Georgia’s Republican governor praised Democratic President Joe Biden for reaching out to him in the wake of Hurricane Helene’s deadly devastation as the state and surrounding areas scramble to recover from the disaster.
Former President Donald Trump told a different story when he landed there to survey the damage.
“The governor’s doing a very good job. He’s having a hard time getting the president on the phone,” Trump told reporters. “The federal government is not being responsive.”
It wasn’t true.
Here’s what Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp had to say about Biden and the feds:
“The president just called me yesterday afternoon. I missed him and called him right back and he just said, ‘Hey, what do you need?’ And I told him, ‘We got what we need. We’ll work through the federal process. He offered that if there’s other things we need just to call him directly, which I appreciate that,” Kemp said.
“We’ve had FEMA embedded with us since a day or two before the storm hit in our state operating center in Atlanta. We’ve got a great relationship with them,” he said.
🗳️ Register to vote: https://vote.gov/
Remember when trump threatened to withhold aid to Californians impacted by a disaster because their governor didn’t kiss the ring with enough gusto?
As we have to deal with progressively worse disasters due to climate change, some morons want to vote for the guy that will refuse to help their own communities if his arse isn’t kissed enough.
If you live in an area that will be hit with such disasters and are still considering voting for this lunatic, you deserve what’s coming to you. But consider that your sane neighbours won’t deserve the consequences of your actions, and will be entirely justified to refuse to help you when your orange god hangs you out to dry.
Republicans are KNOWN to do Their Own Research so they’ll OBVIOUSLY find out they’re being Lied to! OBVIOUSLY!
But all I’m hearing at work today is “Biden won’t help the hurricane victims! Elon and Trump are teaming up to provide relief, but Kamalala and Biden told them to get a job!!!” I hate this place so much. Trump just lies and they eat it up.
The Twitter bots started in on that shit before the damn rain stopped and haven’t stopped since. At this point Twitter’s living in a goddamn fantasy world. “Where’s Biden? He hasn’t done ANYTHING!” Meanwhile he issued several emergency declarations? “Where’s Kamala in all this? This is her problem!” …is it? What’s with Twitter bots acting like Kamala Harris is already the President?
What’s with Twitter bots acting like Kamala Harris is already the President?
That’s the new attack line…the absolutely stupid charge that “Harris had 3.5 years to accomplish her presidential agenda while VP. Why didn’t she accomplish it yet?”…and a large portion of the country will probably buy it as a fair critique (because they’re idiots) despite it being obviously nonsensical.
Start laughing when they say something like that. Wait until they ask why and say I’ve heard exactly the opposite. It wont convince many but a few might stop watching dubious sources long enough to find out it isn’t true. It the old its easier to fool someone than convince them they have been fooled.
Oh man, if you’ve never worked in an environment like that where you’re outnumbered, you probably don’t understand why this is would be really tough.
I’m a non religious, non regressive person in a southern state. I know how to make them think once. That usually leads to them thinking twice. I’ve worked in those environments often. You can’t fix stupid but you can at least correct ignorance.
It’s easier said than done, for many people. A lot of people prefer to avoid potential confrontation. It’s sensible to the individual, but it does end up enabling the spread of disinformation as a result.
A good tip for these situations is to make it seem like you just figured something out. Go, “Wait…” and look like you’re confused and thinking about it. Then slowly mention each point, laying out them out like puzzle pieces. Finally, and carefully, put it all back together to make the logical result.
Personally, I’ve dealt with these conflicts throughout my life (yay for autism!) and have had to learn how to handle them through trial and error. In my experience, having a positive reputation with whoever you’re talking to makes your words much more powerful. Those of you who’ve stayed quiet (or at least, apolitical) til now may already have a big leg up on this. Also if you’ve never stepped in when a group is spreading disinformation, you may end up making a bigger impact than you expect. It’s like when a quiet character in a show suddenly speaks up - you pay more attention, feeling that they’re about to say something important.
One last thing - don’t expect to change minds immediately. It takes time to process things, especially when one is confronted with logic that contradicts their beliefs. Sometimes it takes a few days, sometimes it takes a few years. Nonetheless, the more seeds of reason we sow, the better the chances that some will sprout.
I’m sorry that you work somewhere that has that sort of discourse going on. Sounds super draining.
Would you look at that, a actually functioning government!
WHY ISN’T BIDEN DOWN THERE THROWING PAPER TOWEL ROLLS AT THE GEORGIANS!?! /s
and yet, Georgia republicans are going to vote for the asshole that wants to eliminate FEMA and NOAA.
fuckers.
Not eliminate, just privatize and make money off of it by stiffing every person, company, and publicly owned… Oh wait yeah, just hurting everyone.
If the agencies were privatized, they would cease to exist. That is. Eliminated.
