Trump campaigns in areas affected by Hurricane Helene and lies about the White House’s response to the disaster
The Republican candidate for the US presidential election traveled on Monday to southern Georgia, a region affected by the recent hurricane Helene and, under the spotlight of the disaster, Trump politicized the moment, accusing Kamala Harris of “going somewhere to raise money ” and lying about the White House’s approach to the hurricane.
Donald Trump’s statements in Valdosta, Georgia, were filled with lies and false information about the President of the United States and his opponent in the elections. According to Associated PressTrump accused Joe Biden of being “sleeping” and not answering the phone to the governor of Georgia, Brian Kemp – despite the fact that Kemp himself, who belongs to the Republican party, confirmed that he had spoken to Biden and had thanked the Government for his support federal.
“The President called me yesterday afternoon [domingo]I couldn’t answer, he called right away and just asked: ‘What do you need?’. I told him we have what we need from the federal process. He explained that if other things were needed to call him directly, which I appreciated,” Kemp told the Associated Press.
Surrounded by buildings devastated by Hurricane Helene, behind a small wall built from the debris of a building, and with a red election cap on his head, Trump also criticized Kamala Harris for “being somewhere campaigning, looking for money ” – despite Trump also being in the state of Pennsylvania campaigning on Sunday.
And, in a post on his social network, he suggested that federal authorities and the Democratic governor of North Carolina were “going out of their way to not help people in Republican areas”, without, however, presenting any evidence to support these statements.
Interestingly, the former US President seemed to recognize his own political exploitation of the disaster situation in Georgia. “As you know, our country is in the final weeks of a hard-fought election. At a time like this, when a crisis happens, when our fellow citizens ask for help, none of that matters. We’re not talking about politics right now. We have to come together and solve this,” said Trump, quoted by Politico.
This is not the first time that Donald Trump has anticipated the White House and the Democrats, visiting areas affected by environmental crises, such as East Palestine, Ohio, at the beginning of the year, often being accused of taking advantage of these moments to reap political gains.
At the same time that Trump was visiting the regions severely affected by the hurricane, Kamala Harris was finishing a three-day trip to critical states for the election on the East Coast. The vice president and Democratic candidate had planned events in Las Vegas, but returned to Washington DC to monitor the situation and meet with emergency authorities about the situation in Georgia.
Donald Trump, in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin
Brandon Bell
“We will do everything in our power to help communities recover,” promised Harris, before a meeting with the US federal civil protection agency. A White House source told Politico that Harris promised to go to the field “as soon as possible”, but should not travel to the affected locations so that her security device does not disrupt emergency operations.
The promised trip was delayed again this Tuesday, with the Israeli invasion of Lebanon and the resulting Iranian air strikes in Tel Aviv forcing Harris and Biden to monitor the situation from the White House.
Hurricane Helene was one of the most destructive of the year in the southeastern United States, especially in the states of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and northern Florida, with more than 130 deaths associated with the rain and enormous wind, more of 600 missing, and many displaced.
