Joe Biden and Kamala Harris commandeered various cable news channels Wednesday to address the nation on a storm.
Was their purpose to protect the people from Hurricane Milton or themselves from Hurricane Donald?
“Over the last few weeks, there has been a reckless, irresponsible, and relentless promotion of disinformation and outright lies that are disturbing people,” Biden complained, accusing his critics of “undermining confidence.”
Like the Boy Who Cried Wolf, Biden, who relied on “disinformation” to dismiss the true story of his son’s laptop, criticism of the federal government’s since-discredited COVID policies, and concerns about his senility, again uses that abracadabra of political magic words to make the opposition disappear. Its frequent use tends to make the public not only skeptical of such claims but increasingly of the belief that the people who shout “disinformation” purvey it. Just as with the inflation of the currency a few years ago, Biden’s word inflation diminished the value of “disinformation” as political brickbat.
Wednesday’s numerous reminders of the administration’s efforts on behalf of hurricane victims seemed a tacit admission that the public’s confidence in the federal government’s disaster response sinks to levels lower than elevations in Bradenton, Apollo Beach, and Clearwater. FEMA needs its own FEMA.
“Former President Trump has led the onslaught of lies,” his longtime nemesis asserted. “Assertions have been made that property is being confiscated. That’s simply not true. They’re saying people impacted by these storms will receive $750 in cash and no more. That’s simply not true. They’re saying the money needed for this crisis is being diverted to migrants. What a ridiculous thing to say, it’s not true.”
President Joe Biden accuses former President Donald Trump of leading “an onslaught of lies” about Hurricane Helene (CNN/YouTube)
Biden then turned it over, albeit on a skype-like feed from some location that looked like the White House but probably was not, to his understudy (at one point, in cable access fashion, she informed someone off-camera “This is a live broadcast!” with her hands shielding her mouth). The inclusion of the vice president on the call — something difficult to comprehend if she were not running for president — seemed like a political S.O.S.
In recent weeks, the vice president has endured political damage from storms.
In the wake of Hurricane Helene, she staged a photo — surely more offensive than the one of George W. Bush surveying Hurricane Katrina’s damage from above — pretending to take notes curiously three-fourths down on an empty piece of paper as she ostensibly listened to a call on earbuds with the cord not inserted into her phone.
She then accused Ron DeSantis, preoccupied with protecting Floridians from a double-shot of severe weather events, of selfishness, irresponsibility, and “playing political games” for not taking her calls.
“She has no role in this,” a bemused DeSantis reacted. “In fact, she’s been vice president for three and a half years. I’ve dealt with a number of storms under this administration. She has never contributed anything to any of these efforts, and so what I think is selfish is her trying to blunder into this.”
Hurricane Milton killed at least four, left three million without electricity, and transformed Tropicana Field from a domed stadium to an open-air one.
In St. Petersburg, which endured an is-the-decimal-in-the-right-place 16.38 inches of rain in 24 hours, a palpable desperation makes strangers want to help. In Washington, D.C., where Democrats feel their grip on the White House slipping to a man they characterize as an existential threat not to just one state but all 50, the desperation stokes a desire to pile-on.
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