President Trump on Tuesday touted his administration’s efforts to respond to damage and flooding in coastal parts of North and South Carolina that have been devastated by Hurricane Florence, and warned that Democrats will try to tarnish their efforts.
“Right now, everybody is saying what a great job we are doing with Hurricane Florence – and they are 100 percent correct,” Trump tweeted, less than a week after he drew widespread backlash for praising his administration’s response to last year’s hurricanes in Puerto Rico.
Trump claimed Democrats “in the near future” are likely try to undermine his administration’s success in the wake of Florence, warning that they “will start ranting that FEMA, our Military, and our First Responders, who are all unbelievable, are a disaster and not doing a good job.”
“This will be a total lie, but that’s what they do, and everybody knows it!” he said, urging Americans to not “be fooled.”
[Also read: Trump blames Democrats for inflating Puerto Rico death toll to ‘make me look bad’]
…that FEMA, our Military, and our First Responders, who are all unbelievable, are a disaster and not doing a good job. This will be a total lie, but that’s what they do, and everybody knows it!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 18, 2018
The death toll from Florence rose to 32 on Monday, as North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper warned residents of his state that the storm has “never been more dangerous than it is right now.” The hurricane made landfall as a Category 1 storm last Friday, causing flash flooding and destructive winds over the weekend. Several hundred people were rescued.
Overall damage caused by Florence to homes, businesses and infrastructure is expected to be $16 billion to $20 billion, according to an estimate released Tuesday by Moody’s Analytics. However, the figure could grow if flooding continues throughout the affected states in the coming days.
