As President Joe Biden stood before the nation, delivering a grave warning about Hurricane Milton, he urged Floridians to pay heed to local officials and prepare for what he termed “the storm of the century.” The atmosphere was tense, and just before concluding his address, Biden made a pointed remark directed at Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee. “In recent weeks, there’s been a reckless, irresponsible, relentless promotion of disinformation and outright lies that are disturbing people,” Biden asserted from the White House, blaming Trump for leading an “onslaught of lies” about the ongoing storms. “It’s ridiculous, and it’s got to stop.”
This moment was particularly striking given that it unfolded just hours before Milton was expected to make landfall. It underscored the collision of two massive storm systems with the final stages of a highly charged presidential campaign, further amplifying the nation’s already sharp political divides. Millions were poised to cast their votes as the dual crises loomed overhead.
The political climate surrounding this tumultuous presidential race has been anything but ordinary. It has already seen jolts from a felony conviction, assassination attempts, and unexpected candidate switches. Now, the emergence of back-to-back hurricanes has put the nation's political fabric to the test, all while challenging the government’s ability to coordinate a comprehensive response. This situation has proven particularly significant for Vice President Kamala Harris. She is using her truncated campaign to position herself as a steady leader, contrasting sharply with what many perceive as Trump’s erratic governing style.
In recent days, Harris has adjusted her campaign schedule, prioritizing visits to hurricane victims in the wake of Hurricane Helene. She has participated in multiple high-level briefings and held calls with local officials throughout the Southeast. Additionally, she has been vocal in her criticism of Trump, branding him as selfish and “extraordinarily irresponsible” for spreading falsehoods regarding the recovery efforts.
However, some of Harris’s decisions have drawn criticism. Her attendance at lavish fundraisers and political events after Hurricane Helene’s landfall, along with her participation in light-hearted interviews as Hurricane Milton approached Florida, has allowed her opponents to paint the storm recovery efforts as disjointed and lacking urgency.
In the midst of these escalating storms, Trump has not been shy about launching attacks over Hurricane Helene. His rhetoric often embraced falsehoods and conspiracy theories, ensuring that storm politics would play a significant role in the campaign's final stretch. Tevi Troy, a presidential historian, points out that while candidates may seek to gain an advantage in the aftermath of disasters, there’s inherent risk in appearing overly focused on electoral outcomes during what is traditionally an apolitical time.
“If you are seen as the one who’s politicizing it, the negativity will redound upon you in a significant way,” Troy noted. “So there are incentives to ensure the response goes smoothly, but also to avoid the appearance of politicizing the crisis.”
Hurricane Helene made landfall on September 26, wreaking havoc across Florida and Georgia and ultimately devastating large parts of western North Carolina. As the death toll climbed, surpassing 230 and marking it as the deadliest hurricane since Katrina in 2005, both the Trump and Harris campaigns were forced to confront the reality that their responses could shape the final weeks of the presidential race. This was especially true given that both Georgia and North Carolina are pivotal battleground states.
Trump wasted no time seizing the opportunity to criticize the Biden administration, traveling to Georgia just days after Helene’s landfall. He launched into a fierce critique of the White House's disaster response, accusing Harris and Biden of staying away amid the recovery efforts because they didn’t want to interfere. His claim that Biden had ignored the state’s Republican governor, Brian Kemp, triggered a barrage of similar attacks. Additionally, Trump and his allies propagated unfounded assertions that FEMA had diverted funds meant for storm victims to migrants, and that the government was bypassing Republican-leaning areas in favor of foreign aid.
“This has been the worst hurricane response by a president and vice president since Katrina, and this is simply not acceptable,” Trump declared at a rally in Pennsylvania, citing the $750 payments offered to hurricane victims as evidence of a failed response. “They’re offering them $750 to people whose homes have been washed away, and yet we send tens of billions of dollars to foreign countries that most people have never heard of.” It’s crucial to note that the $750 payments were only a fraction of the federal assistance available to victims.
Trump’s invocation of Hurricane Katrina serves as a reminder of the historical intertwining of national campaigns and natural disasters. President George W. Bush's response to Katrina in 2005 drew significant criticism, ultimately aiding Democrats in reclaiming both chambers of Congress the following year. Similarly, the inadequate response to Hurricane Andrew in 1992 contributed to the defeat of Bush’s father, George H.W. Bush, just months later. In contrast, President Barack Obama’s management of Superstorm Sandy in 2012 is widely believed to have bolstered his reelection efforts.
