{"id":2359818,"date":"2024-10-25T19:20:02","date_gmt":"2024-10-25T23:20:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trumps-hurricane-rhetoric-grating-on-north-carolina-residents-washington-examiner\/"},"modified":"2024-10-25T19:20:54","modified_gmt":"2024-10-25T23:20:54","slug":"trumps-hurricane-rhetoric-grating-on-north-carolina-residents-washington-examiner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trumps-hurricane-rhetoric-grating-on-north-carolina-residents-washington-examiner\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump&#8217;s hurricane rhetoric grating on North Carolina residents &#8211; Washington Examiner"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ftrumps-hurricane-rhetoric-grating-on-north-carolina-residents-washington-examiner%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2359818&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>In Asheville, North Carolina, residents are expressing frustration over former President \u200dDonald Trump&#8217;s rhetoric regarding Hurricane\u200b Helene, which hit\u200c the region a month prior. Many\u2062 locals feel that Trump&#8217;s comments about the government response to the \u200ddisaster are politically motivated, particularly as \u2064the\u200d 2024 elections approach. During a recent visit, Trump accused President Joe Biden and Vice\u200b President Kamala Harris of delaying aid, but residents from various political backgrounds believe this narrative undermines the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/study-taxpayer-funded-abortion-seekers-are-often-repeat-customers\/\" title=\"Study: Taxpayer-Funded Abortion Seekers Are Often Repeat Customers\">real challenges faced<\/a> by\u200c the community.<\/p>\n<p>People affected by the hurricane, <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\">including small business owners<\/a> and independent voters, voiced their irritation with Trump&#8217;s remarks, emphasizing that the focus\u2062 should be\u200c on recovery rather than political posturing. Some residents noted that they have had positive experiences with FEMA, contradicting Trump\u2019s claims about aid inefficiencies. Local Republican \u2063representatives, like Chuck Edwards, have \u200calso \u200bspoken out against what they see as misleading assertions about \u2064the federal response.<\/p>\n<p>there is a strong sentiment among the community that the impact of natural disasters should not be politicized, with many hoping for a united \u2064effort to support those in need instead of furthering political agendas.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Trump&rsquo;s hurricane rhetoric grating on Asheville, North Carolina, residents<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<p><strong>ASHEVILLE &mdash;&nbsp;<\/strong>One month after Hurricane Helene ravaged <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/north-carolina\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"North Carolina\">North Carolina<\/a> and much of the Southeast, residents are tired of their tragedy being used to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-kicks-off-state-of-the-union-with-whoppers-about-alabama-ivf-ruling\/\" title=\"Biden Kicks Off State Of The Union With Whoppers About Alabama IVF Ruling\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/knowles-the-bad-faith-debate-over-cancel-culture\/\" title=\"KNOWLES: The Bad Faith Debate Over \u2018Cancel Culture\u2019\">score political points<\/a> ahead<\/a> of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/2024-elections\/\">2024<\/a> election.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>Former President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/donald-trump\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Donald Trump<\/a> has repeatedly claimed that President Joe Biden and Vice President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/kamala-harris\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Kamala Harris<\/a> have slowed aid to the region after Hurricane Helene made landfall in September.<\/p>\n<p>The former president visited North Carolina on Monday, where he continued to spread misinformation about the government response that has prevented some in Asheville and the surrounding counties from coming forward to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/n-y-and-n-j-to-receive-federal-aid-after-deadly-flooding\/\" title=\"N.Y. and N.J. to receive federal aid after deadly flooding\">receive federal aid<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/live-blog\/2024-election-campaign-live-updates-harris-trump\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">2024 ELECTIONS LIVE UPDATES: LATEST NEWS ON THE TRUMP-HARRIS PRESIDENTIAL RACE<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Asheville has historically been a Democratic stronghold surrounded by Republican counties in Western North Carolina, but Western North Carolina&nbsp;residents of all political persuasions told the <em>Washington Examiner <\/em>this week that Trump&rsquo;s rhetoric is grating on nerves, signaling it could potentially cost him votes in November.<\/p>\n<p>Trump leads Harris by less than a point in North Carolina, according to the <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.realclearpolling.com\/polls\/president\/general\/2024\/north-carolina\/trump-vs-harris\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"RealClearPolitics\">RealClearPolitics<\/a><\/em>  polling average, and he&rsquo;s set his eyes on holding the Sun Belt as his cleanest path to the White House.<\/p>\n<p>Mike Stewart owns a shed business in Swannanoa, a town of 5,000 people east of Asheville and one of the areas hardest hit by Helene.<\/p>\n<p>Stewart suggested to the <em>Washington Examiner <\/em>that he was frustrated with Trump&rsquo;s comments, especially at a time when people in his community are &ldquo;just looking for housing.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not going to say anything negative about the federal government, because the federal government does what the federal government does,&rdquo; said Stewart, who said he never was contacted by anyone at the Federal Emergency Management Agency for his property damage. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s like a great big boat. It takes a long time to turn.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Alexei Souvorin, a registered independent in Asheville, claimed that &ldquo;it&rsquo;s very weird&rdquo; to see people outside of the state use the tragedy to score political points.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;A&nbsp;lot of people aren&rsquo;t, like, in the loop and don&rsquo;t know what&rsquo;s going on,&rdquo; he claimed before criticizing Trump&rsquo;s Monday appearance.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Alexei Souvorin, a registered independent in Asheville, claimed that &ldquo;it&rsquo;s very weird&rdquo; to see people outside of the state use the tragedy to score political points. (Washington Examiner\/Timothy Wolff)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&ldquo;Most of what he was doing was claiming that the relief organizations that really, really helped us need to be defunded and did nothing,&rdquo; Souvorin continued. &ldquo;They tried their hardest here with what they had, and he seemed to really disagree with that.