Ever since the landfall of Hurricane Helene, a bizarre theory has emerged on social media from both conservative Trump supporters and even some leftist opponents of the Biden-Harris Administration: That the government is somehow “doing nothing” to help those affected by the hurricane and also that the media is “ignoring” the after-effects of the storm.
Other permutations say that the government has plenty of money for Ukraine and Israel, but not so much for its citizens. Some have found even wackier conspiracies.
None of those theories are true.
The media has covered the hurricane constantly, while the government has passed federal emergency declarations. The president plans to visit North Carolina, possibly later this week.
If I go to https://t.co/SwNXUky53B right now, one of the front page stories is about hurricane Helene and the disaster in North Carolina. Anyone still saying that the media is ignoring this isn’t being honest. pic.twitter.com/jXWsvW5qXZ
— Dersch (@danieldersch) September 30, 2024
Stay up-to-date with the latest news!
Subscribe and start recieving our daily emails.
Donald Trump visited Valdosta, Ga., one area affected by the hurricane, where he has held rallies in the past. And ahead of the visit, the former president pushed some other conspiratorial nonsense on Truth Social.
“Don’t like the reports that I’m getting about the Federal Government, and the Democrat Governor of the State, going out of their way to not help people in Republican areas,” Trump wrote in the message.
It’s not clear what those “reports” are, but they don’t appear to be true.
As pointed out by The New Republic, “much of North Carolina votes Republican, so it would be near impossible for any relief efforts to occur that would neglect conservatives.”
Once the former president reached Georgia, he had another howler: “Nobody thought this would be happening, especially now it’s so late in the season for hurricanes.”
Trump: Nobody thought this would be happening, especially now it’s so late in the season for hurricanes pic.twitter.com/tnLCkwKSXM
— Acyn (@Acyn) September 30, 2024
Major hurricanes in late September are far from rare. Even Superstorm Sandy, which did major damage on the East Coast in 2012, hit in late October, just days before that year’s presidential election. And as multiple people pointed out, Trump has long owned ocean front property, so he should be familiar with how hurricane season works.
Ever since Hurricane Katrina in 2005, in which the flatfooted response by the Bush Administration was a major disaster, presidents have likely been haunted by that example, and sure to respond in a better way to natural disasters. There’s no indication, in this case, that the Biden-Harris Administration has done nothing, or that they have distributed resources in an unfair way.
Photo courtesy of Political Tribune media library.