Harris, while taking aim at Trump for spreading misinformation about Hurricane Helene, has reinforced her core message about his self-interest. “It’s about him. It’s not about you,” she stated, underscoring the difference she hopes to highlight throughout her campaign.
The vice president’s team has calculated that demonstrating a competent and compassionate response to the storms would effectively counter Trump’s criticisms. They have pointed to several Republican governors who have publicly commended the administration’s swift actions. Harris, who was initially in California when Hurricane Helene struck, ultimately cut her trip short to return to Washington for a FEMA briefing. However, by the time she arrived, Trump had already been on the ground in Georgia, leading some within his camp to view her delay as a strategic blunder.
As the stakes rose, Harris did manage to visit Georgia and North Carolina, where she engaged with survivors of the storm. While Hurricane Milton approached the Gulf of Mexico, she used a series of interviews to argue that Trump’s handling of the hurricane showcased his lack of empathy and temperament for the presidency. “The last thing that [hurricane victims] deserve is to have a so-called leader make them more afraid than they already are,” she remarked on CNN.
Despite Trump’s numerous false assertions regarding the storm response, FEMA has indeed faced legitimate challenges. Employees have struggled to reach certain victims, particularly in remote areas of North Carolina. The vast geographic impact of the storm, spanning six states, has tested the agency's resources and capabilities.
While some Democrats have seized the storms as an opportunity to spotlight the impacts of climate change, Harris has refrained from addressing this issue. Scientists widely agree that both Helene and Milton's intensity can be attributed to the unusually high water temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico. However, with Harris locked in a closely contested race against Trump in states like Pennsylvania and Michigan—where economies are significantly tied to fossil fuels—she has opted to maintain a low profile on aggressive climate initiatives.
On Wednesday, she released a statement warning against price gouging, a topic her campaign has been pushing against the backdrop of inflation. Furthermore, her campaign has launched an ad featuring former Trump administration officials criticizing him for politicizing past disasters.
As the White House worked to counter misinformation, some Republicans in affected areas stepped up to assist. They fear that conspiracy theories could hinder recovery efforts. Representative Chuck Edwards, a Republican from hard-hit western North Carolina, released a statement debunking several myths regarding the response to Hurricane Helene, including claims propagated by Trump.
“FEMA has NOT diverted disaster response funding to the border or foreign aid,” Edwards asserted, clarifying that the storm was not a product of government engineering. However, he acknowledged that FEMA's response “has had its shortfalls,” and that some critiques of the Biden administration's handling of Helene have been more sophisticated than Trump’s allegations or the hoaxes circulating online.
In an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal, Trump’s running mate, Ohio Senator JD Vance, criticized Biden and Harris for their delayed activation of military resources to assist hard-hit areas in North Carolina post-storm. “Shortly after Helene made landfall in the U.S. on Sept. 26, Joe Biden was at his house in Rehoboth Beach, Del. Vice President Kamala Harris was flying between ritzy California fundraisers, hobnobbing with celebrities,” he wrote, implying that this lack of prioritization had tangible consequences.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) faced questions about disinformation during a press briefing regarding a tweet advising residents against evacuation, which cited supposed FEMA shenanigans. DeSantis dismissed these claims, asserting, “I think most people are wise to this.”
The interactions between DeSantis and Harris also took a contentious turn after reports surfaced that he had declined her call ahead of Hurricane Helene. During a news conference, DeSantis denied this allegation, but suggested Harris was more interested in scoring political points than providing genuine assistance.
In the thick of this political storm, it remains uncertain what electoral impact the hurricanes will ultimately have. Both campaigns have started strategizing how votes in key hurricane-affected states might shift as a result of the storms. Trump’s campaign is actively working to ascertain how many of their likely voters in North Carolina and Georgia have been impacted, a figure some aides believe could reach into the hundreds of thousands.
Hurricane Milton is also affecting Trump’s campaign on a more immediate level. His Palm Beach campaign office is reportedly a “ghost town,” with many staffers evacuating to safer areas as the storm approaches.
The political bickering currently playing out starkly contrasts with the bipartisan camaraderie observed in 2012, when Obama and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (R) shared a moment of unity following Superstorm Sandy's devastation. Mike DuHaime, a GOP consultant who was one of Christie’s top advisers during that crisis, characterized the current infighting as “dangerous” for the candidates involved. “There are a few moments where the public expects you to put your politics aside,
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