Two superstorms, Helene and Milton, which caused major damage to the United States just weeks apart, have "landed" during this year's presidential election.
US Vice President Kamala Harris (right) and former President Donald Trump in the first live debate in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on September 10. Photo: THX/TTXVN
Two consecutive hurricanes have disrupted the schedules of Democratic candidate Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump. Both Ms. Harris and Mr. Trump have spent some time recently addressing questions about storm recovery efforts. According to the Associated Press (USA), the two storms help voters assess which candidate will better respond to dangerous natural disasters, an issue that once went unnoticed but is now an increasingly regular part of leadership. And just weeks before the November 5 election, the storms have disrupted election preparations in several states. Vice President Harris is trying to use this development to demonstrate her leadership skills, appearing with President Joe Biden at press conferences and calling for bipartisan cooperation. The need to provide more money to the Small Business Administration and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has forced House Republicans to coordinate with the Democratic administration. Former President Trump, meanwhile, used this moment to attack the Biden administration's capabilities. Mr. Trump also wondered if the administration was refusing to support Republican areas, although there was no evidence of this accusation. For his part, President Biden said on October 11 that Hurricane Milton alone caused an estimated $50 billion in damage. Professor Timothy Kneeland at Nazareth College (USA) assessed: "Dealing with successive crises will bring FEMA under closer scrutiny and therefore the Biden administration will also be closely monitored in the days before the election." Candidate Trump and Harris traveled to Georgia and North Carolina to assess storm damage and pledge assistance. This led both candidates to cancel campaign events elsewhere. Both Georgia and North Carolina are battleground states, increasing the risk. Hurricanes were also mentioned in the candidates' campaign events. On October 10, Vice President Harris' first question in Las Vegas was from a construction worker who is also a voter in Tampa, Florida. The worker asked about rumors that the government was not doing enough to help people after Hurricane Helene and wondered if people affected by Hurricane Milton had access to aid. Ms. Harris responded: "I can't emphasize enough the work we've done around the clock to ensure that federal resources are distributed, working with state and local leaders to get people the relief they need immediately, and our commitment to helping people over the long term." On the same day, candidate Trump opened his speech by praising Republican governors in states affected by the two storms while criticizing the Biden administration and his "deputy" Harris. Former President Trump assessed the cases affected by Hurricane Helene: "They let the people there suffer unjustly." The two storms also disrupted voting in some places. North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper signed a bill into law this week that gives residents in 25 affected counties more options to vote, while Florida will allow some counties more flexibility in distributing mail-in ballots and changing in-person voting locations.
Professor Candace Bright Hall-Wurst of East Tennessee State University said that natural disasters are becoming increasingly politicized , often focusing more on politicians than on people in need. "Disasters are politicized when they have value to candidates," she said. As the Democratic nominee, Harris has become a key part of the hurricane response, a role that has not traditionally been associated with the vice president in previous administrations, according to AP. On October 10, Harris joined a virtual White House Situation Room meeting about Hurricane Milton while she was in Nevada for campaign events. She had previously called in to CNN on October 9 to discuss the administration's efforts. At an October 11 meeting with President Biden to discuss the storms, Harris repeated a message that is related to her campaign policies to prevent price gouging. Vice President Harris warned: “Any company or individual that exploits this crisis to increase prices fraudulently or dramatically, whether at the gas station, airport or hotel counter, we will be watching and there will be consequences.” Hurricane Milton made landfall in Florida on the night of October 9 (local time) and left more than 3 million people without power. But Milton has not reached the level of Helene, which killed about 230 people. Professor John Gasper at Carnegie Mellon University said: “These disasters will essentially be a good test of the leadership of local, state and federal officials in how they respond.” But Gasper noted that American politics has become so polarized and other issues like the economy are shaping the election, so the debate now generating so much pressure between Trump and the Biden-Harris administration may not matter much on Election Day. “Will it shape the election? Probably not. There are so many other things out there,” he said. Here’s a video of the damage in Florida after Hurricane Milton moved through (source: Reuters):
Source: https://baotintuc.vn/the-gioi/bao-milton-va-helene-do-bo-vao-bau-cu-my-20241012090616826.htm
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