Wildfires tore through eastern Washington, a heavily-Republican area, in the fall of 2020.
Gov. Jay Inslee, a Democrat, requested $37 million of FEMA disaster funds for those communities. Trump blocked it, because Inslee had criticized his handling of the Covid-19 crisis.
Washington eventually got the money, but only after Biden took office. Trump’s interference is “documented by internal emails, letters, federal records and interviews” (read story here). Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) said, “Never in my lifetime have I seen a President withhold disaster aid over politics until Trump came into office.”
Trump also blocked federal disaster relief to California, whose Gov. Gavin Newsom, also a Democrat, told Politico that Trump “withheld disaster aid to California ‘on multiple occasions’ over political differences.” As in Washington, the California areas devastated by wildfires were mostly rural and Republican.
Some might be tempted to say those Republican voters in Washington and California got what they voted for, but both states went for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election (and for Biden in the 2020 election). Trump fans might blame the Democratic governors for picking fights with Trump, but that’s disingenuous. Federal disaster money comes from taxpayers, and is appropriated by Congress; it’s not a plaything for Trump.
As Sen. Murray pointed out, Trump is unique at ignoring civilized norms of political behavior. His leadership style is a cross between Putinism and Mafia godfather. It’s ridiculous that he might get elected again.
Photo below: Malden, Washington, in the state’s southeast corner, was at the epicenter of the 2020 wildfires, which destroyed 80% of the town; here, a local resident surveys the damage
