Reagan's nine most terrifying words in the English language: "I'm from the government, and I'm here to help."
It’s long been a cliché that Republicans are against the government until disaster strikes. At a 1986 press conference, Ronald Reagan uttered the words “I’m from the government, and I’m here to help” as an irony-laden expression of Republican distrust and suspicion of the federal government. An argument could be made that Trumpism has only amplified the anti-government ideology that has been the heart and soul of the GOP for decades. Yet those exact words are expressed by the actions of thousands of federal government employees fanned out over the states of Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, South Carolina, and Virginia to help with rescue and cleanup operations in the wake of Hurricane Helene last week.
Congressman Jeff Jackson, who represents the 14th District of North Carolina, located to the west of Charlotte, sent a message Monday outlining the needs of the mountainous region of the Tar Heel state, hardest hit by what he called a “once-in-500-year flood.” Governor Roy Cooper’s request for a declaration of disaster was swiftly approved by President Joe Biden, who did the same for Florida before the storm even touched down. The North Carolina National Guard has dispatched hundreds of troops, large trucks and other vehicles capable of driving through high water, helicopters, and tents to the region. They’re delivering badly needed food and water to areas of the state that are completely cut off because of flood damage to roads and are supplementing search and rescue teams that have surged into North Carolina, Georgia and the other hard-hit states searching for flood victims. According to Jackson, the National Guard has done more than 100 rescues of people cut off by floods, and the search for more continues.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has sent more than 3,000 employees into affected states to help with search and rescue operations and to supply needed food and water to affected areas. North Carolina Department of Transportation has 1,600 people on the ground clearing fallen trees and power lines so that roads can be reopened to reach villages and towns cut off by the floods. News film from North Carolina has shown at least one town completely wiped out by massive flooding. States not hit by Hurricane Helene are sending rescue crews and electrical linemen to help restore power. According to Jackson, two days ago, there were as many as a million people without power, a number that has been reduced to 400,000 as power lines are repaired and substations that were flooded are cleaned up and rehabbed.
Communications are being restored by emergency cell towers that have been erected in areas of Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee where they were knocked out. The emergency towers will provide “disaster roaming” so that cell phones using any network can access them.
Helene was one of the largest and most powerful hurricanes to hit the United States in decades. Coming ashore as a Category 4, the storm was hundreds of miles wide and caused extremes of rainfall hundreds of miles inland from the Gulf Coast, where its storm surge flooded towns, knocked out power, and caused widespread devastation. By late afternoon on Monday, more than 130 people had been killed by flooding, fallen trees, and other disastrous results of the hurricane, and North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper told reporters that he expected that number to go up.
I’m wondering if long about today, Republicans in the South are wanting to rethink Reagan’s axiom. Oh, that’s right: They don’t have anything to worry about, because yesterday, Donald Trump promised to personally deliver them aid.
This is an excerpt from my weekly Salon column. For the full column, go to:
Remember when The Bloated Yam's attempt to rebuild Puerto Rico was to throw paper towels to the audience? And the Governor of Tennessee reserved one whole day to prayer before contacting the Federal Government for help. This simply demonstrates that when disaster strikes, one wants the Democrats to be in power.
All I can think about is that when climate change brings disaster to red states, everyone pulls together to send whatever they need, even when one useless CHristo-fascist governor says that his state needs "fasting and prayer" to bring about healing. But when NY and NJ were devastated by Superstorm Sandy the majority of Republican reps from those same red states voted against disaster aid. And when Maria devastated Puerto Rico all Trump brought was a case of paper towels. All he brought to Georgia yesterday was his usual lies and bullshit, and as always, tried to make it all about him. I wonder how many of the citizens of Valdosta were cursing him for taking resources away from rescue and recovery?