Donald Trump has turned emergency relief into a campaign talking point in the final sprint to the midterm elections, approving disaster declarations in consequential states and coupling endorsements with funding announcements. As the country braces for a major hurricane barreling toward the U.S. Gulf Coast, the moves have revived questions about whether the administration is politicizing disaster recovery.
The latest example came Wednesday, when Trump voiced support for Republican Rep. Tom Tiffany in Wisconsin’s governor race while pledging millions to help with recent storms.
In addition, the president recently joked that he would cut off money to North Carolina, which is still healing from Hurricane Helene two years ago, if Republican Senate candidate Michael Whatley lost. And the day before an Ohio campaign rally with Sen. Jon Husted last Saturday, Trump approved a disaster declaration for the state while leaving 15 other requests pending.
Says it all, really:
An Associated Press analysis in July found that Trump had approved more than three-quarters of the requests from states that voted for him in the 2024 election but less than half the requests from states that did not.
Didn’t he straight up say he was going to do that?
Vote for someone who doesn’t rape children
