WHOA SIT DOWN FOR SHOCKING NEWS: Trump Tells Blue States To Go F*ck Themselves After Natural Disasters

We heard you guys like math.

Aftermath of a rare tornado in Orlando, June 2020. Photo: Mick Haupt on Unsplash.

Donald Trump is a man of principles. His Prime Directive is to always use the presidency to take whatever he can grab for himself, his family, and his richest supporters first, while throwing culture war red meat to his MAGA supporters to keep them hyped up. His other priority, which sometimes even takes precedence, is to use political power to hurt his perceived enemies wherever possible.

That’s been the case with providing federal disaster money through the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Politico reported this week. An analysis by Politico’s E&E News found that since returning to the Oval Office, Trump has approved only 23 percent of requests for disaster declarations from states with a Democratic governor and two Democratic senators, while approving 89 percent of requests from states with Republican governors and two GOP senators.

It’s one of those stories that confirms what everyone knew already, but it’s good to have actual numbers.

The E&E News analysis of more than 2,500 disaster declarations since FEMA was created in 1979 also pokes us in the ribs with a fact we hadn’t been aware of: During Trump’s first term, he actually approved requests for disaster declarations from red and blue states at about the same rate as previous presidents. He certainly griped a lot about having to help people who didn’t vote for him, though. Following Hurricane Maria in 2017, Trump approved the disaster declaration for Puerto Rico, but then spent much of the rest of his term holding up disaster funding Congress approved. Much of that aid was only delivered after Joe Biden was sworn in.

But now, even that bipartisan fig leaf is gone. There aren’t any any adults in any of the rooms of what’s left of the White House, so Trump is happily ignoring requests for help, and when he does approve them, it’s often only after significant delays, and with the new partisan slant E&E News documents. Here, have a Terrifying Chart!

We suppose you could quibble with defining red and blue states as those with a single party holding the governorship and both US Senate seats; one advantage to using that standard is that unlike state legislatures or congressional districts, Senate elections are statewide and not subject to gerrymandering. And even for states with a mix of party control of those three seats, Trump still tended to deny assistance; he only denied aid to one state, Nebraska, that has a Republican governor and senators.

In other findings, the analysis notes that while Trump has been slow in approving disaster requests overall, requests from GOP states got a decision within 39 days on average, while Democratic states had to wait an average of 80 days for Trump to even decide not to approve the request.

Trump has long resented the idea that people who didn’t vote for him are even Americans, especially in California. Not only did he constantly threaten to withhold disaster aid to the state in his first term, he actually came close to refusing any assistance following the 2018 wildfires because he was certain only Democrats live there. He finally agreed to approve the assistance, but only after aides pointed out that badly damaged Orange County is home to more Republicans than Iowa.

The E&E News analysis suggests that level of detail isn’t making its way to Trump anymore, or he’s simply ignoring it:

Trump’s denials of Democratic-led states overwhelmingly affected counties that supported him in 2024, suggesting that Trump’s rejections were directed at state leaders who oppose him politically.

Not surprisingly, the administration insists nothing has changed except that Trump is now Saving American Taxpayers’ Money, hooray! White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson told Politico, “There is no politicization to the President’s decisions on disaster aid.”

In a statement that Politico notes didn’t actually address any of the study’s specific findings, Jackson went on to claim that “President Trump provides a more thorough review of disaster declaration requests than any Administration has before him — gone are the days of rubber stamping FEMA recommendations,” because FEMA is part of the federal government and Real Americans hate it reflexively.

Also funny in a hollow mordant laughter way was a comment from Susan Collins (R-Maine), who complained that this is all Democrats’ fault because they won’t fund ICE goons and Trump’s ethnic cleansing campaign. Mind you, that’s irrelevant: The analysis covers disaster declarations, not congressional spending, and for that matter Trump hasn’t made any decisions on disaster requests either way during the partial DHS shutdown.

In conclusion, Trump broke a 47-year norm of helping all Americans during disasters, and that’s just one more way he has made America shittier, the end.

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Trump Says He Only Wants To Help Red States, But He's Not Doing That, Either

Wait A Minute, You're Telling Us *Donald Trump* Politicized *Natural Disasters*???

Congratulations, Puerto Rico! Looks Like You'll Finally Get That Hurricane Maria Aid!

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[Politico / Revolving Door Project]

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