Donald Trump is utilizing the destruction of Hurricane Helene to spice up his presidential bid in opposition to Kamala Harris, political analysts stated Tuesday, after the Republican candidate unfold falsehoods concerning the federal response throughout a go to to a metropolis affected by the storm.
Trump is exploiting the hurricane’s potential political hazard within the presidential marketing campaign of Democrat Harris, his White Home rival in 2024, analysts stated.
Trump visited the town of Valdosta within the battleground state of Georgia on Monday and falsely claimed that Democratic President Joe Biden had failed to reply to the hurricane’s destruction. Harris can also be Biden’s vice chairman.
Trump stated he introduced “truckloads of stuff” to Georgia, together with oil, water and gear, and that he partnered with evangelical Christian chief Franklin Graham’s help group to ship them.
Pure disasters have broken US administrations prior to now and Trump is making an attempt to hyperlink Harris to this hurricane, which devastated the southeastern United States, together with the states of Georgia and North Carolina, stated Andrew Reeves, a professor on the College of Washington in St. Louis, who has studied how pure disasters have an effect on American politics.
“If there’s an enormous mistake within the reply, it might come again to hang-out you,” Reeves stated. “Trump is making an attempt to sound presidential and create a media story round his consideration to the disaster.”
Georgia and North Carolina will play a key function within the final result of the November 5 election between Trump and Harris. The toughest-hit space of North Carolina, Buncombe County, voted for Biden in 2020, whereas most different counties within the western a part of the state voted for Trump.
Lowndes County in Georgia, the place Valdosta is situated, voted for Trump in 2020. However even just a few thousand votes in every state might resolve which presidential candidate wins these states and doubtlessly decide the result of the race for the White Home.
In line with the White Home, greater than 3,500 federal staff are taking part in response efforts in affected states.
Analysts stated it was uncommon for a presidential candidate who is just not in workplace to go to a catastrophe zone.
Pure disasters, particularly hurricanes, have formed American politics lately and will alter the course of the race this yr as nicely, stated Stuart Rothenberg, a nonpartisan political analyst.
“It offers Donald Trump the chance to return to the rescue because the savior,” he stated.
This isn’t the primary time Trump has tried to make use of a catastrophe for political acquire. Whereas visiting the positioning of a poisonous practice derailment in Ohio in 2023, Trump criticized the Biden administration’s response as a “betrayal.”
Presidents and presidential candidates usually don’t go to a storm-affected area instantly for concern of distracting from rescue efforts and straining the assets of native legislation enforcement officers and emergency companies.
Biden stated he would go to North Carolina on Wednesday and Georgia and Florida quickly after. He might additionally ask Congress to return to Washington for a particular session to approve supplemental reduction funds.
Harris plans a go to to Augusta, Georgia, on Wednesday and a visit to North Carolina within the coming days, the White Home stated.
He spoke to native leaders by cellphone and reduce quick a West Coast marketing campaign tour to take part in a rapidly organized briefing on the Federal Emergency Administration Company headquarters on Monday. There, he grimaced and shook his head when a journalist requested him if the disaster was being politicized.
Harris’ marketing campaign didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark Tuesday.
“Whereas Biden and Harris abandon Individuals in occasions of disaster, President Trump leads.”
Trump spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt stated in a press release.
The storm killed greater than 100 individuals in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee and Virginia, and the demise toll is predicted to rise.
Survivors might be eligible for federal catastrophe help, however Trump additionally licensed a GoFundMe fundraising marketing campaign “as an official response to MAGA supporters.” The marketing campaign has raised greater than $2 million thus far. “MAGA” refers to Trump’s marketing campaign slogan “Make America Nice Once more.”
Leavitt declined to say how the funds might be spent.
In 2019, a New York state decide ordered Trump to pay $2 million for misusing the charitable basis that bears his identify, leading to funds getting used to advance his 2016 presidential marketing campaign. Trump defended the charity on the time, saying the inspiration was an “extremely efficient philanthropy” that had dedicated “some small technical violations.”
In Georgia, Trump falsely claimed that Brian Kemp, Georgia’s Republican governor, “was having a troublesome time” talking to Biden on the cellphone. Kemp instructed reporters that Biden had known as him the night time earlier than and stated he was grateful for the federal help he had supplied.
Biden stated Trump had been mendacity.
Reeves’ analysis has discovered that sitting presidents obtained a modest half-percentage level elevate after they permitted catastrophe help near their re-election.
Throughout Trump’s go to to San Juan, Puerto Rico in 2017, after Hurricane Maria, the then-president tossed rolls of paper towels to a crowd of native residents affected by the storm. The transfer drew criticism from some native officers.
Whereas campaigning for reelection in 2012, President Barack Obama joined Republican Gov. Chris Christie to tour components of New Jersey affected by Superstorm Sandy. Christie was on the time a number one supporter of Obama’s Republican rival, Mitt Romney.
Republican President George W. Bush’s approval scores fell after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005 and by no means recovered.
Republican pollster Whit Ayres stated disasters might be defining occasions for officers, however not essentially for candidates. “The candidates haven’t any duty within the administration of main disasters,” he stated.
