Republican reactions to hurricanes range from delusional to indifferent

The White House criticized Ron DeSantis over reports that the Republican governor of Florida rejected calls from President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, as officials continue their hurricane recovery efforts and prepare for another hurricane to hit later this week will hit the country. “It’s up to him whether he wants to answer us or not,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters at Monday’s news conference. Harris, a White House official told CNN, has reached out to DeSantis several times in the period since Hurricane Helene hit his state, but the governor has not answered the vice president’s calls. When Biden visited Florida last week to inspect storm damage, DeSantis declined to join him and instead held a news conference with reporters four hours north of the area the president was traveling.

And of course there is Speaker Moses in Washington, and now that we have had about fifty years of storms every week, it is good that we have his firm and divine hands over the purse and his power.

Or not. From NBC News:

In an interview on “Fox News Sunday,” Johnson was asked about Biden’s letter to congressional leaders Friday calling for more money for federal disaster response efforts and after Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas warned that the department doesn’t have enough money to to get through the remainder of hurricane season. In his letter, the president called on Congress to restore funding to the Small Business Administration’s disaster loan program, which was already facing potential funding shortfalls before Hurricane Helene devastated parts of the Southeast. The president noted that the White House had requested more funding for the program as Congress drafted a short-term funding bill passed last month to avert a government shutdown.

Sounds like a plan, right?

Asked whether he would call Congress back into session before the election, Johnson replied: “We will come back into session immediately after the election.” “That’s in 30 days. “The thing with these hurricanes and disasters of this magnitude is that it takes a while to calculate the actual damages, and it’s going to take states some time to do that,” Johnson said, adding that “based on the specific needs and wants the actual damage can be determined”. “Damage damage” from natural disasters takes time.

When you oppose a major effort to curb the climate crisis and wave your hand at helping victims for a month or so, you are developing a policy whether you know it or not.