Do we remember when MAGA and Trump complained about FEMA’s response in North Carolina, to Hurricane Helene, blaming Biden? Too slow. Ignoring any Trump supporters that could be identified as Trump supporters. Remember that last lie? FEMA volunteers did not want to not help Trump supporters. Rather, they were afraid they themselves would be attacked by Trumpers, given Trump’s lies about FEMA.
The following paragraph is from Heather Cox Richardson’s substack:
“….the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has denied North Carolina’s request that it honor a commitment made by President Joe Biden to pay for 100% of the costs for removal of debris after Hurricane Helene devastated the western part of the state in September 2024. That storm killed 107 people in western North Carolina and destroyed or damaged 75,000 homes, as well as destroying roads and leaving mounds of debris.
As Zack Colman of Politico reported yesterday, the storm hit in the last weeks of the 2024 presidential campaign, and Trump undermined FEMA’s response, lying that it was not present and telling North Carolinians that the Biden administration could not help them because it had taken money from FEMA for undocumented immigrants. None of what he was saying was true, but MAGA mouthpieces picked up his criticisms and exaggerated them, claiming that the federal government intended to steal people’s land, that Biden had directed the storm to western North Carolina, and that 28 babies had frozen to death in FEMA tents—all lies, but lies that slowed recovery as riled-up people who believed them refused assistance, threatened officials, and demanded investigations.
Trump suggested he would respond more effectively to voters in North Carolina, and two of the hardest-hit counties there, Avery and Haywood, backed him in 2024 by margins of 75.7% and 61.8%, respectively, similar to those it had given him in 2016 and 2020.
Once in office, though, Trump began to talk of eliminating FEMA. Now the White House has told North Carolina residents they’re on their own as they try to dig out from Hurricane Helene”.
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Remember how Trump took the same approach to the Covid pandemic? Taking federalism to extreme limits, it’s the states that must provide the aid during disasters. Kudos for fast tracking the Covid vaccines, but otherwise Trump has always been in favor of retracting federal support for the states. Less help from the federal government, more responsibility to state governments.
MAGA cried holy hell over FEMA’s response to Hurricane Helene, it happened under Biden! Can we count on MAGA to complain now?
“I think we’re going to recommend that FEMA go away,” Trump said during a January visit to Asheville to survey the damage shortly after taking office.
Three key takeaways:
- Trump amplified misinformation about FEMA’s response to Hurricane Helene that sowed distrust in the agency, paving the way for his administration to dismantle it.
- The recovery effort in western North Carolina is lagging during Trump’s first three months.
- The Trump administration has frozen disaster relief funds, canceled grants to help communities prepare for disasters and signaled it will pull back federal help for long-term disaster recovery.
www.nbcnews.com
www.latimes.com
