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Well over the weekend, the white House announced millions in aid to those impacted by Hurricane Helene. Yes, they’re finally doing something right. But are they? Because how does it stack up against the hefty amount just dished out for Lebanon and for Gaza? Today, we’re seeing some push by critics calling out the administration for putting international aid once again ahead of its own citizens in need.
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I’m Ben Swann, and this is Truth in Media.
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Vice President Kamala Harris traveled to Asheville, North Carolina, Saturday where she surveyed the damage from Hurricane Helene. There, Harris took part in packing aid kits for those in need and announced that $100 million in emergency relief funds will be allocated to that city. But today, it’s that very announcement that is under scrutiny because on the very same day, she also announced an additional $157 million in aid for Lebanon and the ongoing conflict against Israel.
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There, over 50 million more dollars than allocated to North Carolina. All this as another major hurricane is buried down on the same areas left devastated just a week ago. Hurricane Milton is forecast to make landfall as a category three storm on Wednesday. It’s expected to result in millions of dollars in more damage across Florida, and that could be bad news for FEMA, who last week warned that there may not be enough funding to last through this season.
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Why is that? Why does FEMA not have enough money? Well, Donald Trump and his supporters have suggested that disaster relief funds may have been redirected from disaster recovery to support migrant resettlement. The white House has denied those claims, saying that’s absolutely not true. But today, their very own words are coming back to haunt them. Listen to this Categoric plea for false.
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It is not true. It is a false statement. No, Biden did not take FEMA relief money to use to use on migrants. Funding is also available through FEMA’s Emergency Food and Shelter Program to eligible local governments, and not for non-for-profit organizations. Upon request to support humanitarian relief for migrants. Well, FEMA officials say that Trump is conflating FEMA’s disaster relief with funds provided for programs meant to address the migrant crisis.
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And the FEMA administrator now claims that the real victims of criticizing her agency are FEMA employees. Listen to this. It has a tremendous impact on the comfort level of our own employees to be able to go out there, but it’s also demoralizing if you stop and ask why FEMA has been such a disaster in handling disaster relief. Look no further than this recent promotional video.
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It touts equity and diversity as the foundations and focus of FEMA’s new mission. We are instilling equity as a foundation of emergency management. Together, we will harness the power of diversity within our workforce. Joining me now to discuss is someone who knows very well about the tactics used by the Washington establishment. He is the executive director of the Ron Paul Institute.
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Daniel McAdams. Daniel, thank you for being with me. Thanks for having me on, Ben. Absolutely. All right. Let’s talk a little bit about this. So obviously, there’s been a lot of criticism about the fact that, you know, last week it was $750 for people in North Carolina and people affected by Hurricane Helene. And by the way, a lot of people who have been applying for those funds are being denied that that small, paltry amount of $750.
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Even so, we’re watching hundreds of millions and billions of dollars going out around the world just this year. How do you see it? Well, it’s a travesty. I mean, it’s it’s pretty much, you know, it’s understandable with FEMA. I mean, people should not be there at all. I mean, they’re actually doing worse than nothing because they’re blocking people.
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I think Elon Musk was talking about over the weekend, he’s trying to get some Starlink in there so the people can communicate. It’s a life or death situation. And what FEMA does best. And I live in a hurricane area I know very, very well what they do is they come in and they block people from helping each other.
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They say, no, we’re going to take this thing over. It’s all on us. You guys get out of here. So it’s a huge problem, but it’s a it’s also a priority. I mean, the U.S. emperor takes priority over American citizens. Nowhere is this clearer then, as you pointed out, more money for Lebanon, more money for Israel, more money for Ukraine.
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No money for Americans. Yeah, I was talking about this this issue, though, of of disaster relief not being able to reach people because I’ve been hearing a lot about this. You mentioned Elon Musk, right? He says that Starlink has been denied. They’re not allowed to put it there. Pete Buttigieg, the transportation secretary, came out and said, oh, that’s not true.
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And then I think Elon Musk responded to him, well, call me because there is a problem here. They won’t let us do it. But it’s more than just that. I mean, we’ve heard that helicopters that we’re trying to get into the area with private donations, private individuals trying to go and clear roads are being told that they’re not allowed to do that.
