The Biden-Harris Failure w/Hurricane Helene & Trump’s Ultimate Comeback – Top 3 Takeaways – October 4th, 2024
- Where had they been? It’s now been over a week since Hurricane Helene made landfall in the Big Bend and right at a week since it devastated Southern Appalachia. We’ve all seen the pictures and videos. We’ve all seen the devastation. We’ve also seen an incredible response by Florida’s first responders both in Florida and beyond as part of Operation Blue Ridge (I had a neighbor in the North Carolina mountains tell me earlier this week that Governor DeSantis had been more helpful to North Carolina than their own governor had been up to that point). There have been incredible efforts undertaken by private citizens and charitable organizations on the ground in the impacted areas that have been saving lives. But why is it that the state of Florida, in North Carolina, is doing what the federal government hasn’t done? Why is that Greg Biffle and his helicopter have done what we haven’t seen FEMA getting done? A week ago today, after Helene’s devastation had been done, the death toll last Friday night stood at 44. By Saturday night the number had risen to 50. Sunday night the official death toll due to Hurricane Helene had reached 95. Monday evening, we became aware that 130 victims of Helene had been confirmed to be dead. On Tuesday, the number continued to grow, rising to 160. One day later the Helene-attributed death toll had risen to 191. And it was only then – six days after the impact of the deadliest hurricane to hit the United States since Katrina in 2005, that President Biden directed up to 1,000 soldiers to assist FEMA’s relief efforts. In the meantime, the death toll has risen to over 200 and is climbing. Why did it take six days and nearly 200 deaths for the Biden administration to decide that there was more that they needed to do? Over 200 people were and are still uncounted for.
- How many more deaths will occur that may have been preventable? Ashley and I have a home in one of the most impacted areas in the North Carolina mountains. We didn’t need to be in the White House or anywhere near the point of impact. By Saturday morning we were informed by others in our community that had fled from the storm, that it was worse than anything the area had ever experienced. Why, at least by that point, wasn’t there a response that was greater than any that had previously been undertaken in the area? I have a firm belief that disasters should never be politized, so I’ve held back on my thoughts throughout the week. My initial impression was that the pathetic federal response was simply consistent with the failed decision making and utter incompetence of the Biden-Harris administration right along. If 1,000 additional soldiers were determined to be needed on Thursday of this week...they should have been determined to be needed Thursday of last week. But now we know, in part, why more wasn’t done sooner by FEMA and why they’re still struggling to get the job done today. The Biden-Harris administration placed a priority once again on illegal immigrants over Americans. On Wednesday DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said FEMA was short of funds. One day later his administrator said they weren’t. What we’ve learned is that FEMA has spent $641 million of your tax dollars this year relocating illegal immigrants into your neighborhood and paying for them to have housing, a total that runs to over $1.4 billion over the past two years. Now DHS has explained that the funds used weren’t those allocated for emergencies, which appears to be true, but isn’t that aside from the point. Why is FEMA in the business facilitating comforts for illegal immigrants? Is this why they weren’t immediately on the ground acting in the impacted areas? There likely would be people who are dead today in Hurricane Helene’s wake that would be alive had the Biden-Harris administration not once again prioritized illegal immigrants over Americans. Private citizens and other states coming to the rescue is a great thing. But private citizens and other states should never have to step in to try to do what the federal agency created to do these things isn’t doing. For the first week of the response that’s been the case.
- Back to where it began. In US presidential history only Gerald Ford had survived two assassination attempts until Donald Trump. First, he was shot in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13th with a bullet coming within an inch of ending his life. On September 15th, in what was almost essentially his own back yard we had a second attempt with a shooter who had laid in waiting in the bushes for 12 hours for the chance to try to take a shot at the former and perhaps future President of the United States. Tomorrow, not even three weeks removed from the most recent assassination attempt, Trump will go back to the site of the first assignation attempt. Only this time Trump will be coming to Butler with backup. His running mate JD Vance. In what figures to be one of the greatest contrasts in campaign history, the rally that was originally to take place that fateful day in July will be taking place after all. In true Trump style this rally has been staged to be bigger and better than the original had been planned to be. And the Secret Service, with maximum pressure applied to ensure that anything close to another repeat doesn’t happen is banking on it. The Secret Service is planning for up to 60,000 people to be on hand and will be staffed to handle that kind of demand. In many ways Trump’s comeback in Butler, Pennsylvania is reminiscent of his political comeback in this election cycle. Ever since exiting the White House his political adversaries have been doing everything possible to attempt to keep him from returning to the White House. This included a congressional committee that spent the better part of a year attempting to propagandize this country over January 6th. They raided his home, rigged evidence and then illegally leaked pictures of the rigged evidence. They arrested him four times and made every effort to put him behind bars – which, by the way, had the Supreme Court not stepped in with the presidential immunity ruling would have already happened by now. And yes, they’ve even tried to kill him twice. No presidential candidate has been put through more in American history than Donald Trump. No presidential candidate in American history has survived more, literally, than Donald Trump. Tomorrow we’ll be a month away from Election Day. Tomorrow’s rally in Butler, PA is in many ways a metaphor for this entire cycle. The rally’s planned program will be bigger than it was the first time around. The attending crowd will be bigger than the first rally’s crowd. The passion and energy all around will be much greater than the first time around. Personally, professionally, politically, Donald Trump is the all-time comeback king. And what will be on display tomorrow is endemic of what we’re likely to see a month from tomorrow. An incredible comeback story.