Earlier this week, Donald Trump attacked Joe Biden for his response to relief efforts for Hurricane Helene in Georgia, stating that Governor Kemp was having a problem getting ahold of Biden. This was after Kemp had already stated that Biden had been great and that FEMA was already in the state.
That all changed on Thursday, with Kemp calling out Biden, saying he is not doing enough to help outlying counties in the state.
Talking Points…
- Trump calls out Biden
- Kemp changes his tune
- Analysis
Over the weekend, Governor Brian Kemp was very complimentary to Biden about the help he had received to this point for disaster relief. Kemp confirmed that he and Biden had talked on Sunday. Kemp then told reporters:
“He just said, ‘Hey, what do you need?’ And I told him, you know, we got what we need. We will work through the federal process. He offered that if there’s other things we need, just to call him directly, which, I appreciate that.
“But we’ve had FEMA embedded with us since, you know, a day or two before the storm hit.”
Trump visited Georgia on Monday, but he told quite a different story. Trump told the media:
“The governor’s doing a very good job.
“He’s having a hard time getting the president on the phone. Federal government is not being responsive.”
Kemp and Trump only recently made up, and while I am not saying Trump’s comments influenced Kemp’s sudden change of heart, that is how the mainstream media will interpret this. Kemp went from gushing over Biden to slamming him, telling the media on Wednesday:
“When the first emergency declarations came down, there was only 11 counties in that. A lot of people were outraged, including me, because there was such devastation in up to 90 counties.”
Kemp later added:
“So we called the White House. We spoke to the president’s chief of staff, the FEMA administrator and said, look, you’re sending the signal that you’re not paying attention to some of these rural communities.”
The White House then responded by approving 30 more counties, with Biden saying that he anticipated every county in the state declaring and being approved for emergency services. This, however, drew some questions about Biden’s work ethic from the media, which caused Biden to snap at the reporter:
“I was commanding it. I was on the phone for at least two hours yesterday and the day before as well. I commanded it.
“It’s called a telephone.”
The media is already questioning whether Kemp’s comments were genuine, and those questions will only grow louder when Donald Trump appears with Kemp on Friday in Georgia. Trump and Kemp are expected to tour some of the areas ravaged by the storm, and I would wager that Trump will show up with more trucks filled with supplies for residents. Trump is really forcing Biden’s hand on this, and I imagine this will help Trump in a state where he and Harris are in a virtual tie for the general election. If Trump wins this state and one more battleground state outside of the Blue Wall, it would more or less force Harris to have to win Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin to have a path to 270.
