Both sides of the aisle are playing the blame game for the train derailment and toxic chemical disaster at East Palestine, Ohio, with the right calling the Biden administration’s response slow and inadequate.

The left is blaming former President Trump for rolling back Obama-era regulations on the rail industry – despite the fact a report from the National Transportation Safety Board shows these regulations would have done nothing to prevent this particular accident.

Stuck in the middle are the residents and business owners of East Palestine, who by and large welcome the federal attention and political visits if it portends that they will get honest answers and some accountability.

In the game of politics, as opposed to disaster relief or cleanup, President Trump is coming out the winner — at least so far. On Wednesday, while President Biden was in Ukraine, Mr. Trump visited East Palestine, bringing pallets of Trump-branded bottled water, MAGA hats, and a revival of his 2016 campaign style as a voice for the working man.

Crowds of residents welcomed him with cheers. The county voted overwhelmingly for Mr. Trump in 2020. “You are not forgotten,” the former president said.

“I don’t have any political bias, I just want the truth,” Lance Peterson, who runs a physical therapy business a hundred yards from the train derailment, tells the Sun. He says he didn’t vote for Mr. Trump, but he welcomed the visit, “because it kind of helps our town realize there just may be somebody on our side.”

The day after Mr. Trump’s visit — three weeks after the derailment — the transportation secretary, Pete Buttigieg, traveled to East Palestine. Donning a hardhat and reflective vest, Mr. Buttigieg toured the derailment site, excused the delay in his visit, and attacked Mr. Trump for repealing ECP braking regulations and bowing to the rail industry lobby.  

“What we’ve seen is industry goes to Washington and they get their way,” Mr. Buttigieg said. “They got their way on a Christmas tree of regulatory changes that the last administration made on its way out the door in December of 2020.” Mr. Buttigieg added, “I’m here for the work and not for the politics.”

Mr. Peterson isn’t buying it. “I do think it’s a political maneuver. He certainly didn’t seem very interested in being there,” Mr. Peterson says.

A veteran who is an East Palestine resident, George Bollinger, whom the Sun contacted at the local American Legion, describes Mr. Buttigieg’s remarks as “finger pointing.” He says Mr. Trump’s visit forced Mr. Buttigieg to finally make the trip, and he speculates the transportation secretary’s delay may be because East Palestine is “not politically friendly as far as voting wise.”

Mr. Bollinger also expressed a common narrative being pushed on the right: that the Biden administration cares more about Ukraine than a working-class town in Trump country.  

The owner of Doyle’s Fresh Meat & Deli at East Palestine, Duane Doyle, tells the Sun he is getting tired of the politics and just wants “the information that’s being put out there to be the actual truth.” He says his business is suffering, as are all the businesses in town.

“Before everybody wanted to buy local meat, and now nobody wants to buy local meat. They’re afraid of it,” Mr. Doyle says.

Mr. Doyle welcomed Mr. Trump’s visit, but he says the politics of the derailment means that the right is now hyping up the environmental catastrophe and health risks in order to earn a win against President Biden and the Democrats. Catastrophizing is hurting his business even more.

A former New York City mayor, Rudy Giuliani, made an appearance in East Palestine last week. A former Democratic congresswoman, Tulsi Gabbard, who endorsed several Republicans in 2022, visited and described what she saw on Fox News.

Mr. Trump’s performance at a local McDonald’s, and the video of it shared on social media afterward, earned him praise and functioned as a sort of relaunch of his 2024 campaign.

“People don’t know what to believe,” Mr. Doyle tells the Sun. “Unfortunately, we live in a society where it’s the right against the left. Whatever happened to just being American? Not a Democrat, not a Republican, just an American.”

The chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board, Jennifer Homendy, decried the political finger-pointing, too. “This was 100 percent preventable,” she said of the derailment, citing an overheated wheel bearing as the cause. “I don’t understand why this has gotten so political. This is a community that is suffering. This is not about politics.”

“We’re glad you guys come,” Mr. Doyle says of the press and politicians, “but we’ll be just as happy when we don’t see you no more, which means everything’s taken care of or it’s back to normal.”

Mr. Peterson, too, is worried his physical therapy clinic won’t survive. Will patients want to return for treatment so close to the site? Is it safe?  He found that the HVAC filter in the clinic was black when he checked it a few days after the derailment and the burning of vinyl chloride.

More than 100,000 gallons of toxic chemicals spilled when the Norfolk Southern train derailed on February 3. An estimated 43,000 aquatic animals have died in the area since, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. Residents are complaining of sore throats, rashes, bronchitis, and headaches. The long-term health risks from the chemicals released in the air, soil, and waterways are unknown.

The Environmental Protection Agency has declared the air and water safe to breathe and drink. Yet an analysis of EPA data by Texas A&M University researchers refutes this, showing nine chemicals with elevated levels in the air that could pose long-term health risks, including cancer.

Environmental activist Erin Brockovich, who visited East Palestine last week and held a town hall there Friday, advised residents to document their symptoms for future lawsuits. On Friday, Ms. Brockovich tweeted a picture of a river with a brightly colored reflective film on the surface with the words, “Taken today! ‘All Clear’ My Ass!”

Lawyers have descended on the town. The residents who spoke with the Sun say some people are probably looking for payouts, but most just want to return to pre-derailment life. They describe the town as a kind of Mayberry from “The Andy Griffith Show,” where generations of families live near one another and people look out for their neighbors. They are hoping people who live in the evacuation zone will get some sort of compensation.

Mr. Doyle is afraid that his business, upon which his retirement depends, will go under. Mr. Peterson worries he won’t be able to sell his house and downsize when he retires. They also worry that when the Washington-Ohio Express stops running to East Palestine, the federal attention and aid will skip their town too. They don’t trust the railroad to finish the job properly.

“There may be a time in a month or two that we won’t see any more of those bigshots, but our lives here in East Palestine are still going to be going on,” Mr. Doyle says. “Please don’t forget about East Palestine.”