I said in the other thread where this came up that Trump absolutely would have flown down there and done something like deliver supplies to people (and probably paid for them out of his own pocket).

I see this sort of thing as a bit different than "optics". "Optics" is not saying mean things on twitter. This is a leader showing some amount of solidarity with those they lead, and making some small sacrifice with them even if that sacrifice ultimately is more symbolic than useful.