Spin Cycle: FEMA’s Reputation Is Underwater, And Another Hurricane Is Headed For Florida

For those who don’t spend their Sunday mornings glued to the television — and their Sunday afternoons attempting to dig through a week’s worth of network and cable news media spin — The Daily Wire has compiled a short summary of what you may have missed.

The southeastern United States — particularly Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee — are still reeling from the impact of Hurricane Helene, which first made landfall in Florida nearly 10 days ago and has since become the deadliest hurricane to hit the mainland U.S. since Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005.

The death toll for Hurricane Helene rises above 225, becoming the deadliest hurricane for mainland U.S. since Katrina in 2005.@GioBenitez reports from North Carolina: https://t.co/Zmajkv3znS pic.twitter.com/NNXMA3VyVw

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) October 6, 2024

In the midst of the devastation, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has taken some criticism over funds set aside through another program over the last several years to help cover the astronomical costs of migrant resettlement resulting from the Biden-Harris administration’s abject refusal to stop illegal immigrants at the southern border.

But as critics have pointed that out — and have also noted that several civilian aid operations have been thwarted by FEMA as they were trying to help — media and Biden-Harris surrogates have scrambled to run cover for the organization.

On ABC’s “This Week,” anchor George Stephanopoulos brought in FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell to defend the agency and the work it was doing — and she used some of her time to complain about the people criticizing FEMA’s response to the still unfolding crisis in the southeastern United States.

“It’s frankly ridiculous and just plain false,” she said. “This kind of rhetoric is not helpful to people. You know it’s really a shame that we’re putting politics ahead of helping people — and that’s what we’re here to do. We’ve had the complete support of the state. We’ve had the local officials helping to push back on this dangerous — truly dangerous — narrative that is creating this fear of trying to reach out and help us or to register for help. You know, people need resources, and we need them to get into the system. And it’s just, you know, a shame that people are sitting home on their comfortable couches while we have thousands of people here on the ground that have left their own families to be able to help those in need.”

What Criswell did not mention was the fact that a number of the criticisms had come from civilian volunteers on the ground in hurricane-ravaged areas who had been trying to get help to those who needed at and got tangled up in red tape instead.

FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell pushes back on baseless claims about the agency’s funding following Hurricane Helene.

"It's frankly ridiculous and just plain false … It's really a shame that we're putting politics ahead of helping people." https://t.co/UxLoOSBsyC pic.twitter.com/btwz4rHY70

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) October 6, 2024

Still Criswell continued to complain, arguing that he criticisms were “demoralizing” for the FEMA employees on the ground.

“When you have this dangerous rhetoric,” she said, adding, “It creates fear in our own employees and we need to make sure we’re getting help to the people who need it.”

FEMA's Deanne Criswell tells @GStephanopoulos that falsehoods about agency can be “demoralizing."

“When you have this dangerous rhetoric … it creates fear in our own employees and we need to make sure we're getting help to the people who need it.” https://t.co/iScqerl0ew pic.twitter.com/lta6wrxLMi

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) October 6, 2024

“Face the Nation” on CBS News took a similar tack, bringing in Senator Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) to defend FEMA’s response. “Many of the observations are not even from people on the ground,” he said.

“We don’t need any of these distractions on the ground. It’s at the expense of the hard-working first responders and people that are just trying to recover their life,” he added.

On the false claims and conspiracy theories swirling after Hurricane Helene devastated North Carolina, @SenThomTillis says "many of the observations are not even from people on the ground."

“We don't need any of these distractions on the ground. It's at the expense of the… pic.twitter.com/RluSIqZx9U

— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) October 6, 2024

“We can have a discussion about the failure of this administration’s border policies and the billions of dollars it’s costing, but right now — not yet — is it affecting the flow of resources to western North Carolina,” he said, arguing that the FEMA funds set aside for migrant resettlement programs were not creating a strain on the agency’s emergency response capabilities.

North Carolina @SenThomTillis says federal spending on immigrants is not affecting the federal response to Hurricane Helene recovery, as Donald Trump has claimed.

"We can have a discussion about the failure of this administration's border policies and the billions of dollars… pic.twitter.com/f2Sv6auzOf

— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) October 6, 2024

On CNN’s “State of the Union,” anchor Dana Bash pressed Lara Trump to answer for former President Donald Trump — who criticized FEMA’s response from the rally stage in Butler, Pennsylvania.

“He said that FEMA is only offering $750 to Americans who have had their homes destroyed,” Bash said. “That’s not true. He’s also echoing conspiracy theorists online who falsely claim that the administration’s redirecting disaster money for undocumented immigrants. That’s also not true.”

.@DanaBashCNN presses @LaraLeaTrump on former President Donald Trump’s false claims about the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. pic.twitter.com/4RMAPKbllZ

— State of the Union (@CNNSOTU) October 6, 2024

Anchor Kristen Welker tried a similar approach with Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR), but he made it clear he was having none of that.

Welker argued that some were falling for narratives like “the idea that FEMA funds are being redirected to migrants which is not true.”

“It is true, that FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security have been spending billions of dollars on migrants,” Cotton shot back. “We just passed a short term spending bill, very common for the [Biden – Harris] administration to come and ask for permission to move money between funds, especially to prepare for emergencies.”

“This administration seems to have no problem finding money when they want to spend it on their priorities. [Illegals] When they need 100s of billions of dollars to pay off student loans for graduate students and gender studies programs, they somehow find it,” Cotton continued. “When it’s trying to get helicopters to deliver food and water and cellular service and life saving medicine into these mountain valleys, they somehow can’t seem to find the money.”

Tom Cotton cuts through Kristen Welker's BS regarding Hurricane Helene, noting that Democrats always have money to spend, except when it comes to Americans in need:
Kristen Welker: "Like the idea that FEMA funds are being redirected to migrants which is not true."
Tom Cotton: "It… pic.twitter.com/WIRmwckzmv

— Eric Abbenante (@EricAbbenante) October 6, 2024

And on MSNBC’s “Inside with Jen Psaki,” the former White House Press Secretary spoke with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg about the situation. Buttigieg, unsurprisingly, ran with the same talking point as the others — namely that FEMA was fine, everything was fine, and the real damage was being done by the people who dared to question the administration’s response in any way.

“[Misinformation] can have a real cost for people on the ground,” he said. “If you look at what’s going on online, a lot of it seems to be driven by politics and that is actively harming and disrupting the process of getting back to normal.”

.@SecretaryPete on hurricane relief misinformation: "It can have a real cost for people on the ground… If you look at what’s going on online, a lot of it seems to be driven by politics and that is actively harming and disrupting the process of getting back to normal.” pic.twitter.com/H3PNGkSBTV

— Inside with Jen Psaki (@InsideWithPsaki) October 6, 2024