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They’re not allowed to help. And you made a point. You said FEMA’s doing worse than nothing. It certainly feels like that, not only for these people who are impacted, but also the fact that all these funds, these billions of dollars in funds that are routed through that agency seem to have been squandered and then used for migrant resettlement, and it’s not going to emergency relief.
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Exactly. I mean, I experience it in Harvey. I mean, I live down here on the Texas Gulf Coast. And when Harvey came, they came in all their military vehicles. They told people they can’t help each other. They told people to stay away. They probably got stuck in the mud, and the good old boys had to pull them out with their pickup trucks, because they didn’t know the terrain very well.
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But this is just how they operate. You know, this is how they operate. And this is why a massive federal agency like this, as you pointed out very well in your opening, that is more interested in diversity and equity than helping people in storms. It just has no place. Yeah. I do want to ask you, though, also about the overall issue here.
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The people are so fed up, it seems like with this idea that so much money can be squandered and sent away in the form of foreign aid. Ron Paul, you know, talks about this. He says foreign aid never reaches poor people in other countries, right? It’s poor people in America giving money to rich people in other countries. That’s what foreign aid actually, you know, translates into.
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Well, we see this happening time and time again. And you mentioned the American empire. Do you think this will impact the way that voters look at this administration and not just this administration? There’s a lot of a Biden Harris problem, right? This is the ongoing problem in Washington for a very, very long time. Do you think this will impact voters in the way that they turn out to vote based upon what they’re seeing?
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And, again, the the lack of care for people who are in need, who are citizens in this country? Well, there’s a there’s very long been the perception that our foreign policy is cost free. You know, we can go over that. We can push people around. We can tell them what kind of governments they can have if they don’t have them, we overthrow them.
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We can drop some bombs off that. Neither of those to work in this cost free, because we have protection where we have a big moat around us to protect us. But the fact of the matter is, it’s not without which it’s not without danger for us here in the US. Well, we found that out on 9/11, right. There’s a thing called blowback.
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And we’re doing the same thing, but the hidden cost is the cost is how everything is hidden. There’s inflation. And this all of this money, as you very well point out, does not go to. Well, a little bit goes to Zelensky right in his pocket. But nevertheless, a lot of it goes to the military industrial complex.
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The people who are well-connected, who lobby. Take a look at the stock of Lockheed Martin. You know, over the past couple of years, that’s where the money goes to. It goes to very, very well-connected people. They all run in the same circles. Ben. You and I are not often invited. We be the proverbial blank in the punch bowl, at one of these parties because they don’t want to hear about this, but Americans are starting to see it.
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Well, that’s why they want to shut down, social media. That’s why when it shut down alternative media. Because people are talking about. Why am I so poor? Well, it’s because all of your money’s gone overseas, but not overseas, but to well-connected corporations in the US. Yeah, well connected corporations in the US. A few oligarchs here and there.
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But poor people in other countries are suffering the same fate as poor people in this country. There’s nothing left for them. Daniel McAdams, thanks for being with us. Thank you for having me.
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Well, meanwhile, commemorations are popping up around the globe to honor the victims of Hamas’s October 7th attack on Israel. It was just one year ago today. Donald Trump and Kamala Harris will be remembering the attacks in their own ways. Trump is slated to hold a remembrance event in Miami, while Harris will honor the day at the U.S. Naval Observatory in D.C..
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In just a year of conflict, we have seen tens of thousands of lives lost. City of Gaza has been turned to ruins. America’s political leaders say that they are working tirelessly to broker a peace deal. Meanwhile, violence continues to expand throughout that region is now spreading to a war with Lebanon, to Iran and to Yemen. For more in-depth reporting on the events of the past year and reporting.
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Quite frankly, you’re not going to get anywhere else. I want you to check out our series on Gaza. It’s called Israel and Gaza Reckoning. There’s a brand new episode released this week that takes a look at how Christians living in Israel are treated. But we also take a look at what actually happened on October 7th, where the attacks came from, and whether or not the Israeli government knew about those attacks in advance and chose not to stop them.
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Maybe so that everything that’s played out over the last year could actually take place. You can catch all of those episodes right now. You can watch them on X at Truth Underscore in media, or you can watch full episodes right now at Truth and media.com, including that brand new episode this week. Check it out.
