Trump visits North Carolina, California over recovery efforts
Published: 03:01 PM,Jan 25,2025 | EDITED : 07:01 PM,Jan 25,2025
President Donald Trump delivers remarks outside a home destroyed by Hurricane Helene in Swannanoa, N.C., on Friday, Jan. 24, 2025. (Kenny Holston/The New York Times)
Chris Cameron
The writer covers politics, focusing on breaking news
President Donald Trump toured disaster zones in North Carolina and California, where he sparred with Democrats over recovery efforts, called the Federal Emergency Management Agency “a big disappointment” and said government help would come with a catch. The visits were a reminder of Trump’s willingness to flout the unwritten rules that have long governed the nation’s disaster responses: Cooperate with officials at all levels of government. Bury political differences. Act as a comforter and healer. And promise aid with no conditions attached.
Trump began the day by warmly embracing supporters in hurricane-ravaged North Carolina and pledging to deliver “the support that you need to quickly recover and rebuild.” He said that he would also help fire-scorched California, which unlike North Carolina is a state he lost in the November election, but he first wanted the state to impose voter identification laws and change its environmental policies. He also suggested shuttering FEMA, something he does not have the power to do without congressional action. But he said he would sign an executive order that could overhaul the agency. By the time Trump sat down with local leaders during a Friday evening briefing in Pacific Palisades, California, at the heart of the wildfires that have ravaged parts of Los Angeles, it was clear his approach to disaster recovery in his second term would not be devoid of tension. Trump criticised the embattled mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass, for the pace of rebuilding. And he was confronted by Rep.
To be sure, Trump showed glimpses of empathy during his first trip since returning to the White House. He was immediately met by a crowd of supporters on the tarmac of an airport in Asheville, North Carolina, situated in the broad corridor of devastation carved out by Hurricane Helene in September. Others in North Carolina lined his motorcade route applauding his arrival. He asked families to step to the lectern and describe their struggle to rebuild their lives. When he landed in Los Angeles, the president set aside a long-running feud with Gov. Gavin Newsom of California as the two shared a brief, warm greeting — though that interaction occurred only after Trump’s press secretary reminded reporters on Air Force One. “We’re looking to get something completed, and the way you get it completed is to work together with the governor of the state,” Trump said alongside Newsom at Los Angeles International Airport. “Thank you for being here,” Newsom said. “It means a great deal.” Trump has often used natural disasters as a vehicle to unleash political grievances, making false statements about his political opponents while promising support for political allies.
Throughout the trip, Trump attacked the agency relentlessly. He said the agency was “not doing their job” and described it as a “disaster.” Trump said he wanted states to have a larger role in the recovery effort, and he asked Michael Whatley, chair of the Republican National Committee and a North Carolina native, to help lead the recovery in the state. He charged Richard Grenell, a loyalist who is his “envoy for special missions,” with leading a commission to help California recover.
After meeting families who had lost their homes in Pacific Palisades, Trump sat down for a briefing with Bass and local officials. He once again claimed environmental agreements that ensure that the state sends enough freshwater downstream to protect crucial ecosystems were preventing water from reaching Southern California. State and fire experts have said those policies have no connection to the fires in the Los Angeles area. Instead, water supply problems were primarily the result of infrastructure shortcomings in municipal systems. Among those invited to travel with Trump to California was Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif. Trump took the time in North Carolina to make clear he did not invite the California senator, who as a House member was on the committee that investigated the attack on the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob.
The writer covers politics, focusing on breaking news
President Donald Trump toured disaster zones in North Carolina and California, where he sparred with Democrats over recovery efforts, called the Federal Emergency Management Agency “a big disappointment” and said government help would come with a catch. The visits were a reminder of Trump’s willingness to flout the unwritten rules that have long governed the nation’s disaster responses: Cooperate with officials at all levels of government. Bury political differences. Act as a comforter and healer. And promise aid with no conditions attached.
Trump began the day by warmly embracing supporters in hurricane-ravaged North Carolina and pledging to deliver “the support that you need to quickly recover and rebuild.” He said that he would also help fire-scorched California, which unlike North Carolina is a state he lost in the November election, but he first wanted the state to impose voter identification laws and change its environmental policies. He also suggested shuttering FEMA, something he does not have the power to do without congressional action. But he said he would sign an executive order that could overhaul the agency. By the time Trump sat down with local leaders during a Friday evening briefing in Pacific Palisades, California, at the heart of the wildfires that have ravaged parts of Los Angeles, it was clear his approach to disaster recovery in his second term would not be devoid of tension. Trump criticised the embattled mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass, for the pace of rebuilding. And he was confronted by Rep.
To be sure, Trump showed glimpses of empathy during his first trip since returning to the White House. He was immediately met by a crowd of supporters on the tarmac of an airport in Asheville, North Carolina, situated in the broad corridor of devastation carved out by Hurricane Helene in September. Others in North Carolina lined his motorcade route applauding his arrival. He asked families to step to the lectern and describe their struggle to rebuild their lives. When he landed in Los Angeles, the president set aside a long-running feud with Gov. Gavin Newsom of California as the two shared a brief, warm greeting — though that interaction occurred only after Trump’s press secretary reminded reporters on Air Force One. “We’re looking to get something completed, and the way you get it completed is to work together with the governor of the state,” Trump said alongside Newsom at Los Angeles International Airport. “Thank you for being here,” Newsom said. “It means a great deal.” Trump has often used natural disasters as a vehicle to unleash political grievances, making false statements about his political opponents while promising support for political allies.
Throughout the trip, Trump attacked the agency relentlessly. He said the agency was “not doing their job” and described it as a “disaster.” Trump said he wanted states to have a larger role in the recovery effort, and he asked Michael Whatley, chair of the Republican National Committee and a North Carolina native, to help lead the recovery in the state. He charged Richard Grenell, a loyalist who is his “envoy for special missions,” with leading a commission to help California recover.
After meeting families who had lost their homes in Pacific Palisades, Trump sat down for a briefing with Bass and local officials. He once again claimed environmental agreements that ensure that the state sends enough freshwater downstream to protect crucial ecosystems were preventing water from reaching Southern California. State and fire experts have said those policies have no connection to the fires in the Los Angeles area. Instead, water supply problems were primarily the result of infrastructure shortcomings in municipal systems. Among those invited to travel with Trump to California was Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif. Trump took the time in North Carolina to make clear he did not invite the California senator, who as a House member was on the committee that investigated the attack on the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob.