Biden seems to forget ‘Maui’ as he finally publicly speaks about wildfire disaster in Hawaii

President Biden finally publicly spoke about the deadly Hawaii wildfires Tuesday — although he seemed to forget the name of the devastated island of Maui and noted he prefers to keep his speeches to under 18 minutes but would make an exception in this case.

The 80-year-old president addressed the deadliest US wildfires in more than a century after withering criticism for lounging on the beach Sunday and telling reporters “no comment” when later asked about the blaze.

Biden seemed to grasp for the name of Maui during a brief detour Tuesday from prepared remarks loaded into teleprompters for his speech in Milwaukee, Wisc. — referring to it as “the one where you see on television all of the time.

“I apologize because I try very hard to keep my speeches between 15 and 18 minutes, but I got to talk a little bit about Hawaii,” Biden said as he began a speech that was supposed to tout his own economic policies.

Biden proceeded to describe federal efforts to support disaster relief during the tragedy, including a $700 onetime grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to victims of the wildfires, which have killed at least 99 people so far.

“In the immediate aftermath, the Coast Guard and Navy supported maritime searches and rescue operations,” Biden said.

“The Army helicopters helped fire suppression efforts on the Big Island because there’s still some burning on the Big Island — not the one that, not the one where you see on television all the time,” he said, mixing up Hawaii, known as the Big Island, and Maui.

Biden said he intends to travel eventually to tour the damage on Maui but that he’s not prepared to set a date.

“My wife Jill and I are going to travel to Hawaii as soon as we can,” he said. “That’s what I’ve been talking to the governor about. I don’t want to get in the way. I’ve been to too many disaster areas. But I want to go make sure we got everything they need. Want to be sure we don’t disrupt the ongoing recovery efforts.”

An apparent lack of White House focus on natural disasters has prompted major political blowback for presidents in the past, as happened in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina when then-President George W. Bush faced intense criticism for praising FEMA’s response while local frustration mounted over the response.

Biden’s “no comment” to reporters Sunday outraged even some of his Democratic allies.

“I campaigned for you,” raged former Hawaii legislator Kaniela Ing early Monday. “Now, when I lose dozens of my friends, family, and neighbors. This?”

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Monday defended her boss’s handling of the tragedy but ended up compounding the Biden administration’s image problem by bungling the names of both of Hawaii’s Democratic US senators, bestowing onto Sen. Mazie Hirono the surname “Harino” and using the pronoun “he” for the female legislator and calling Sen. Brian Schatz as “Senator Shorts, Shwots, Sharts, Schatz.”