Republican, Out Of Options To Deal With Trump Hurricane Lies, Tries Truth Instead
Don't worry, it's not anybody you've ever heard of.
Rep. Chuck Edwards, a Republican congressman from western North Carolina, has apparently decided that the best way to serve constituents who have been digging out from Hurricane Helene is to tell them the truth and to debunk many of the lies being spread by Donald Trump, Twitter, and rightwing media. In a letter to constituents also posted on his congressional website yesterday, Edwards wrote something he probably never thought he’d have to actually spell out: “Nobody can control the weather.”
Edwards started by saying how proud he is of “how our mountain communities have come together to help one another” — we have to assume he’s talking about the queer anarchist feminist bookstore people — and praised all the support from outside the area, then got straight to work debunking various conspiracies that have been circulating following the disaster.
To start with, he made clear that thing about the weather, explaining that no technology exists that can “create or manipulate hurricanes.” Edwards went on to explain that no, the federal government also isn’t trying to seize the heavily damaged town of Chimney Rock to mine lithium deposits, nor is it bulldozing the town.
He added that, contrary to another stupid but widespread rumor, search and rescue in Chimney Rock isn’t being abandoned and bodies aren’t going to be left uncollected and unidentified, good lord will you people listen to yourselves.
Local officials are NOT abandoning search and rescue efforts to bulldoze over Chimney Rock.
Chimney Rock is NOT being bulldozed over.
Rutherford County emergency services personnel are going to extensive lengths to search for missing people, including in debris by using cadaver dogs to locate any remains of individuals trapped in the debris.
The letter is astonishingly patient, given the absurdity of some of the rumors. Edwards explains that FEMA can’t seize your property, and that signing up for disaster aid doesn’t grant the government ownership of your house or land. What’s more, no, FEMA isn’t stealing donations, seizing do-gooders’ vehicles, or closing roads, and if roads are closed, that’s local law enforcement and probably because the road or a bridge was washed away. Oh, and the FAA isn’t closing airspace to nice people delivering stuff either.
Furthermore, Edwards points out that no, FEMA isn’t out of money, and no, FEMA disaster funding didn’t go to shelter migrants either. Yes, FEMA is distributing emergency cash aid of $750, but no, that’s not the only aid people can get, and accepting it won’t prevent you from applying for more help. Edwards didn’t address whether the FEMA cash is the Mark of The Beast, however, so be careful, folks.
For the sake of sounding like a Republican, Edwards did say Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’s request for additional disaster funding for the rest of the hurricane season was “an irresponsible attempt to politicize a tragedy for personal gain,” which was pretty scuzzy of Edwards, especially since Mayorkas was not appointed by Donald Trump, and therefore has no fingers in the FEMA pies. But at least he’s not among the Republicans who voted against boosting disaster funding. (Which was, in Florida at least, all of them.) Edwards also promised that he’s working on supplemental FEMA funding, which “will be considered in the House once we return to session in mid-November.” No special session for him!
Edwards closed with a reminder that constituents should “remember that everything you see on Facebook, X, or any other social media platform is not always fact. Please make sure you are fact checking what you read online with a reputable source.”
Why no, he didn’t mention Donald Trump at all. Why would he do that? Also, when CBS News tweeted a link to its story about Edwards’s letter, the Blue Checks swarmed it and said WEATHER CONTROL IS TOO TRUE, IT IS!!! The real winner might be a guy who replied, “I didn't think they could control the weather until you guys started saying they can't. You guys lie about everything. So that means they can.”
Also, in related news, Media Matters notes that Tuesday evening on Fox News, the network’s congressional correspondent Chad Pergram teased a story on Twitter about a real scoop: He had acquired a copy of a fact sheet, written by Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee, which explained that FEMA “has enough funding in the short-term to address immediate needs for both Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton.” What’s more, Pergram added, the fact sheet
also declares there is “no funding connection between” the migrant shelter program and the Disaster Relief Fund. It adds there is “no intermingling of funding between these two programs.” It adds that “the only connection is that both programs are administered by FEMA.”
Now, none of that is really new, since we’ve all known it since last week. But the newsy part would certainly be that Republicans on the Appropriations Committee would commit it to writing. And curiously, Media Matters points out, Pergram hasn’t yet reported on that list on any Fox show. Maybe they’ll get to it eventually. Or maybe they won’t pursue the story, because wouldn’t that make the Great Leader look bad?
[Rep. Chuck Edwards / CBS News / Media Matters
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After Hurricane Katrina FEMA put $2000 in my bank account within 5 days, and also paid my rent for up to a year. I actually had to pay 6 months' rent in advance because the apartment complex manager in Baton Rouge was a fucking idiot, but I had the $$ in the bank, and they took my check, so I did it. I sent the receipt to FEMA and they reimbursed me. I only stayed there 5 months, so I did not have to repeat the process, and when I tried to send the extra rent back to FEMA they said "Keep it for moving expenses."
FEMA offered me a free trailer, which they would have set up on my flooded house's driveway, but as most of Slidell was flooded and there were no services available, and since the entire neighborhood stank of flood filth and mold, I declined that offer.
Remember Christina Pushaw? That nasty little streak of piss who annoys us all as Ron DeSantis' press secretary?
Even she's had enough. She took off after a tweet that told people FEMA would never let them back into their homes once they evacuate, saying, How dare you scare people away from evacuating; you're going to get someone killed.
Sorry, honey, but you people brought this on yourselves. Live by disinformation, get your constituents killed by disinformation.