Hurricane "Helene": Republicans expose Donald Trump's lies

Berliner Morgenpost Hurricane "Helene": Republicans expose Donald Trump's lies Article by Dirk Hautkapp • 46 million • 3 minutes reading time In US presidential election campaigns, "October Surprise" is understood to mean a surprising event that grips voters politically and emotionally to such an extent that it can give the battle for the White House a new twist in the final weeks before the election. It is not yet clear whether Hurricane "Helene", which has already claimed 130 lives and caused billions in damage and flooded large parts of the southeast of the United States, will have this effect. Or whether the strike that is just beginning by around 45,000 workers in large container ports on the east and west coasts will take on this role. But the devastating hurricane is certainly a political issue of the highest order. Donald Trump visits southern states and promises help Since President Joe Biden's experts publicly feared that "Helene" could claim over 600 lives (hundreds of people are still missing), every move by Kamala Harris and Donald Trump is being meticulously observed. After storm "Helene": Up to 600 deaths feared The candidates for the election in five weeks have known since George W. Bush about the risk of behaving half-heartedly or clumsily in times of extreme natural disasters. In 2005, when Hurricane Katrina devastated the southern metropolis of New Orleans and the surrounding area and claimed almost 2,000 lives, the Republican was responsible for abysmal crisis management from which he would never recover politically. Donald Trump's instinct for media opportunities led the Republican to the south of the also flooded state of Georgia on Monday. In Valdosta, he played the role of disaster relief officer-in-chief, promised a tank of gasoline and other supplies, and accused Biden/Harris of failure, inertia, and inaction. The 78-year-old, who is faring badly against Harris in the polls and uses every opportunity to damage his rival, went so far as to claim that Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, who was seeking help, had not been able to get President Biden on the phone. Republican exposes Trump's lies What Kemp exposed as a lie in front of journalists. He said that he and Biden had already spoken extensively on the phone on Sunday. The President had promised support and indicated that he would be personally available at any time. Kemp's praise for Biden is shared by the Republican governors of Virginia, Glenn Youngkin, and South Carolina, Henry McMaster. Trump ignores that too. This Wednesday, Biden plans to get an initial overview of the disaster area by helicopter flight. He and Kamala Harris, who cut a campaign trip in Nevada short and visited the headquarters of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) on Monday, announced comprehensive federal aid from disaster relief agencies for communities in need. Biden: "We are doing the best we can." But that might not be enough for his successor in the presidential nomination. In North Carolina, one of the hardest hit states and likely to be a hotly contested swing state in the election, the hurricane "has increased the already existing frustration of many people about inflation and high consumer prices," say commentators in Raleigh. "This could be released at the ballot box to the detriment of Kamala Harris. She embodies the government, Trump is not responsible." But will that even happen? Mail-in voting documents cannot currently be delivered in many regions of North Carolina because the post office had to temporarily suspend service. Several polling stations where early voters were supposed to cast their votes in a few days have been swept away by the floods. In this situation, finding the right tone between being a crisis manager in waiting and an election campaigner and not putting politics before the needs of the people "is difficult for Kamala Harris," said an analyst on breakfast television, "every gesture counts."