Trump Visits Disaster Areas in North Carolina, California

WASHINGTON — In the first domestic trip since the start of his second term, President Donald Trump on Friday is visiting parts of North Carolina and Los Angeles, California, which have been ravaged by very different natural disasters in recent months.

For residents, business owners and first responders in Fletcher and Swannanoa, North Carolina, the first two stops on the president’s cross-country itinerary, the cause of the destruction and lingering misery was Hurricane Helene.

Now the deadliest storm to strike the mainland U.S. since Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Helene caused at least 219 deaths and $78.7 billion in damage after it slammed into the Big Bend region of Florida and continued due north, into the western Carolinas in September of 2024.

First responders in California, of course, are continuing to battle some of the deadliest and most damaging wildfires in the state’s history.

Multiple wildfires in and around Los Angeles have already displaced more than 150,000 people, many of whom have lost their homes.

State emergency management officials have estimated more than 15,000 have been severely damaged or completely destroyed by the flames. At least 28 people are confirmed to have died in fire-related deaths.

AccuWeather, the commercial weather forecasting services, has estimated the total economic loss that will ultimately be attributed to the disaster will come in at between $250 billion and $275 billion.

On Friday afternoon, the president, first lady Melania Trump and a number of White House, state and local officials will visit Palisades, California, an area stretching from Santa Monica to Malibu, where the raging blaze swept through some of the most expensive real estate in the country.

Both visits will be closely watched due to past statements by the president in which he drew a marked distinction between the two disasters.

While Trump has repeatedly expressed support for additional federal aid for North Carolina, he has threatened to withhold funding for California, suggesting Democratic leaders there bungled the disaster response.

As he left the White House residence Friday morning and walked toward a waiting Marine One, the helicopter the would ferry him to Andrews Air Force Base, the president told reporters gathered on the South Lawn that “it’s been a horrible thing the way [the recovery from Helene] has been allowed to fester.”

“We’re going to get it fixed up,” Trump said. “It should have been done months ago from the hurricane that took place almost four months ago. North Carolina’s been treated very badly, so we’re stopping there.

“And we’re going to then go to Los Angeles and take a look at a fire that could have been put out if they let the water flow,” Trump said.

“They didn’t let the water flow and they still haven’t, for whatever reason. So I think we’re going to have a very interesting time,” he said.

In the closing weeks of the 2024 presidential campaign Trump blasted the Biden administration’s response to Hurricane Helene, claiming, among other things, that the Federal Emergency Management Agency had spent vast amounts of its emergency response money on housing for migrants who entered the country illegally.

A number of Trump’s campaign trail assertions were later debunked by state, local and federal officials working in the disaster area.

Despite being on the sidelines for the presidential contest, then-President Biden offered a no-holds-barred response to Trump’s claims.

“He’s lying, and the governor told him he was lying,” Biden told reporters in late September, shortly after the hurricane. 

“The governor told him he’s lying. I’ve spoken to the governor, spent time with him, and he told him he’s lying. I don’t know why he does it … that’s simply not true, and it’s irresponsible,” Biden said.

As he and the first lady stepped off Air Force One at Asheville Regional Airport, Trump declined to blame Biden for issues associated with the government’s response to Helene, but added “FEMA really let us down.”

“I’d like to see the states take over,” he said when it comes to responding to future disasters.

As for the president’s visit to California, a number of early press reports have focused on the tension between the White House and California’s Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, who, pointedly, Trump has not invited to accompany him on his disaster area tour.

For his part, Newsom has said he plans to be on hand when the president arrives at Los Angeles International Airport around mid-afternoon local time.

“I look forward to being there on the tarmac to thank the president, welcome him, and we’re making sure that all the resources he needs for a successful briefing are provided to him,” the governor told reporters in California.

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