Do East Coast folks feel bad for Angelenos as fire spreads across their city? Of course! You'd have to be a soulless husk of a human not to.
Did Angelenos care about North Carolina? Do they still? I assume so.
In both cases, was political schadenfreude evident online? Yes.
How about Joe Biden? Eventually, he took an aerial tour of Asheville, a full week after Helene devastated portions of Florida, the Carolinas, and Tennessee. National Guard troops and FEMA were scheduled to be deployed after that substantial pause, though several destroyed areas of North Carolina saw no aid up to nine days after the storm.
Infamously adding insult to injury, FEMA workers were told to skip over any homes with signage indicating support for now-president-elect Donald Trump.
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The federal consequences? FEMA fired a sole employee for the Trump avoidance fiasco and moved on with their DEI agenda. The employee, Marn'i Washington, claimed the orders came from higher up the management ladder, and she was made a scapegoat, as reported by Fox News:
"Senior leadership will lie to you and tell you that they do not know, but if you ask the DSA [disaster survivor assistance] crew leads and specialists what they are experiencing in the field, they will tell you," she said. "FEMA always preaches avoidance first and then de-escalation, so this is not isolated. This is a colossal event of avoidance not just in the state of Florida, but you will find avoidance [of Trump homes] in the Carolinas."
Oddly (or presciently?), Biden was in Los Angeles when the fires broke out. He canceled his final foreign trip--a bit of glad-handing in Rome, and a stop at the Vatican (perhaps for final absolution?)--and spent much of the past two days doing pressers and making grand promises, such as an immediate Major Disaster Declaration. Gov. Gavin Newsom all but cooed over the response.
"California President Biden’s swift action is a huge lift for California — as we throw everything we can into protecting residents with substantial state, local and federal resources."
Rewind to North Carolina, where the federal response was so slow that volunteers had organized aid delivery via drone and small aircraft by the time the cavalry arrived. These successful operations by Special Ops veterans, dubbed the "Redneck Air Force", were grounded by Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
Then Kamala Harris made a paltry $750 in aid available to affected citizens...online. Helene survivors needed an internet connection to get the cash, and who could download the payment with massive power outages and destroyed infrastructure?
The final twist of the knife: Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas' claim that FEMA would run out of funds during the hurricane season due to allocations already pledged to the war in Ukraine.
Actress Jamie Lee Curtis, actress and owner of highly suspect artwork, appeared on the Tonight Show last night. She described in tearful tones the wreckage in her hometown.
For Christian patriots across the country, this is where the heart is torn. Above all, Scripture teaches us to love all--even our enemies. While Curtis might not rise to the standard of "enemy", she is no friend of conservatives.
Jamie Lee Curtis gets emotional while talking about the fires where she lives: 'It's f***ing gnarly you guys' https://t.co/L3LoTEQKMJ pic.twitter.com/dVHNXi2A3w
— Daily Mail US (@DailyMail) January 9, 2025
While many Easterners find compassion in their hearts for Californians whose homes, businesses, and schools have burned, the face of the tragedy has become Hollywood stars. Many of these same stars recently denigrated not only Trump, but his supporters as well.
Further, a gnawing sense of inequality remains over the federal reaction to the two disasters. Playing politics over a sports rivalry is fine--mayors betting on the Dodgers-Yankees World Series, for instance. Basing disaster response on politics is evil. How many died so Dark Biden could own the MAGAts?
Celebrities turn on dems, blast LA mayor for Palisades Fire response: ‘ruined our state’ https://t.co/dn4CLvszuk pic.twitter.com/vCB2MEtohV
— New York Post (@nypost) January 9, 2025
Adding to the substantial headaches of Newsom and L.A. Mayor Karen Bass are Hollywood stars repeating the criticisms of Trump and others on the right. Newsom's forest and water management policies have come under, er, fire. And rightly so. Bureaucracy and overregulation have consequences.
In Mayor Bass' case, the optics of being in Africa during the beginning of the fires were undesirable. The inauguration of the new president of Ghana was seen as a trivial matter by Angelenos. Add to that last year's $17 million budget slash for the L.A. Fire Dept., and Bass suddenly looked like a fish literally out of water.
President-elect Trump hasn't held back on his thoughts about Newsom's handling of California's forests and water supply. "Newscum" has, to Trump's mind, failed radically, favoring the allegedly endangered smelt fish over human safety.
Governor Gavin Newscum refused to sign the water restoration declaration put before him that would have allowed millions of gallons of water, from excess rain and snow melt from the North, to flow daily into many parts of California, including the areas that are currently burning…
— Donald J. Trump Posts From His Truth Social (@TrumpDailyPosts) January 8, 2025
Liberals raged over the divisive messaging. That's nothing new. The problem is, they can't refute Trump's claims. Newsom's and Bass' policies are a matter of public record.
In the end, the East Coast and much of the rest of the country feels horribly for the good people of Los Angeles affected by the fires. On the other side of the sympathy line in the sand: whiny Hollywood stars and two-faced California politicians who could have prevented or lessened the effects of the fire.
