The Daily Populous Monday October 7th, 2024 day edition
Authored by independent.co.uk and submitted by stark247

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Donald Trump is now facing condemnation from the editorial board of North Carolina’s second-largest newspaper as he continues to take criticism for politicizing the response to Hurricane Helene across the US southeast.

Trump was in Georgia last week to survey hurricane damage alongside the state’s governor, Brian Kemp — a one-time foe who has returned to the Trumpworld fold, like many Republicans, seeking political cover.

On Monday, he attacked Vice President Kamala Harris and the Biden administration in a Truth Social post for supposedly “going out of their way to not help people in Republican areas”, a false charge. A Republican lawmaker representing three counties in hard-hit western North Carolina — which is largely rural, and politically trends conservative — has called it a “junk” conspiracy.

He’d go further in an interview with Kellyanne Conway, one of his most ardent truth-twisters on cable TV before she was largely exiled from the networks, accusing Harris of trying to “hurt” western North Carolina residents.

On Saturday, Trump’s claims provoked a response from one of the state’s most widely-read newspapers, the Charlotte Observer. The Observer’s editorial board slammed the ex-president for his lies about the federal response to Helene, which is believed to have killed more than 100 across the state.

Donald Trump was in Georgia last weekto survey damage from Hurricane Helene and attack his opponent with false claims about the federal response. ( Getty Images )

“This is not a situation to capitalize on for political gain. But former President Donald Trump has politicized the situation at every turn, spreading falsehoods and conspiracies that fracture the community instead of bringing it together,” read the newspaper’s editorial.

“There’s no evidence to support any of those ridiculous claims. And by every indication, state and federal agencies have been working to help people in need,” it continued.

Adding that the hurricane-ravaged areas of the state were not a “political football” for the Trump campaign, the Observer also swiped at the state’s Trump-endorsed lieutenant governor, Mark Robinson, for spreading the conspiracies. Robinson’s reasoning for doing so is clear: he’s at the center of the complete implosion of his campaign over a shocking CNN investigation which found that a screen name and email address linked to the sitting lieutenant governor was linked to a wide array of disgusting and vile comments on a porn site.

Harris herself was in the state on Saturday and visited Asheville — a city hit by substantial flooding during the storm.

“We're here for the long haul,” she told a volunteer leader.

Robinson also received special mention in the piece for his failure to show up for a key vote to declare a state of emergency, part of his role as lieutenant governor, while he continued to campaign for the governorship. The vote still passed without his participation.

Hundreds are believed dead after Helene caused massive flooding and triggered landslides that wiped out bridges and homes. It’s now the second-deadliest hurricane to strike the US in more than a half-century.

Federal aid approved for Helene survivors has already passed $45m, and that number may continue to rise. FEMA’s website indicates that the disaster relief agency has already distributed more than 1.5m meals and more than 12.6m liters of drinking water as part of aid efforts. President Joe Biden further announced the deployment of 500 National Guard members equipped with “advanced technological assets” to western North Carolina.

Today, I ordered another 500 active-duty troops with advanced technological assets to move into Western North Carolina and assist with the response and recovery efforts. 1,500 troops will now support thousands of National Guardsman and federal personnel on the ground.

My… pic.twitter.com/LBshva6C4o — President Biden (@POTUS) October 6, 2024

The agency has even been forced to put out a separate webpage to counter misinformation and conspiracies surrounding Hurricane Helene relief, including charges from right-wing social media accounts claiming that aid is being distributed on the basis of ethnicity.

Thom Tillis, the state’s senior member in the US Senate, addressed the ex-president’s fake claims on Sunday.

"We can have a discussion about the failure of this administration's border policies and the billions of dollars it's costing, but right now — not yet — is it affecting the flow of resources to western North Carolina,” he told CBS’s Face the Nation.

ExtremexDreams on October 7th, 2024 at 01:37 UTC »

People need to wake up.

Mayorkas' comments led some Republicans to accuse the Biden administration of diverting funds intended for disaster relief, which a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told Newsweek was "completely false."

President Joe Biden said Monday he may call Congress back into session during a break to pass emergency supplemental funding, as some lawmakers from states hit by Helene have urged.

