or die, and… the thing that you learn as a competitor in sports and in business is you have to adapt, and we could not wait for Joe Biden to show up in East Palestine and help us, in order to continue our business."
"The tragic part of all of this is that the residents and the business owners of East Palestine had to make a lot of tough choices along the way, and the frustrating part for us is, again, the administration didn't have to make those tough choices," he added.
