A poorly handled hurricane can cripple a politician. Just ask George W. Bush.
As Americans in the Southeast continue to wade through the wreckage from Hurricane Helene, and Floridians brace for a potentially catastrophic Hurricane Milton, voters' perceptions of the federal government's disaster response have not yet solidified. But Republicans are doing their best to ensure that Kamala Harris, who as vice president has a limited role in disaster response, pays the political price for any failures on the part of the Biden administration.
Amid the fog of war, it's tough to tell how many of the attacks will stick come Election Day, by which point a narrative will have crystallized in the minds of Americans about whether the Biden-Harris administration handled both hurricane aftermaths with deftness and speed.
Republicans have been amplifying concerns from Americans on the ground that the response by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has been inadequate and at times even harmful to recovery efforts led by local authorities and nonprofits. Some of those attacks on FEMA have been misleading, such as Trump's claim that Americans whose homes were washed away in the flooding will receive only $750 in FEMA aid. (Those $750 payments come from the Serious Needs Assistance program, which is designed to provide for immediate needs such as food, separate from other forms of long-term relief intended to compensate Americans who lose their homes in storms.)
The White House and even some local Republicans, meanwhile, have responded by calling out online right-wingers for . . .
Megyn Kelly -> Pete Hegseth responds to 2017 rape accusation. 🔥 vol. 3, issue 13 | December 6, 2024 Quick Hits All the news you need in...
No comments: