President Donald Trump is scheduled to visit North Carolina on a state he claims has been “abandoned by the Democrats” while it recovers from the flooding caused by Hurricane Helene, according to the CNN.
During his initial days back in office, disaster relief will be a prominent topic of discussion. Following his North Carolina visit, Trump will head to California, where wildfires have severely impacted the Los Angeles region.
This visit comes as Republicans in Congress grapple with the tension between the desire for budget cuts and Trump’s commitments to assist in the recovery efforts in both states.
The trip will be Trump’s first outside Washington since his inauguration on Monday.
By visiting North Carolina, a swing state he’s won three times, the president is seeking to draw clear contrasts with former President Joe Biden, whose administration’s management of the flooding he called “so bad,” and Democratic leaders in California, whose handling of the wildfires he has repeatedly lambasted.
In a Wednesday interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, Trump said the Federal Emergency Management Agency is “getting in the way of everything” in North Carolina, and — without explaining how — claimed that Democrats used the agency “not to help.”
“I’m stopping in North Carolina — first stop, because those people were treated very badly by Democrats,” Trump said. “And I’m stopping there, we’re going to get that thing straightened out, because they’re still suffering from a hurricane from months ago.”
FEMA says about 13,000 western North Carolina households have used its transitional shelter assistance program — and an agency official said in a letter to Democratic Gov. Josh Stein on Sunday it is extending the program until May 26. However, some displaced residents who spoke to CNN said they are uncertain about their futures and frustrated by struggles to get timely answers about what kinds of assistance they are eligible for and when that assistance ends.
