There’s projection and then there’s projection…
Recall that Trump had an ongoing feud with Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, when he was in office. And his administration denied North Carolina what it needed to recover from Hurricane Matthew:
Governor Cooper today expressed his disappointment in the Trump Administration and Congressional leadership after they failed to fulfill North Carolina’s funding request for Hurricane Matthew recovery. In a letter, Cooper urged for more robust aid, especially in the form of housing block grants from HUD, in the upcoming budget process. That letter can be read here.
Last month, Cooper worked with Senator Thom Tillis and Representatives David Price and David Rouzer on compiling an unmet needs request to Congress. This week, state officials learned that of the more than $900 million requested, North Carolina will receive just $6.1 million, less than 1% of the resources needed to help communities and families fix homes, repair businesses and recover from the historic flooding. In today’s letter, Governor Cooper reiterated the critical and immediate need for support and urged the President to visit affected communities to better understand the challenges that remain.
By the way, as the storm was bearing down last week and everyone knew it was going to be big, most Republicans, at the direction of this monster, voted to shut down the government. But then they like to do that:
North Carolina Governor, Roy Cooper, is urging President Donald Trump to end the partial federal government shutdown.
The letter, which Cooper tweeted out Wednesday afternoon states the shutdown should end so North Carolina can continue to rebuild from hurricane flood waters and prevent future damage.
Cooper also said while we continue short-term recovery help with FEMA’s help, our critical long-term work to rebuild stronger and smarter is delayed with every day that federal funds are held in Washington.
President Donald Trump hastened to Capitol Hill Wednesday trying to hold jittery congressional Republicans in line on the 19th day of the partial government shutdown. He suggested a deal for his border wall might be getting closer, but he also said the shutdown will last “whatever it takes.”
And you will certainly recall that just a week ago Trump said this:
09/13/2024 04:25 PM EDT
RANCHO PALOS VERDES, California — Former President Donald Trump on Friday threatened to withhold federal disaster response funding from California over Gov. Gavin Newsom’s position on water deliveries to farmers.
Speaking to reporters from a golf course in Rancho Palos Verdes on Friday, Trump said he would strong-arm California’s governor into agreeing to send more water from California’s lush north to farm fields in its drier south.
“Gavin Newscum [Newsom] is going to sign those papers,” Trump said, seemingly referencing a 2020 federal decision to increase water deliveries by weakening endangered species rules that Newsom sued over. “If he doesn’t sign those papers, we won’t give him money to put out all his fires, and if we don’t give him the money to put out his fires, he’s got problems.”
Newsom snapped back within minutes of Trump’s remarks, saying in an X post the former president “admitted he will block emergency disaster funds to settle political vendettas.”
“Today it’s California’s wildfires. Tomorrow it could be hurricane funding for North Carolina or flooding assistance for homeowners in Pennsylvania,” Newsom wrote, referencing two swing states where Kamala Harris and Trump are neck-and-neck in polls ahead of November.
If there is anyone who threatens to withhold disaster aid for political purposes it’s Trump. He did it from the beginning of his term when he made an absolute idiot of himself over Hurricane Maria. Now he’s putting on a show in Georgia and will shortly be blaming Kamala Harris for Hurricane Helene and it appears that the media is prepared to help him by suggesting that she should have been down in North Carolina over the weekend rescuing people in a rubber dinghy or something.
Get ready. They’re going to try to make this into Harris’s Katrina.
Let’s hope the press gets a hold of itself before they can succeed. I’m not sanguine. They just covered Trump’s circus in Valdosta, Georgia as if it was a presidential visit.