Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders of Arkansas requested federal assistance after 15 tornadoes hit the state on March 14. But President Donald Trump said no.
Now fellow Arkansas Republicans are asking him to “reconsider the denial.”
Sens. John Boozman and Tom Cotton and Rep. Rick Crawford sent a letter to Trump on Monday in support of Sanders’ appeal last week to Trump to reconsider his rejection. Sanders said that Arkansas is in “dire need of federal assistance” as more severe weather hits the state.
“As Governor Sanders noted in her request, these storms caused catastrophic damage across the state, resulting in disastrous amounts of debris, widespread destruction to homes and businesses, the deaths of three Arkansans, and injuries to many more,” the GOP lawmakers’ letter said.
According to the Arkansas TimesSanders’ appeal has yet to receive a response from the White House.
But maybe Trump’s initial rejection was just a bit of tough love for his former professional liar press secretary.
You might remember how, back in January 2023, Sanders boasted“As long as I am your governor, the meddling hand of big government creeping down from Washington, D.C., will be stopped cold at the Mississippi River.”
Of course, less than three months later, after a similar series of severe storms and tornadoes rocked Arkansas, Sanders was asking President Joe Biden for those big, meddling D.C. hands to provide some federal assistance. Biden granted her request within 24 hours.
Similarly, Cotton is no stranger to speaking out of both sides of his mouthrailing against government handouts and then begging for federal subsidies for his corporate buddies.
It would be a humorous irony—if it wasn’t costing people their livelihoods.
Six months ago, as Hurricane Helene wreaked havoc on North Carolina, Trump and the GOP falsely claimed that the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Biden administration were slow to respond and partisan, offering relief to Democratic districts over Republican ones.
As usual, it was GOP officials like former gubernatorial candidate and self-proclaimed “Black Nazi” Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson of North Carolina who were shirking their responsibilities to constituents during the crisis.
The misinformation coming from the right was so severe that even Fox News anchor Neil Cavuto stepped in to try to disabuse viewers against Trump’s dangerous lies.
Historically, GOP-led states receive more of FEMA’s disaster aid than Democratic-led ones, but the Trump administration’s chaotic and destructive dismantling of government agencies means that he will fail deep-red states the most.
By cutting federal budgets, pausing essential operationsand undermining emergency services, Trump seems ready to destroy the system on which red states depend for disaster relief.
But he’ll probably just find some way to pin it on Biden.
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