You don’t get privatized health care from the government, either.
Doubt they would eliminate the names, that would hurt the “creditibility” beholden by the names they would want to use for their gain. I think it would go more like Amtrak, or the Prison systems. Destroying the pieces they don’t want, and making profits off the parts they can. Slowly pushing their agendas hiding behind the name of something they can use a disguise while most of the country never recognizes it changed. The parts they can’t profit off of they would leave as a burden to the people, and the profitable and influencial parts they will strip and grab.
Oh wait yeah, just hurting everyone.
You’re forgetting the handful of people that will profit wildly from this, so technically not everyone…just most (99.9% +/-)
It doesn’t hurt any people, in their eyes we’re just living human capital.
On X the MAGA people are constantly saying how Biden did nothing, but the fact is two days before he acted to help the people that were effected.
They’ll never hear about it.
I guarantee the media they are listening to showed them this:
“The governor’s doing a very good job. He’s having a hard time getting the president on the phone,” Trump told reporters. “The federal government is not being responsive.”
But never showed them this:
“The president just called me yesterday afternoon. I missed him and called him right back and he just said, ‘Hey, what do you need?’ And I told him, ‘We got what we need. We’ll work through the federal process. He offered that if there’s other things we need just to call him directly, which I appreciate that,” Kemp said.
the fact is
Well there’s your problem…
Doesn’t look like it’s driving him crazy. He just lies about it, half of his supporters believe him, and the other half believe “in spirit”. Seems pretty normal.
That seems like a good way to describe that level of devotion–believing him “in spirit”.
While some are doing keg-stands with the Kool-Aid, others such as these believers ‘in spirit’ are just casually sipping a Kool-Aid cocktail to be social and/or fit in (or perhaps have succumbed to peer pressure, etc)
Scott Adams calls these sorts of lies “directionally true”
Meh, he’s a piece of shit these days himself.
Did he launch paper towels to the needy this time?
No, but that same dude launched chicken tenders at a crowd over the weekend.
I’ve been through quite a number of natural disasters in my life. Flash floods, tornados, and more hurricanes than I can count. I think you can depend on a range of emotions if you’re the victim of such events.
First, disbelief. Mother nature is all powerful and just awesome. Go outside after the storm and you’ll see some shocking things sometimes. Things you just can’t believe can happen. Second, hopelessness. You wonder what will happen now that you’ve lost everything. It’s very depressing. Hard to understand why you’re a victim and this leads to anger at times. Lastly, there’s the “carry on” when you just go forward because what choice is there?
I say this as a lens into the on the ground reporting that’s done. Sure, when they put a microphone in front of a victim you should take it with a grain of salt, but really theses emotions are underlying.
Also have worked a number of recoveries. That is long and tiring work, but actually you get payback constantly by knowing you’re helping people.
What’s the point of this post? Your third paragraph, with the “grain of salt” statement, in context, makes it sound like you think the governor may be lying about the president calling him. Is this accurate?
Sounds like some ai bot shit
Point is that you’ll see various statements from victims regarding recovery, but they shouldn’t be given the level of truth that most would afford them. Trump lied, of that there is no doubt. It’s a given.
But what does this have to do within the context of what the article is talking about? Again, it sounds like you are dancing around, but still kind of implying, that the government of Georgia might not be telling the truth when it comes to what Biden has done.
The grain of salt but was directly tied to interviewing citizens affected by the disaster, saying they’re probably emotional and not fully present when interviewed.
It was not tied to Kemp, the gov’t, or any of that.
It’s about the majority of victims affected.
The grain of salt but was directly tied to interviewing citizens affected by the disaster
Except the only one that was interviewed who could be considered a victim is Kemp. Which is where the confusion came from. If you are saying that victims statements should be taken with a grain of salt, and in the context there is one victim, then it sounds like you are showing some doubt about what they are saying.
Dude how hard is it to get that this guy wasn’t directly commenting on the article
It’s not. I get it now. I’m just pointing out that the confusion was the result of their unrelated comment, rather than their accusation that I “want” it to imply something. I’m explaining what caused the confusion.
I know that you want to read some implications between the lines, but there are none.
Im reading your post in the context of the article. The only one who they got a comment from that could be considered a victim is Kemp, and you said they should be taken “with a grain of salt.” It now appears your post had nothing to do with the article, but just disasters in general.
It has nothing to do with me wanting anything, but you talking about some kind of unrelated and that causing confusion.
I can see you have strong feelings on the matter, if nothing else from your continuing response. Are you sure you don’t want something? Perhaps if I remove it and promise to never do whatever again you’ll feel better.
How strong my feelings are about the topic have nothing to do with the point. It’s interesting, however, that you are trying to make this about me rather than the point. That just tells me you realize I’ve made a good point, but don’t want to admit it.
