Several times during his presidency, Trump refused to release federal disaster relief funds, until he was shown those areas had voted for him.
That’s according to former Trump advisers, “if Trump wins the White House again, he will view disasters through a political lens that values personal loyalty,” Politico reported on October 3, 2024 (see story here).
Trump also accused the Biden administration of “going out of their way to not help people in Republican areas” in the wake of Hurricane Helene. But two Republican governors in devastated states called that a lie.
Natural disasters are non-partisan; they harm Republicans and Democrats alike. No previous president has conditioned disaster response on partisan loyalty, nor should anyone who does be president. Biden himself said, “You can’t only help those in need if they voted for you. It’s the most basic part of being president.”
Meanwhile, in Florida, GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis snubbed President Biden, who is in that state to keep tabs on relief efforts (story here; photo below).
Americans are sick of hyper-partisanship, and just want things to work as they’re supposed to. This is an election year, and they have an opportunity to vote for cooperation and positive good, instead of obstruction and negative demonizing.
