Two Aftermaths and the Terrifying True Color of the Right
Helene, Milton, and a storm of cold, callous lies
Hurricane Milton is now offshore in the Atlantic after sweeping across the southern mid section of Florida. Fortunately it was not quite the killer storm predicted, at least so far. The news is just coming out as damage is assessed.
Contrary to what the ex-president says, FEMA has been all over this thing and local, state, and federal preparation seems to have paid off. The aftermath of Helene in the mountains of Appalachia presented a far worse challenge because the region is still largely inaccessible with bridges and roads out and streets buried in mud.
But aid is getting through via helicopters, mules, and horseback in some cases. So many helicopters were brought in or volunteered that air traffic controllers and FEMA had to sometimes impose limits to avoid crashes and making a tough situation worse.
That was the reality on the ground. But the Republicans under Donald Trump pitched an entirely made up reality as they continued to lie incessantly about the federal response, even going so far as to imply that Democrats somehow control the weather (!) and engineered these disasters to affect the election. Thank you Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, you have out-bonkered yourself with…