For the second consecutive day, President Biden has received briefings on the damage assessment and recovery and relief efforts in the southeastern region hit by the storm, but he is again under political attack from former President Trump.
With nearly 200 people dead from Hurricane Helen, hundreds still missing, millions still without power or water, and damage estimated to be in the billions, President Trump… Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on social media Thursday morning. as incompetent.
“Mr. Kamala and Sleepy Joe have been given poor reviews across the board, especially for their response to the hurricane in North Carolina,” President Trump said in a social media post. “This is going down at the federal level as the worst and most incompetently managed 'storm' we have ever seen.”
Trump, who is in a close race with Harris within the margin of error with less than five weeks until Election Day in November, has spent nearly a week attacking the vice president and his boss over the federal government's response to the powerful storm. Continuing.
Biden and Harris survey damage in hurricane-hit Southeast region following President Trump's visit
Former President Trump visited Valdosta, Georgia, which was devastated by Hurricane Helen, on Monday. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
And of the seven major battleground states that are likely to determine the outcome of the 2024 presidential election, two of the hardest-hit states, North Carolina and Georgia, are included, making the hurricane an important factor in the White House race. He is the most likely candidate.
President Trump accused Biden of “sleeping” at his Delaware beach house over the weekend as storms battered the Southeast.
North Carolina residents fight to survive
Speaking to reporters upon arrival Valdosta, GeorgiaOn Monday, the former president criticized the “federal government's failure to respond” to assess storm damage and deliver relief supplies.
And Trump falsely claimed that Biden had not spoken to Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, a conservative Republican.
Pushing back against political attacks, Biden said he consulted by phone with federal, state and local officials over the weekend and returned to the nation's capital on Sunday afternoon to oversee storm rescue and relief efforts.
“More than 1,000 federal personnel, including search and rescue teams, were on site before the earthquake struck,” the president said Tuesday. “In recent days, I have been in regular contact with governors, mayors, county officials, and all affected communities, including Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, and Virginia. Includes.
Biden stressed that his administration is “sending every resource at our disposal to the affected areas,” and promised, “We will be on the ground until this effort is completed.”
Click here for the latest FOX News report on the Helen mess.
More than half of the storm's deaths were in North Carolina, where fast-flowing waters destroyed entire communities in the state's west.
As the storm's floodwaters receded, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper lamented that “communities have been wiped off the map” in the western part of the state.
President Biden and North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper greeted first responders Wednesday after touring areas affected by Hurricane Helen. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
The president traveled to North Carolina on Wednesday to survey the damage during a helicopter flight over the city of Asheville, one of the hardest-hit areas. Biden also visited a rescue command center in the state before making a stop in neighboring South Carolina.
“My top priority is to ensure that the communities affected by this hurricane receive the aid and assistance they need as soon as possible,” Biden told reporters Tuesday, addressing a Cabinet meeting focused on the federal response. We need to make sure that we can do that,” he said.
Ahead of his visit to the region, the president gave the green light for up to 1,000 active-duty military personnel to assist in relief efforts.
“At times like this, you have to put politics aside, or at least put everything aside. We're here to support Democrats as well,” Biden said at a gathering Wednesday with Democratic and Republican politicians from the region. There are no Republicans, only Americans.” Our job is to help as many people as possible, as quickly and as thoroughly as possible. ”
President Trump on Sunday criticized Harris for attending a “fundraising event with crazy radical left-wing donors” in California over the weekend. And Harris argued that the storm “should go down to the areas” that caused destruction.
On Monday, while in Georgia, President Trump repeatedly said, “Vice President, she's out campaigning somewhere looking for money.”
The White House emphasized that the vice president had been speaking by phone with federal, state and local officials over the weekend.
Harris said Saturday that she and the president “remain committed to ensuring that no community or nation has to respond to this disaster alone.”
on monday, Harris They visited the Federal Emergency Management Agency headquarters in Washington, D.C., and were briefed on rescue and rescue operations.
“We will do everything in our power to support our communities in their response and recovery,” she vowed.
Harris traveled to Georgia on Wednesday to assess the effects of the storm, receive on-the-ground briefings and provide an update on the federal government's response.
“We're here for the long haul,” Harris told Augusta residents. “There is a lot of work to do in the coming days, weeks, and months, but the adjustments we have been dedicated to will win families, win residents, restore neighborhoods, and I’m running.”
Harris had originally planned to travel on a campaign bus through central Pennsylvania, another battleground state, on Wednesday with her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
As the vice president heads to Georgia, Walz headlines a bus tour that comes a day after he faced off against Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) in the vice presidential debate.
During a visit to Georgia on Monday, President Trump said, “We came to Valdosta in large semi-trucks, many of them filled with relief supplies. Tank trucks full of gasoline, several large tank trucks full of gasoline, We can't get it right now, so we'll try to distribute it throughout the day.”
And a GoFundMe page set up by the Trump campaign earlier this week has so far raised more than $4 million for storm victims.
“I am trying to get to the affected areas as soon as possible, but I have been told that if I go now it will cause chaos. We don't have the assets we need to deal with this crisis,'' Biden told reporters on Monday.
And Harris said Tuesday: “We're going to be on the ground as soon as possible, but as soon as possible without disrupting emergency response operations, because that has to be our top priority and our top priority.”
Vice President Kamala Harris greets those affected by Hurricane Helen on Wednesday in Augusta, Georgia, as Augusta Mayor Garnet Johnson (right) looks on. (AP Photo/Carolyn Custer)
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But the circumstances of President Trump's trip to Georgia on Monday may have put some political pressure on Biden and Harris.
David Kochel, a longtime Republican strategist, said Trump was “very aggressive” in his quick visits to storm-hit areas.
“I think he put a lot of pressure on them to do something,” Kochel, a veteran of numerous Republican presidential campaigns, told Fox News. “He's pushing the line that they don't care, they're not doing anything, and I think they're responding to that.”
Elected officials' responses to natural disasters can influence their political positions.
President George W. Bush was heavily criticized for his initial response to Hurricane Katrina, which devastated New Orleans in the summer of 2005.
And President Trump faced criticism early in his White House tenure as Puerto Rico struggled to recover from the powerful storm. During a visit to the island affected by the storm, the president was criticized for throwing paper towels at a crowd during a stop at a relief center.
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