The remnants of Hurricane Harvey have left behind vast devastation in Texas and Louisiana and will dump heavy rains across additional regions of the U.S. for the next several days.
While those rains are set to spoil Labor Day weekend plans on the Jersey Shore, it is important to remember that the area that has been flooded in Texas is greater than the size of New Jersey. It is also important to remember that despite Texas Senator Ted Cruz’s leading the GOP on no votes on aid to Superstorm Sandy victims five years ago, the NJ Congressional delegation has committed to aid for Texas.
Hurricane Katrina’s devastation in 2005 cost $160 billion and, while it will be a while before we get officials figures, Harvey is expected to blow that away, perhaps approaching $200 billion.
The scope of the devastation, which continues to unfold as chemical plants are not reacting well to all that heat and water, is one that will impact Texas for years, and is already having an impact on Washington. As Congress prepares to get back to work next week, they will find Harvey has helped to change the dynamic.
Besides the fact that coverage of the floods has taken some of the spotlight away from Trump, his reaction to Harvey combined with Charlottesville and his lack of accomplishments seem to have left him diminished. And this time, it seems to be holding on.
One key effect of Harvey is likely to be on Trump’s border wall. Even though some Republicans in the House have called for using $1 billion of Harvey aid for the wall, most agree rebuilding in Texas will take precedence. Headlines like “Hurricane Harvey may have destroyed Trump’s Mexico wall before a single brick is laid,” in Quartz or “Hurricane Harvey Could Get Congress Out of Paying for Trump’s Border Wall,” in Mother Jones are painting a picture Trump doesn’t want to see.
Clearly, there is no better drink tonight than having a Harvey Wallbanger. It is absolutely the type of drink you could have gotten at the Balinese on the pier in Galveston in the mid 1970s when ZZ Top was singing about it.
Essentially a Screwdriver with a float of Galliano, you could even have one while watching Congress bang bricks out of Trump’s wall with each Harvey appropriation next week.
From Gary Regan’s The Joy of Mixology, the Harvey Wallbanger is:
2 oz vodka
3 oz orange juice
.25 to .5 oz Galliano
Build the vodka and orange juice in an ice-filled highball glass, stir, then float the Galliano on top.
Cheers!
Gin & Bitters 