Why is Trump spreading lies about FEMA and disaster response?: Reid

Trump and the far right are pushing dangerous lies about FEMA hurricane response efforts and putting emergency responders at risk. — Image credit: Getty Images

Far-right disinformation has proliferated around federal response efforts to Hurricanes Helene and Milton, with high-ranking individuals like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and former President Donald Trump spreading a range of lies and false conspiracies. These include claims that Democrats are controlling the weather and that FEMA is diverting hurricane relief funds to support illegal immigrants.

In North Carolina, FEMA workers were forced to evacuate and change their plans of operation in response to alleged threats from an armed far-right militia, although that turned out to be only one individual acting alone.

FEMA has stated that although some door-to-door operations have been suspended in North Carolina as a result of these personnel safety concerns, FEMA operations and recovery centers will remain open for any survivors who need assistance.

Watch the above video as Straight Arrow News contributor Jordan Reid laments the politicization of federal disaster response efforts and blames far-right leaders like Greene and Trump for spreading dangerous conspiracy theories in a time of crisis.

Be the first to know when Jordan Reid publishes a new opinion! Download the Straight Arrow News app and enable push notifications today!

The following is an excerpt from the above video:

Hello, it’s 2024, and the weather is partisan now. In the wake of Hurricanes Helene and Milton, something curious has happened. The far-right has begun to weaponize the federal government’s response to the disaster, with the presumed goal of chaos.

I guess you’ve heard of FEMA. They’re the federal organization at the forefront of disaster relief operations, and have deployed substantial resources throughout the impacted area, including over $137 million in assistance and thousands of personnel to aid affected communities. Look, FEMA is a good thing. They don’t ask to see your voter registration before pulling you to safety. We need them.

But FEMA’s response efforts have, it seems, become the latest victim of misdirected political liars predominantly from far-right groups. These factions have leveraged social media to propagate misinformation, question FEMA’s resource allocation and alleged mismanagement. They propagated conspiracy theories about geoengineering and spread misleading images and false claims regarding federal response actions. And political leaders, including yes, Donald Trump, have amplified these narratives, leveraging engagement-driven algorithms on platforms like X, formerly Twitter, to reach a wider audience. All this politicization has shockingly not been good for the disaster response.

Hello, it’s 2024

and the weather is partisan now, in the wake of hurricanes Helene and Milton, something curious has happened. The far right has begun to weaponize the federal government’s response to the disaster with the presumed goal of chaos. I guess

you’ve heard of FEMA. They’re the federal organization at the forefront of disaster relief operations, and have deployed substantial resources throughout the impacted area, including over 137

million in assistance and 1000s of personnel to aid affected communities. Look, FEMA is a good thing. They don’t ask to see your voter registration before pulling you to safety. We need them.

But FEMA is response efforts have it seems become the latest victim of misdirected political liar predominantly from far right groups,

these factions have leveraged social media to propagate misinformation question fema’s resource allocation and alleged mismanagement. They propagated conspiracy theories about geoengineering and spread misleading images and false claims regarding federal response actions and political leaders including Yes, Donald Trump have amplified these narratives, leveraging engagement driven algorithms on platforms like X, formally Twitter, that’s what I’m going to

call it, sorry. And political leaders including Yes, Donald Trump have amplified these narratives, leveraging engagement driven algorithms on platforms like X, formerly Twitter, to reach a wider audience.

All this politicization has shockingly not been good for the disaster response. When you have a pervasive environment of distrust of federal agencies, this significantly impacts said agencies ability to effectively manage the issues they’re sent to address.

Of course, it also deters individuals who who need the help from seeking the help.

It also, of course, deters affected individuals from seeking aid. Basically all this misinformation, all it’s doing is making it harder for FEMA to help during a time when they are very much needed, which is bad enough. But last weekend, FEMA aid to some parts of rural North Carolina, it had to be halted entirely. Why?

Because there were reports that natural,

which is bad enough, but last weekend, FEMA aid to some parts of rural North Carolina had to be halted entirely because there were reports that National Guard troops had witnessed the disaster assistance workers being threatened by, quote, armed militia.

Yeah, armed militias have reportedly been active in disaster stricken regions, with some groups allegedly declaring intentions to hunt FEMA. Now it’s important to note that the credibility of these threats has been questioned, but they are significant enough to have necessitated a cautious response from federal authorities,

and the fact that individuals hunting FEMA is of any concern, let alone enough concern to materially affect a federal emergency response just speaks to how deeply volatile the president political environment is. It’s a disaster. It’s a natural disaster. We shouldn’t have to worry about the safety of the first responders deployed to help, but these far right groups have exploited the chaos of a major weather event to advance their agendas and

and now we do

try that again. I.