More than 100 North Carolinians died in Hurricane Helene. The storm did an estimated $60 billion in damage. Two years later, federal aid has covered about 16% of it. At a rally for his Senate candidate, Trump told the crowd the rest of the money depends on how they vote. Then he called it a joke. Western North Carolina isn’t laughing.
President Trump told a crowd in Gastonia on Wednesday, September 16, that he would only send more Hurricane Helene relief aid to Western North Carolina if Republican Michael Whatley wins this year’s U.S. Senate race, before adding that he was “only kidding.”
What Trump Actually Said
Speaking at a campaign event for Whatley, Trump pointed to the roughly $2 billion in FEMA funding already spent, then turned to the money the region is still waiting on.
“You’re waiting for some additional money to take care of some of the back, and I’m going to get that to you, Michael,” Trump said. “Now, if Michael loses, I’m not sending it, okay? No, I’m only kidding. You’re getting it. You’re going to get it, Michael. He’s been bugging me.”
The Region Still Hasn’t Been Made Whole
Helene killed more than 100 people in North Carolina and caused an estimated $60 billion in damage. Federal aid has covered only about 16% of that, according to Gov. Josh Stein, who has requested an additional $10 billion. Local officials have complained about the slow pace of federal help, and residents protested in Asheville earlier this month demanding the administration do more to fund recovery.
That’s the audience Trump was joking at: people still living with the damage, waiting on money the federal government hasn’t sent.
“This Was Not a Time for a Joke”
Chris Cooper, a political scientist at Western Carolina University, said the remarks would go over “not well at all” in the western part of the state. “I don’t think anybody who’s lost their home or knows somebody who’s lost their home or has seen their communities destroyed is really in a joking mood,” he said.
Stein called it “no way to respond to a tragic disaster, no way to run a country, no way to campaign for office.”
Sen. Andy Kim (D-N.J.) said the “joke” has a track record behind it. “Trump isn’t joking,” Kim wrote. “He did this to New Jersey and other blue states seeking funding to recover from last winter’s storms. What kind of leader does that to their own people?”
North Carolina Democratic Party Chair Anderson Clayton demanded Whatley say whether he believes Helene aid should depend on how North Carolinians vote.
Whatley Isn’t Just a Candidate. He Sat on Trump’s FEMA Review Council.
Trump appointed Whatley to his FEMA Review Council shortly after Helene. So the man Trump says has been “bugging” him for disaster money is the same man he tapped to review the agency handing it out, and now the president is publicly tying that money to his election.
Whatley’s campaign brushed it off. “The President made a joke and said it was a joke,” spokesperson DJ Griffin said, claiming Republicans have helped deliver $11 billion to North Carolina for disaster recovery.
The Bottom Line
Whatley, the former chairman of the Republican National Committee, is running against Democrat Roy Cooper, the former governor, who holds a double-digit lead in a recent poll.
Two years after Helene, Western North Carolina is still waiting on billions in federal aid. The president stood on a stage and told them they’d only get it if his candidate wins, then laughed it off. His own record of withholding disaster money from blue states is why a lot of people aren’t sure it was a joke.