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Since Hurricane Helene decimated parts of western North Carolina last week, former President Donald Trump has seized on the tragedy to perpetuate lies about the federal response, sowing chaos and confusion as officials scramble to help those affected.
In recent days, Trump has repeatedly and falsely suggested that the federal government is purposely neglecting areas with Republican voters, that it is funneling emergency aid to migrants instead of disaster response, and that it’s giving hurricane victims just $750 in support.
“I’ll be there shortly, but don’t like the reports that I’m getting about the Federal Government, and the Democrat Governor of the State, going out of their way to not help people in Republican areas,” he wrote on Truth Social on September 30.
None of these claims are true, but federal officials say Trump’s disinformation — which has been condemned by regional Republican leaders — could further harm the relief effort, and deter people who need aid from trying to pursue it. It is certainly making aid distribution more difficult, with disaster recovery officials spending valuable time fighting lies, including by putting up an agency website to combat them. Deanne Criswell, the administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), said the degree of disinformation is at a point that [she’s] “never seen before.”
So far, Helene is estimated to have damaged thousands of homes and businesses and taken more than 220 lives, washing out dozens of roads and entire towns. FEMA, which is the government entity dedicated to disaster relief, has also said that it’s provided upward of $210 million in aid to victims of Helene, including 15.6 million meals and 13.9 million liters of water.
Trump’s falsehoods come as he and others on the right — including Tesla’s Elon Musk — are attempting to use the recent natural disaster as a political wedge in the 2024 presidential election.
Below are some of the lies Trump has elevated about Helene and what we know about what’s actually happened.
Trump’s lies, debunked
Claim: The federal government isn’t helping Republican areas of western North Carolina.
“They’re being treated very badly in the Republican areas,” Trump said in a Fox News interview on September 30. “They’re not getting water, they’re not getting anything.”
Reality: FEMA administrator Criswell has described these allegations as “frankly ridiculous and just plain false.”
Data from the agency shows that it distributed significant funding to states that voted for Trump in 2020, as well as those that didn’t. Per an October 7 FEMA press release, the agency greenlit $32 million in aid for households in North Carolina, $87 million for households in Florida, $57 million for households in South Carolina, and $632,000 for households in Tennessee — states that backed Trump in 2020. It’s also approved $31 million for households in Georgia, and almost $500,000 for households in Virginia, both of which voted for Biden in 2020. Roughly 84 percent of the $210 million in funds it has doled out in the Hurricane Helene response went to states that backed Trump in 2020.
Republican governors in South Carolina, Virginia, and Tennessee have praised the speed of the government’s response, and regional North Carolina GOP lawmakers, including state Sen. Kevin Corbin, have urged people to stop spreading misinformation. Some news reports indicate that aid to more remote, rural areas has taken longer to arrive — and that lack of accessibility and cell service has posed a challenge in getting support out to numerous places. (There isn’t evidence these delays are politically motivated, however.)
Previously, NBC News reporter Garrett Haake asked the former president directly about evidence he had to support this claim, and Trump did not provide any.
Claim: Kamala Harris gave FEMA funding to migrants.
“Kamala spent all her FEMA money, billions of dollars, on housing for illegal migrants, many of whom should not be in our country,” Trump said at a Thursday rally in Michigan.
Reality: “This is false. No money is being diverted from disaster response needs,” FEMA notes.
The agency does oversee a program called the Shelter and Services program that was allocated $650 million in funding for housing for migrants in fiscal year 2024. This funding actually comes from the US Customs and Border Patrol budget, but FEMA helps oversee the program’s implementation. As such, this funding is completely separate from the Disaster Relief Fund (DRF), which FEMA draws from for aid during natural disasters. The DRF received about $45 billion in funding between the fiscal year 2024 budget and a supplemental appropriations bill.
“Disaster Relief Fund money has not been diverted to other, non-disaster related efforts,” FEMA states.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has warned that the DRF could run out of money before the end of hurricane season due to the severity of this year’s storms. House Republicans, however, have balked at returning to Congress to approve more funds prior to the November election.
Claim: FEMA is only giving $750 to people affected by the hurricane.
“They’re offering them $750 to people whose homes have been washed away. And yet we send tens of billions of dollars to foreign countries that most people have never heard of. They’re offering them $750. They’ve been destroyed. These people have been destroyed,” Trump said during a Butler, Pennsylvania, rally this past Saturday.
Reality: FEMA does have a program — Serious Needs Assistance — that gives recipients $750 each if they qualify, but it’s one of many aid offerings that disaster victims can receive.
The barrier to qualify is low, most people affected by the storm are likely eligible, and recipients are not limited to this $750 in support.
Serious Needs Assistance is supposed to provide rapid relief to people who need cash to cover immediate needs like water, food, and first aid. That relief is intended to temporarily help while people wait to hear about approval for other aid programs that could provide more robust funds for larger issues like home repairs.
This misinformation could cause real harm
One major concern multiple FEMA officials have expressed is that Trump’s lies will undercut people’s trust in the agency and reduce their openness to applying for the aid they need.
“It is reducing the likelihood that survivors will come to FEMA with a trusted way to register for assistance,” Keith Turi, an acting associate administrator for Response and Recovery, told reporters earlier this week. “That misinformation is directly impacting our ability to help people, and it’s unfortunate because these individuals have been through extremely traumatic times.”
This worry stems from the concrete impact misinformation can have as it’s shared and regurgitated by prominent leaders. As the Washington Post reported, a rumor about a dam bursting in western North Carolina led to hundreds of people evacuating and the diversion of precious first responder resources last week. Criswell also expressed concerns that these lies could make FEMA workers’ lives more difficult in the field: in one viral online post, a person suggested that people should form a militia to counter the agency.
As Trump’s misinformation about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, also made clear, the falsehoods he spreads can have damaging and immediate real-world consequences. In that case, Trump falsely suggested that Haitian immigrants were eating people’s house pets, fueling bomb threats at schools as well as property violence against people living in Springfield.
