The enormous devastation of Hurricane Helene becomes a political flashpoint
A search and rescue team out of Atlantic Beach
By Betsy Klein, CNN
Washington (CNN) — The enormous scope and scale of Hurricane Helene’s devastation in two key battleground states that could determine the election’s outcome, Georgia and North Carolina, have made the storm an instant campaign issue.
The Biden-Harris administration is dealing with what is expected to be a massive – and lengthy – federal response, while former President Donald Trump is also seeking to gain a political advantage, jabbing at the administration by falsely claiming that Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp couldn’t reach President Joe Biden.
It amounted to a remarkable political flashpoint in the Oval Office Monday as Biden sharply rebutted Trump’s earlier assertion, underscoring both men’s recognition of the high stakes.
“The governor’s doing a very good job. He’s having a hard time getting the president on the phone, I guess they’re not being responsive,” Trump had said of Kemp during a trip to Valdosta, Georgia, earlier in the day.
But Kemp and Biden spoke Sunday, with the GOP governor saying in a news conference that Biden “offered that if there’s other things we need, just to call him directly, which – I appreciate that.”
Biden slammed Trump’s unsubstantiated assertion during a briefing in the Oval Office Monday, telling reporters, “He’s lying, and the governor told him he was lying.”
He added, “I don’t care about what he says about me – I care what he what he communicates to people that are in need. He implies that we’re not doing everything possible. We are. We are.”
Trump also told reporters that he spoke with Elon Musk to get Starlink communications access in North Carolina. But the Federal Emergency Management Agency had already announced that 40 Starlink satellite systems were in place, with an additional 140 on the way. Musk’s Starlink is a government contractor, and Musk is a stalwart supporter of Trump. The former president has suggested Musk, who has a history of antisemitic and incendiary rhetoric, would lead a federal government efficiency commission if he is elected.
Biden’s promises
Biden and Harris, meanwhile, and have sought to mobilize a robust effort publicly and behind the scenes – though the reality of federal storm response is often a very long tail of assistance needed.
About 3,600 federal personnel are currently deployed, and Biden has approved major disaster declarations for Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Florida. State and local officials from both parties have so far praised the Biden administration’s response.
Both the president and vice president were working the phones over the weekend, Harris balancing those briefings and calls with a pair of California fundraisers hauling in $55 million and a Las Vegas rally Sunday. She cut the Nevada swing short, returning to Washington Monday for a briefing at FEMA headquarters, and plans to visit affected areas when possible.
Biden is set to travel to North Carolina on Wednesday, receiving a briefing at the state’s emergency operations center in Raleigh before receiving an aerial tour of the devastation over the western part of the state, where the roads are unable to accommodate a presidential motorcade.
Biden said his team has been in “constant contact” with state and local officials.
“I’ve directed my team to provide every – every – available resource as fast as possible to your communities, to rescue, recover and to begin rebuilding,” he said, pointing to efforts from FEMA, the Federal Communications Commission, the National Guard, the Army Corps of Engineers, and the Department of Defense.
Biden continued: “I’m here to tell every single survivor in these impacted areas that we will be there with you as long as it takes.”
Trump’s response
Trump, as a former president, is keenly aware of how Biden and Harris will be judged on how the federal government’s responds to the hurricane.
Over the weekend, Trump held campaign events in Michigan and Wisconsin, but lambasted both Biden and Harris for being away from the White House as those in the storm’s path braced for impact – Harris fundraising on the West Coast, Biden at his Delaware beach house.
Then on Monday, Trump was the first of the three to traveled to the storm-hit area. In Valdosta, he said, he came bearing truckloads of relief aid and gasoline. But the trip also required a significant law enforcement and emergency personnel footprint.
The former president’s campaign later launched an official Go Fund Me “as an official response for MAGA supporters to offer their financial assistance to their fellow Americans impacted by Hurricane Helene.”
In addition to posts about the Georgia visit on social media in the last 24 hours, Trump has promoted a cryptocurrency and has attacked Harris and Biden for “(leaving) Americans to drown in North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, and elsewhere in the South.”
As he continues to bring the storm to the forefront of the political conversation, Trump risks reminding voters of his own response to major disasters while in office.
“I would say to Donald Trump and his campaign, be really careful – they’re not usually careful – about politicizing this,” said Republican strategist Doug Heye.
The-CNN-Wire
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