This story was originally published here.guardianHereclimate deskcollaboration.
Donald Trump intentionally As president, he withheld disaster aid to states he considered politically hostile to him and would do so again without hindrance when he returns to the White House, several former Trump administration officials have warned.
As Hurricane Helen and Hurricane Milton devastated the southeastern United States over the past two weeks, Trump sought to fault Joe Biden’s administration for its cautious response to the disasters, even suggesting this was intentional due to the number of Republican voters affected. By storm.
But former Trump administration officials say that while the former president was in office, he first refused to provide federal disaster relief for the 2018 California wildfires, withheld aid for wildfires in Washington state in 2020 and severely limited emergency aid to Puerto Rico due to the outbreak. He said he did. That’s because he felt these places didn’t support him enough during the devastating Hurricane Maria in 2017.
“Trump did not want to provide aid to California or Puerto Rico purely for partisan politics. Because they didn’t vote for him.”
First reported revelation E&E NewsIt has raised major doubts about what Trump’s response to the disaster will be if he wins next month’s election. The former president has already been criticized for his role in spreading misinformation about Helen and Milton, slowing the disaster response and even issuing online death threats against Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) employees and meteorologists.
“Trump did not want to provide aid to California or Puerto Rico purely for partisan politics,” said Kevin Carroll, who served as senior adviser to Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly during Trump’s term. Carroll said Kelly, who later became the president’s chief of staff, had to twist Trump’s arm to get federal funds through FEMA to be funneled into these hard-hit areas.
“It was clear that Trump was completely selfish and vengeful against people he thought didn’t vote for him,” Carroll said. guardian. “He even wanted to get the Navy out of Hawaii because the Navy didn’t vote for him. We were amazed. These were American civilians whom the government needed to support. The idea of withholding support is antithetical to everything we want in a leader.”
Trump’s efforts to balk at aid to California only succeeded after providing the then-president with voting data showing a large number of Republican voters in Orange County, a county hit hard by wildfires, said Olivia Troye, a member of the Department of Homeland Security. Trump White House advisor.
“He saw everything through a political lens, so we had to figure out how to get him to agree to that,” Troy said. guardian. “There were times when disaster declarations would sit on his desk for days, and he was always getting calls about how to speed things up, and sometimes he had to ask (Vice President) Mike Pence for his opinion.
“It was shocking and appalling to us to see the President of the United States behave in this way. Basically, if it doesn’t work for him, he’s not interested. We saw this in the coronavirus pandemic as well. When it was red states versus blue states, it’s still evident in his attitude now that he’s politicizing disaster response. “It is dangerous and reckless.”
“Most humans would feel guilty punishing people whose homes are in ash or whose water is less than eight feet deep. Honestly, it’s a window into the darkness of his soul.”
Troye said one of the most “serious” delays occurred after Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico, causing widespread damage and killing nearly 3,000 people. After the disaster, Trump called San Juan’s mayor “crazy and incompetent,” claimed the death toll was inflated “to make me look as bad as possible,” and cut off billions of dollars in federal aid to the island.
After all, FEMA handled the cleanup of the wreckage in Puerto Rico, and Trump visited the U.S. territory to throw paper towels at hurricane survivors. But not all of the island’s recovery costs were paid by the federal government, and an independent investigator’s general report found that FEMA mismanaged the distribution of aid to Maria.
This comes just months before President Trump agreed to pay 100% of Florida’s costs after Hurricane Michael struck the state. “They love me in the Panhandle,” Trump said, according to an autobiography written by Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. “I would have gotten 90% of the votes there. Huge crowd. What do they need?”
Officials around Trump have been able to persuade him to soften somewhat in these cases, but the former president has taken a firm stance in refusing to provide disaster relief to Washington after 2020 wildfires devastated the eastern part of the state and caused significant destruction in the communities of Malden and Pine City. I stuck to it. .
For months, Trump rejected requests for federal aid from Washington because he disliked Jay Inslee, the Democratic governor and prominent critic, according to an aide to Republican Rep. Cathy McMorris Rogers, whose district has been scorched by wildfires.
McMorris Rodgers wrote a letter to Trump to take his side in the dispute with Inslee and implored the president to release the funds. McMorris Rodgers wrote: “Despite our governor’s vicious personal vendetta against your administration, the people of my district need support. “We implore you to move forward to provide support to those affected by the devastating wildfires in our region,” he wrote.
But Trump did not agree to offer help, which was provided only after Joe Biden took office. “President Trump consciously and maliciously withheld support from angry young people because our state shamelessly questioned his policies,” Inslee said. guardian.
“What’s really surprising is that Trump revels in the authoritarian instinct of refusing to help people. Most humans would feel guilty punishing people whose homes are in ash or in less than eight feet of water. Honestly, it’s a window into the darkness of his soul. We saw once again in North Carolina that he would use natural disasters for his own ends and fragile ego. He is a clear and present danger.”
Carroll and Troy, former Trump administration officials, predicted that there would be fewer restrictions on withholding disaster relief funds if Trump remained in the White House. Several Trump allies, including those who wrote the Project 2025 conservative manifesto, have called on the Republican candidate to root out opponents and install an obedient political machine within the federal government to make his wishes a reality.
“Next time we won’t have the integrity of Mike Pence,” said Troy, who is a Republican but supported Kamala Harris for president. “You’ll have JD Vance who will do whatever Trump wants,” he said. “In these kinds of moments that should be non-partisan, it’s concerning to think of a future Trump administration with only loyal people around him.
“I hope voters will pay close attention to the contrast between the responsible leadership of Biden and Harris and the dangerous attitude of Donald Trump.”
Last month, Trump signaled that his deal on disaster relief would not change if he became president again, and that he would cut aid to California unless Gov. Gavin Newsom agreed to provide more water to farmers. He warned that it would be. “Gavin newscom “I’m going to sign that document,” Trump said at his California golf course. “If he doesn’t sign that paper, we won’t give him the money to put out all the lights. And if we don’t give him the money to put out the lights, he’s going to be in trouble.”
Karoline Leavitt, the Trump campaign’s national press secretary, declined to answer questions about the claims made by Carroll and Troye, instead citing unsubstantiated claims that Trump’s efforts to improve forest fire management and that FEMA diverted disaster relief funds to migrants. The claim has been repeatedly stated. .
“President Trump has been to Georgia twice a week to tour the damage from Hurricane Helen and encouraged his supporters to donate more than $6 million to relief efforts on the ground,” she said, followed by “Kamala Harris in Georgia. A billion dollars was stolen. FEMA pays for housing illegal immigrants and now struggling American citizens are left with nothing. “While President Trump is leading this tragic moment, Kamala has once again left the American people behind.”