The list — only Republicans voted “no”:

House

Rep. James Baird of Indiana\ Rep. Troy Balderson of Ohio\ Rep. Jim Banks of Indiana\ Rep. Aaron Bean of Florida\ Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona\ Rep. Gus Bilirakis of Florida\ Rep. Dan Bishop of North Carolina\ Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado\ Rep. Mike Bost of Illinois\ Rep. Josh Brecheen of Oklahoma\ Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee\ Rep. Eric Burlison of Missouri\ Rep. Kat Cammack of Florida\ Rep. Michael Cloud of Texas\ Rep. Andrew Clyde of Georgia\ Rep. Mike Collins of Georgia\ Rep. Eli Crane of Arizona\ Rep. John Curtis of Utah\ Rep. Warren Davidson of Ohio\ Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida\ Rep. Jeff Duncan of South Carolina\ Rep. Ron Estes of Kansas\ Rep. Mike Ezell of Mississippi\ Rep. Randy Feenstra of Iowa\ Rep. Brad Finstad of Minnesota\ Rep. Michelle Fischbach of Minnesota\ Rep. Russell Fry of South Carolina\ Rep. Russ Fulcher of Idaho\ Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida\ Rep. Tony Gonzales of Texas\ Rep. Bob Good of Virginia\ Rep. Lance Gooden of Texas\ Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona\ Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia\ Rep. Morgan Griffith of Virginia\ Rep. Michael Guest of Mississippi\ Rep. Harriet Hageman of Wyoming\ Rep. Andy Harris of Maryland\ Rep. Clay Higgins of Louisiana\ Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio\ Rep. John Joyce of Pennsylvania\ Rep. Trent Kelly of Mississippi\ Rep. Darin LaHood of Illinois\ Rep. Laurel Lee of Florida\ Rep. Debbie Lesko of Arizona\ Rep. Greg Lopez of Colorado\ Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida\ Rep. Morgan Lutrell of Texas\ Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina\ Rep. Tracey Mann of Kansas\ Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky\ Rep. Tom McClintock of California\ Rep. Rich McCormick of Georgia\ Rep. Mary Miller of Illinois\ Rep. Max Miller of Ohio\ Rep. Cory Mills of Florida\ Rep. Alex Mooney of West Virginia\ Rep. Barry Moore of Alabama\ Rep. Nathaniel Moran of Texas\ Rep. Ralph Norman of South Carolina\ Rep. Andy Ogles of Tennessee\ Rep. Gary Palmer of Alabama\ Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania\ Rep. Bill Posey of Florida\ Rep. John Rose of Tennessee\ Rep. Matt Rosendale of Montana\ Rep. Chip Roy of Texas\ Rep. David Schweikert of Arizona\ Rep. Keith Self of Texas\ Rep. Victoria Spartz of Indiana\ Rep. Claudia Tenney of New York\ Rep. William Timmons of South Carolina\ Rep. Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey\ Rep. Beth Van Duyne of Texas\ Rep. Derrick Van Orden of Wisconsin\ Rep. Mike Waltz of Florida\ Rep. Randy Weber of Texas\ Rep. Daniel Webster of Florida\ Rep. Bruce Westerman of Arkansas\ Rep. Roger Williams of Texas\ Rep. Rudy Yakym of Indiana\

Senate

Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee\ Sen. Mike Braun of Indiana\ Sen. Katie Britt of Alabama\ Sen. Ted Budd of North Carolina\ Sen. Mike Crapo of Idaho\ Sen. Deb Fischer of Nebraska\ Sen. Bill Hagerty of Tennessee\ Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri\ Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin\ Sen. Mike Lee of Utah\ Sen. Roger Marshall of Kansas\ Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma\ Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky\ Sen. Pete Ricketts of Nebraska\ Sen. James Risch of Idaho\ Sen. Eric Schmitt of Missouri\ Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina\ Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama\

Members of Congress representing states impacted by the hurricane actually voted against disaster relief funds for their constituents. That’s the True headline here.

GratefuLdPhisH on October 7th, 2024 at 01:09 UTC »

Politicizing a natural disaster shows that he will stoop to anything to try to win

gentleman_bronco on October 7th, 2024 at 01:08 UTC »

"you said you weren't going to fact check" -gop