Trump tries role of hurricane comforter

President Trump meets people impacted by Harvey in Houston. Photo / AP

He came to Texas with hugs and smiles. At an evacuation shelter, he hoisted a little girl above his shoulders, got into a scrum with a young boy wielding a plastic sword, and pulled on disposable gloves to serve hot dogs. At a church, he called on people to pray and loaded packages into pickup trucks and minivans.

"It's good exercise," he quipped as he lifted boxes of supplies.

If US President Donald Trump's first visit last Wednesday to flood-ravaged southeast Texas was all about projecting competence, then his return yesterday was about showing compassion.

The President got to work acting like, well, a president.

In a full day of visits with storm survivors and emergency management officials, Trump tried to convey empathy and a personal commitment to the long-term recovery of Houston after Hurricane Harvey.

"They say two years, three years, but I think that because this is Texas you'll probably do it in six months!" Trump said.

After talking to families who had lost their homes, Trump said he was struck by how "happy" they were. "We saw a lot of happiness," Trump said after he and his wife, Melania, toured an evacuation centre. "They're really happy with what's going on."

Trump toured Houston as well as Lake Charles, Louisiana. In both, fans lined streets wearing "Make America Great Again" caps and Trump-branded T-shirts.

Alice Stewart, a Republican political consultant, said she thought he "genuinely filled the role of consoler-in-chief ... The optics of the visit are just as important as his actions on relief funds".

Trump touted the US$7.9 billion in disaster relief his Administration is seeking, even though it could cost more than US$100 billion to rebuild. The budget Trump proposed, months before Harvey struck, would slash spending across the federal government, including for programmes at the Federal Emergency Management Agency. And a couple of weeks before this hurricane, Trump reversed an Obama-era regulation that was designed to make federally funded infrastructure projects in coastal communities less vulnerable to flooding.

Presidential historian Michael Beschloss said Trump's past "anti-government rhetoric" makes it difficult for him to come across as authentic after Harvey.