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Chris Moyer moved to Asheville just one month before Helene&rsquo;s impact and explained that the &ldquo;things that [Trump&rsquo;s] done or said&rdquo; made her regret voting for him in the past.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I think it showed a lot of the reason we don&rsquo;t want people to be here right now,&rdquo; Stewart said of Trump&rsquo;s visit. &ldquo;Shut down roads just for the sake of a picture, and to say that he had done it, I don&rsquo;t know. I would love to say that you could change my mind about any of the things that he&rsquo;s ever done or said, but that&rsquo;s not happening.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Chris Moyer moved to Asheville just one month before Helene&rsquo;s impact and explained that the &ldquo;things that [Trump&rsquo;s] done or said&rdquo; made her regret voting for him in the past. (Washington Examiner\/Timothy Wolff)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Melissa Duong, who spoke to the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em>&nbsp;before voting early in Weaverville, just north of Asheville, was emphatic that a &ldquo;natural event like this&rdquo; shouldn&rsquo;t be political.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Mother Nature is not a Republican, or they&rsquo;re not a Democrat. And so I think this is the time where we all need to come together,&rdquo; she stated. &ldquo;Let&rsquo;s focus on the individuals and the families who were hurt the most out of this, and how can we help them.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Melissa Duong, who spoke to the Washington Examiner&nbsp;before voting early in Weaverville, just north of Asheville, was emphatic that a &ldquo;natural event like this&rdquo; shouldn&rsquo;t be political. (Washington Examiner\/Timothy Wolff)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Mary Weber, a Harris campaign volunteer working near the polling center on the University of North Carolina Asheville campus, told the&nbsp;<em>Washington<\/em><em>&nbsp;Examiner <\/em>that she &ldquo;was not very happy&rdquo; Trump chose to visit &ldquo;just because it&rsquo;s already so chaotic and so many roads are closed and people without power still and water and communications.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve had a good experience with FEMA, very prompt response, good help,&rdquo; she continued. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t really understand that logic, and I am glad that people like [GOP Rep.] Chuck Edwards are speaking out strongly against that and discounting all the things that are being said [by Trump].&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Edwards, a Republican, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/policy\/energy-and-environment\/3181881\/gop-congressman-western-north-carolina-decries-helene-rumors\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"created a page\">created a page<\/a> on his official site titled &ldquo;Debunking Helene Response Myths&rdquo; to dispel what he called conspiracy theories and hoaxes about the federal government&rsquo;s response to&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/reporters-notebook\/3177162\/reporter-notebook-federal-government-response-hurricane-helene\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Hurricane Helene<\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Mary Weber, a Harris campaign volunteer working near the polling center on the University of North Carolina Asheville campus, told the&nbsp;Washington&nbsp;Examiner that she &ldquo;was not very happy&rdquo; Trump chose to visit. (Washington Examiner\/Timothy Wolff)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Still, Bo Hess, a clinical social worker and Democratic candidate for Asheville City Council, did give Trump credit for visiting Asheville but was critical of the misinformation the former president continues to push.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We need our leaders to be able to show up wherever there are issues. We want our leaders to be there. We want them to care. We also need our leaders to be strong enough to be able to handle facts and truth, and quite frankly, there&rsquo;s only one candidate in this race that is actually strong enough and tough enough to handle facts and truth, and unfortunately, it&rsquo;s not the former president,&rdquo; Hess told the <em>Washington Examiner. <\/em>&ldquo;So being on the ground and seeing that misinformation was heartbreaking.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Bo Hess, a clinical social worker and Democratic candidate for Asheville City Council, did give Trump credit for visiting Asheville but was critical of the misinformation the former president continues to push. (Washington Examiner\/Timothy Wolff)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Trump held four campaign events in North Carolina this past week, including rallies in Charlotte, Greensboro, Greenville, and his trip to Asheville. Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), Trump&rsquo;s running mate, also held a campaign event in Charlotte Friday.<\/p>\n<p>Harris, on the other hand, has spent significantly more time campaigning in the blue wall than the South following Hurricanes Helene and Milton.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\"><strong><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The vice president did survey storm damage around Asheville alongside Biden in early October and rallied in Charlotte shortly after.<\/p>\n<p>Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN), Harris&rsquo;s running mate, held a rally in Wilmington on Thursday, and former President Barack Obama held a solo rally supporting Harris in Charlotte on Friday.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Trump&#8217;s hurricane comments irritate Asheville residents<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2645,"featured_media":2359819,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/trump-asheville.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[43754,32258,4647,3634,32076],"class_list":["post-2359818","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner","tag-hurricane-rhetoric","tag-north-carolina","tag-residents","tag-trump","tag-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/trump-asheville.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2359818","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2645"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2359818"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2359818\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2359819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2359818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2359818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2359818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}