The Politics of Hurricanes
and Trump's weird inability to see a sales opportunity
When former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie was vying for the 2024 GOP presidential nod, he was attacked by fellow Republicans for one thing.
He acknowledged and thanked President Barack Obama for the FEMA response to Hurricane Sandy.1 Apparently, acknowledging effective government assistance during a weather catastrophe is a political “no-no”. The rules for Republicans in 2012 were to credit Obama for nothing and Christie violated it.2
The point of the above is that the Republican tone was in place well before Trumpism ravaged the brains of the Political Right.
The “tone” was a mentality best expressed by President Reagan who said “I've always felt the nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the Government, and I'm here to help.”3
Unfortunately, the fip side of that tone is this bit of realism: crises are political opportunities.
Whether it’s a hurricane, a mine disaster, a wildfire, or a pandemic, it’s a moment to showcase calm steady leadership and adminstrative competence. And it’s pretty hard to fail at it.
Hurricane Katrina is Exhibit 1. A muddled evacuation effort in 2005 and real internal leadership issues at FEMA with Mike Brown as its head and President George W Bush walked away from Katrina largely unscathed.4
The real reason “W” wasn’t being ripped…the governor of Louisiania was a Democrat. Nothing like a partisan punching bag to escape criticism for a lackluster federal effort.
Donald Trump, who has never been one to see a moment to shine without concomitantly patting himself on the back, turned hurricane season into political revenge and retribution season.
Harvey, Irma, and Maria in 2017, Michael in 2018, Dorian in 2019, and Laura and Marco in 2020 are all testimonials to Donald Trump’s inability to help anyone who isn’t on bended knee thanking him profusely. And the tightness of his 2016 win in the Tarheel State in North Carolina led him to do this:
From American Progress twittterfeed5
Out of office Donald has so undermined the federal response that Republicans, even MAGA Republicans, are calling him out.
Hurricane Helene was a ”Trump is lying fest” for the GOP
Former Governor John Kasich (R-OH).
https://twitter.com/i/status/1843351171882197439
Governor Bill Lee (R-TN)
https://twitter.com/i/status/1842417466560876636
Governor Henry McMaster (R-SC)
https://twitter.com/i/status/1843321568447094952
Governor Brian Kemp (R-GA)
https://twitter.com/i/status/1840880357773586558
Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL)
https://twitter.com/i/status/1843393098346573964
Governor Glen Youngkin (R-VA)
https://twitter.com/i/status/1841107722319560724
Hurricane Milton wasn’t much different, but by then, Trump’s messaging was already being roundly debunked
https://twitter.com/i/status/1844379870304010686
What’s made all this worse is the fact that politicizing disaster relief was Trump’s SOP while in office. So much so, he’s now being outted for hit by former staffers.
Another day…another predictable “blowback” moment for Donald Trump.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effects_of_Hurricane_Sandy_in_Ne_Jersey
In fairness, Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL) was also vilified for thanking Biden for help with Hurricane Ian in 2022, but Donald Trump, who wasn’t participating in GOP presidential debates, was mercilessly attacking DeSantis for a lot of other stuff.
https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/archives/speech/presidents-news-conference-23
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_the_government_response_to_Hurricane_Katrina
No one is perfect — Hurricane Matthew was in 2016 but NC needed federal funds to deal with it in 2017.