Trump admin turns its back on flood-ravaged western NC
Unsurprisingly, Trump’s support for the region lasted about as long as the election.
After making Hurricane Helene a top campaign issue during the final weeks of the 2024 presidential election, President Donald Trump‘s administration is now refusing to grant North Carolina an extension of FEMA’s full reimbursement period to ensure that ongoing disaster recovery efforts can continue, prompting the state’s governor to call on Trump to reconsider the “bad decision.”
Last Friday, FEMA rejected North Carolina’s request to extend its 100% match of funds for debris removal and other cleanup efforts stemming from Hurricane Helene. State officials say the extension is needed because of the sheer amount of damage and the rural environment in which recovery operations are taking place, which has significantly slowed down the process.
“The need in western North Carolina remains immense — people need debris removed, homes rebuilt, and roads restored,” said N.C. Gov. Josh Stein, who learned of the denial while visiting with local families who lost their homes in the disaster.
Stein said he is “extremely disappointed” about the refusal to grant an extension and urged President Trump “to reconsider FEMA’s bad decision.”
The denial of continued aid comes just six months after Trump made the recovery efforts in North Carolina a centerpiece of his campaign — or at least gave the appearance of doing so. In reality, Trump never showed sincere concern for those affected by the storm, nor did he offer up any actual solutions to help them get back on their feet. Rather, he saw their plight as a politically convenient tool that he could use for his own benefit and weaponize against his opponent — and then discard when it was no longer useful.
Even as Trump made FEMA and the recovery efforts one of his go-to talking points on the campaign trail, he still never actually engaged with the reality on the ground, but instead chose to regurgitate the same few false narratives and conspiracy theories over and over again. Among other things, Trump falsely claimed that the federal government under Biden’s control was intentionally withholding assistance from people in Republican parts of the state — a claim that he could not provide any evidence to support when asked about it. He also falsely asserted that Kamala Harris had spent “billions of dollars” of “FEMA money” on housing for illegal immigrants, and then — without missing a beat — proceeded to falsely link this claim to one of his long-standing election-related conspiracy theories, alleging that the reason Democrats were spending money to house immigrants was to allow them to vote in the upcoming presidential election. Trump also offered a variation of a conspiracy theory that spread widely after the deadly Hawaii wildfires, suggesting that the Biden administration didn’t have the resources to help victims of Hurricane Helene because they had sent so much money to Ukraine.
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In addition to denying the request for an extension of FEMA aid in North Carolina, the Trump administration has also reportedly halted the work of a newly-created task force led by N.C. Rep. Chuck Edwards. As head of the task force, Edwards had been tasked with drafting recommendations for reforming FEMA as well as expediting recovery efforts for Hurricane Helene. He was scheduled to deliver his initial recommendations at a press conference this past Tuesday. But last week, amidst the administration’s unprecedented efforts to dismantle the federal government, Edwards abruptly canceled the upcoming press conference after the administration told him to hit the brakes on the project.
This, apparently, is the ‘thank you’ that North Carolina gets for voting for Trump in not one, not two, but three presidential election contests. During the most recent election, some western North Carolina residents even said that they were supporting Trump specifically because they believed he wouldn’t leave them behind and would make sure they have the support they need to rebuild after the disaster.
“[T]he one person that came down, stuck his feet in the river, helped pull somebody out, was giving donations out, was Trump,” said one voter living in the disaster-stricken region of the state.
That’s a nice thought. There’s one problem, though — at that point, Trump hadn’t even set foot in the area. The scene she’s referring to — of Trump wading through floodwater to hand out supplies — was from an AI-generated image. The whole thing was fake — just like Trump’s supposed support for the storm-ravaged region.
After becoming President, Trump did make a visit to western North Carolina, where he promised residents, “You aren’t forgotten any longer.”
Unsurprisingly, he didn’t keep that promise, either.