Fox & Friends sent co-host Lawrence Jones to Swannanoa, North Carolina, to report on the area ravaged by Hurricane Helene and filed a report that could have easily been mistaken for a 2024 pro-Trump campaign ad.
The Federal government response to the massive disaster — particularly in the mountainous area of Western North Carolina near Asheville, has become a partisan talking point, in part fueled by baseless allegations made by former President Donald Trump that money was stolen by the Biden-Harris administration to pay for migrants, among many other false assertions.
The information battle over FEMA’s disaster relief and the Biden-Harris administration was the theme of Fox & Friends 6 AM A block, and the pro-Trump messaging from its on-air talent could not be missed, at least in the comments made by Jones and Will Cain. If viewers missed that nuance, a package of area disaster victims was aired, which evolved into something we should all expect to see posted on Trump’s Truth Social account in the next few hours.
“I don’t think she’s doing enough, and I don’t think Biden’s doing enough either,” said one resident.
Another said of FEMA relief, “It’s pretty much a slap in the face. We’re not we’re not getting the support from her, from the president, the sitting president. We’re just kind of having to suffer through it and figure it out on our own.”
“I would say to Kamala Harris, this tragedy did not happen in a nice neighborhood in downtown Asheville. Step out, get your rain boots on, get your mud boots on, and put your gloves on. Go out there and walk through what I hiked through for two and a half miles to get back to Asheville and my family. You hike it, then you tell me what it’s like,” said another angry resident, calling out Vice President Kamala Harris. “You step it up. You up your game.”
Then things just turned nakedly pro-Trump. “President Trump will do a lot. He’s going to he’s going to help us,” said one resident. “He’s definitely showing up. And he’s making it known that he knows what’s going on and wants to help,” said another. “We got to get him back in there.”
Jones then spoke to a local restaurant owner who refused to take the partisan bait and instead focused on how many of the area’s food service workers have collaborated to provide food and relief to disaster workers and any local residents in need.
As the remote segment reintroduced the studio hosts, the topic of perceived unfairness by FEMA featured a Sunday interview from This Week on ABC with George Stephanopoulos and FEMA Director Deanne Criswell, featuring a misleading edit.
After Stephanopoulos raised the “misinformation that is out there, including these claims from former President Trump that FEMA is about $1 billion short because money has been going to undocumented immigrants,” Criswell pushed back, calling it “frankly ridiculous and just plain false. This kind of rhetoric is not helpful to people. You know, it’s really a shame that we’re putting politics of ahead of helping people.”
“And that’s what we’re here to do. We have had the complete support of the state. We’ve had the local officials helping to push back on this dangerous, truly dangerous narrative that is creating this fear of trying to reach out and help us or to register for help.” Her comments are then edited to include talking about the “comfort” of FEMA workers in the area, saying. “It has a tremendous impact on the comfort level of our own employees to be able to go out there.”
However, as it aired on Fox & Friends, her comment leaves out the crucial context of Stephanopoulos asking about a social media post from Saturday that suggested “a militia should go against FEMA.” Yes, some local residents are threatening FEMA workers with North Carolina militia, largely in part due to the distrust and division sowed by former President Trump and evidenced by this very segment.
“I’m not going to say they aren’t here,” Jones jumped in, giving the FEMA Director some credit. “But what I can say is the residents say they don’t see them. I mean, what is worse? What is worse for you to be on the ground and residents not see you, or you to be on the ground and actually not do any work at all for the people here on the ground.”
After praising local relief efforts, Jones added, “What I hear constantly from these organizations over and over again is that the government, in many cases, is making it harder for them to do their job.”
“You think the people that we spoke to yesterday care about politics right now?” he asked in a mocking tone, perhaps hoping that viewers forgot the partisan attacks they had just seen minutes earlier. “They just lost their home. They don’t have running water. The last thing they care about is the next presidential election, guys. “
Watch above via Fox News.
This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.