President Biden, A call with elected officials in Florida on Wednesday night as the powerful and extremely dangerous Hurricane Milton made landfall in the state.
And the president is also talking to Democratic and Republican senators in states hit hard by Hurricane Helena, which cut a path of destruction across the Southeast about two weeks ago.
“I have directed my team to do everything possible to save lives and help communities before, during and after the hurricane – what has just passed and what is about to hit,” Biden said at the end of the film. Federal Storm Supervision Response Day.
And the president stressed that “my most important message today is to those in the affected areas: please listen to local authorities, follow all safety instructions… and evacuation orders.
Biden cancels foreign trip when Milton lands in Florida
President Joe Biden discusses the federal government's response to Hurricane Helen and preparations for Hurricane Milton in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Election Day in November is less than four weeks away, and Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Trump are locked in a showdown with a narrow margin of error in the race to succeed Biden in the White House and between the two hardest-hit states by Helen – North Carolina and Georgia. Among the seven key battlegrounds likely to determine the outcome of the 2024 election, the policy of federal disaster relief is once again at the center of the campaign.
Trump for nearly two weeks Barbour has repeatedly attacked Biden and Harris, accusing them of being incompetent to lead federal efforts responding to back-to-back deadly hurricanes.
Eye of the storm: Back-to-back hurricanes affect Harris-Trump presidential race
“The worst hurricane response since Katrina,” the former president charged Wednesday, as he pointed to the highly flawed initial federal response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, which was widely criticized for being slow and ineffective.
Trump, speaking at a campaign rally in battleground Pennsylvania, dropped another political bombshell on Harris, arguing that “he led the worst rescue operation in history in North Carolina…they say the worst.”
Former President Donald Trump, Republican presidential candidate, speaks at a campaign rally at Riverfront Sports, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024, in Scranton, Pennsylvania. (AP Photo/Julia DeMarie Nichinson) (AP Photo/Julia DeMarie Nichinson)
And the former president once again falsely claimed that FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) diverted funds intended for humanitarian aid and spending on undocumented immigrants in the United States, as he turned up the volume on his inflammatory rhetoric on the combustible issue of illegal immigration. .
“You know where they put their money: illegal immigrants are coming,” Trump said as the crowd of MAGA supporters cheered.
Click here for an updated report from Fox News on the storm
A few hours ago, when the president and vice president received the latest briefing from FEMA and other federal agencies on storm preparations in Florida and relief efforts across the Southeast, Biden said that “we have made unprecedented numbers available of resources to deal with this crisis and we continue to do so. So until the job is done.”
Biden also took aim at Trump, accusing him of leading an “attack of lies.”
The president accused the rhetoric of Trump and other Republicans of being “beyond ridiculous” and “has to stop.”
Harris, who replaced Biden on the Democrats' 2024 ticket in July, delivered a similar message during an interview with the Weather Channel on Wednesday.
“This is not the time for us as Americans to point fingers at each other.” Harris said. “Anyone who considers themselves a leader should really be in business right now to give people a sense of confidence that we are all working together and that we have the resources and power to work together on their behalf.”
Click here for the latest weather updates from Fox News on Hurricane Milton
However, earlier this week, Harris and Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis Florida exchanged verbal criticism over whether he ignored hurricane-related calls from her.
Democratic Vice Presidential nominee Kamala Harris greets those affected by Hurricane Helen in Augusta, Georgia, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024, with Augusta Mayor Garnett Johnson, right, looking on. (AP Photo/Caroline Custer) (AP Photo/Caroline Custer)
The vice president called DeSantis “selfish” and accused Governor Harris of playing “political games.”
“Natural disasters offer danger and promise for presidential candidates,” longtime Republican strategist Colin Reed, a veteran of several GOP presidential campaigns, told Fox News.
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Reed noted that “for incumbents, this is an opportunity to demonstrate competence and sustained leadership and to prove that your government is capable of functioning at a critical level in times of crisis.”
Brandon Marlowe walks through flooded streets after Hurricane Milton made landfall in the Sarasota area on October 9, 2024 in Fort Myers, Florida. People wait for damage assessments after Cat 3 hurricane makes landfall. (Joe Riddle/Getty Images)
But not everything always follows the incumbent president's script.
Then-President George HW Bush suffered a political blow for FEMA's disorganized efforts to provide relief from Hurricane Andrew in Florida, which struck the then-important battleground state just weeks before the 1992 election.
Fast forward a decade, and his son — then-President George W. Bush — enjoyed a political surge in Florida during his 2004 re-election bid, thanks to his aggressive response to Hurricane Charley, which struck in August of that year.
Bush was narrowly reelected, largely thanks to the Sunshine State's leadership, but his administration's image of weathering the storm took a major blow the following year due to Louisiana's failed response to Hurricane Katrina.
When he ran for reelection in 2012, then-President Barack Obama's aggressive response to Superstorm Sandy — which hit the East Coast just days before the election — likely won him victory.
Reid argued that “without playing a real role in responding to Helen and now Milton, both Vice President Harris and in between fear being seen as too close to a deeply unpopular administration, but are aware that their failures will be seen like his failures and the political baggage he carries over the next three weeks.”
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