Trump silent on Hurricane Ian after Florida devastated as he heads to Michigan rally

Donald Trump has failed to say anything about Hurricane Ian, which has devastated his home state of Florida, as he continued to issue grievance after grievance on his social media site.

The former president spent the past few days posting on Truth Social about New York Times journalist Maggie Haberman's new book, Trevor Noah leaving The Daily Show, and about his Saturday night rally in Michigan.

Hurricane Ian, now downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone, tore through Florida this week leaving at least 64 people dead and causing billions of dollars in damage.

Mr Trump, a former New Yorker, moved to his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida after leaving the White House and became a resident of the state. The private members club, located on Florida’s southeast coast in Palm Beach, appears to have been undamaged by the hurricane which made landfall in the southwest before traveling northeast across the state.

As many Floridians are left picking up the pieces, Mr Trump is flying out of the state to attend a rally in Warren, Michigan on Saturday to boost the state's flagging GOP candidates ahead of the midterm elections next month.

Other speakers at the rally include Tudor Dixon, GOP candidate for governor; Matthew DePerno who is running for attorney general; Kirstina Karamo, who is running for secretary of state; and John James a candidate for the 10th Congressional District.

Hurricane Ian roared ashore as a near Category 5 storm on Wednesday close to Fort Myers and leveled a number of communities.

The following day, Mr Trump posted a video asking his supporters for donations to help him fight the investigation into his removal of highly-sensitive, classified documents from the White House.

“We have a major fundraising deadline coming up and there’s never been a time like this,” he said in the video. “We have to change it, we have to bring our country back, we made America great and now never gonna have to make America great again so I say whatever you can do to help out, we have to meet the deadline”.

He also complained about the FBI’s “document hoax lawsuit,” which he called a “scam against me.”

President Joe Biden declared an emergency in Florida earlier this week and said that he has spoken repeatedly to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

Governor DeSantis and Mr Trump are both rumored to be considering running for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

Mr Trump also railed against "Maggot Haberman" — referencing Ms Haberman — calling her a "bad writer with very bad sources" on Saturday.

Mr Trump also offered Comedy Central some programming advice.

"Trevor Noah was a waste of time, no talent, no anything. Jon Stewart was only slightly better, but highly overrated. Comedy Central should focus on comedy and not politics, because they’re not very good at it," he wrote on Truth Social.

"If these characters ever went neutral or Conservative, they’d double and triple up the ratings—but nobody’s figured that out except me! Congratulations to John Nolte for his unique brilliance and insight."

The Independent has contacted Mr Trump’s spokesman for comment.