As Hawaii struggled to deal with Hurricane Lane, Gov. David Ige, Mayor Kirk Caldwell, U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono and many of Hawaii’s elected officials are so biased that they could not give credit where due. Natural disasters are an opportunity to build bridges — they missed that opportunity.

FEMA was on the ground immediately and barges with supplies were offshore if needed; thank you, President Donald Trump for the early disaster declaration. Yet during countless press briefings, our elected officials (always looking for votes) were too afraid to use the T-word. During press briefings they carefully said, “we thank the federal government,” “we talked to the White House,’’ and “we thank the president for an early disaster declaration.”

I find this odd. They never miss an opportunity to criticize President Trump by name over immigration, changes in regulations or for anything that occurs in Washington, D.C. Choosing to not acknowledge President Trump is a subtle bias, and more importantly, it is lacking aloha spirit.

Deborah Hyde

Punaluu