Trump: ‘We are Slashing All Red Tape to Rebuild Western North Carolina’
“I said I’m not going to California until I stop in North Carolina.”
President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump arrived in North Carolina to visit areas and people affected by Hurricane Helene.
Trump told the media:
Thought I was going to California. I said, no, I’m stopping in North Carolina first because they’ve been abused by what’s happened. I mean, it’s terrible. It should have been done, it should have been. A lot of things should have happened that didn’t happen. So we’re here. We’re going to fix it out. We’re working with the gentleman behind me, and you know who they are, and we’re going to fix it, and we’re going to fix it as fast as you can. It’s a massive amount of damage. FEMA has really let us down, let the country down. And I don’t know if that’s Biden’s Fault or whose fault it is, but we’re going to take over and we’re going to do a good job.
We’re going to assign Mr. Watley, who’s fantastic, frankly, and the governor and everybody else that’s going to work. We’re going to supply the money, supply a lot of the money, maybe you have to chip in something. You chip in a little something like maybe 25% or whatever.
But we’re going to get it done as quickly as we can. And we want to take care of the people of North Carolina. It’s so interesting. Everybody’s talking about California, and that’s a mess, but, I said I’m not going to California until I stop in North Carolina. So here we are. We’re going to go visit the site and we’re going to work with probably three of the congressmen, Republican congressmen, who’ve been fantastic, whose areas have been affected.
And with Michael Watley, the governor and whoever else is, we decide to get involved. Probably less FEMA, because FEMA just hasn’t done the job and we’re looking at the whole concept of FEMA. I like, frankly, the concept when North Carolina gets hit, the governor takes care of it. When Florida gets hit, the governor takes care of it, meaning the state takes care of it. To have a group of people come in from an area that don’t even know where they’re going in order to solve immediately a problem is something that never worked for me. But this is probably one of the best examples of it not working. And there’s been some others, like in Louisiana, et cetera.
So we’re going to be doing something on FEMA that I think most people agree. I’d like to see the states take care of disasters. Let the state take care of the tornadoes and the hurricanes and all of the other things that happened, and I think you’re going to find it a lot less expensive. You’ll do it for less than half, and you’re going to get a lot quicker response, so that seems to be the recommendation, but we’ll be making that recommendation.
Over the next couple of weeks, we’re going to go to the site, now, and we’re going to figure out a plan for really demolition and cleaning, because not a lot has been done and we’re very disappointed in the Biden administration, but we’re going to make up for lost time, and I said I do that and this is about the earliest we could possibly be here.
TRUMP, IN NORTH CAROLINA: I am stopping in North Carolina first. They have been abused. A lot of things didn't happen that should've happened. We're gonna fix it – as fast as we can. FEMA has let the country down. We're gonna do a good job. We're gonna supply a lot of the… pic.twitter.com/Kg9ZvPEYvs
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) January 24, 2025
“Thank you for coming!”
North Carolina residents greet President @realDonaldTrump at the airport pic.twitter.com/isd6pNYIlL
— Margo Martin (@MargoMartin47) January 24, 2025
Trump promised to cut all the red tape to allow North Carolina to quickly rebuild.
…we are going through a permitting process called: “NO PERMITTING JUST GET IT DONE!” pic.twitter.com/SQq6h2cyGy
— Matt Van Swol (@matt_vanswol) January 24, 2025
Trump met with hurricane survivors.
He handed the microphone to many of them, allowing them to tell their stories.
President Trump allows Hurricane Helene victims in North Carolina to tell their heartbreaking stories in front of the nation.
The forgotten men and women of this country are forgotten no more. pic.twitter.com/ofEDlFfl3X
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) January 24, 2025
#BREAKING: President Trump meets with victims of Hurricane Helene who lost their homes.
This is so beautiful, feels like everything we’ve been doing the last 4 months finally means something. pic.twitter.com/CFP7FZnPDy
— Matt Van Swol (@matt_vanswol) January 24, 2025
President @realDonaldTrump, First Lady @MELANIATRUMP, and @Franklin_Graham meet with Hurricane Helene victims pic.twitter.com/feLKBRrn4u
— Margo Martin (@MargoMartin47) January 24, 2025
Matt Van Swol has been documenting the area since the hurricane hit in September, constantly calling out former President Joe Biden’s administration and FEMA for doing little.
If you’re wondering why everyone in Western North Carolina is freaking out about Trump coming today…
… It is because MY KIDS SOCCER FIELD still looks like this 119 days after the hurricane
We have been ignored for months, now we are finally getting help.
TRUMP EFFECT!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/mMdWIHpiyt
— Matt Van Swol (@matt_vanswol) January 24, 2025
Fox and Friends: "How do you feel about President Trump coming to Western North Carolina?"
Me: "Like we have been screaming into the void at the Biden administration for 4 months… then Trump gets elected and we are finally being heard for the first time…"
TRUMP EFFECT!!!!! pic.twitter.com/HARRlIwDby
— Matt Van Swol (@matt_vanswol) January 24, 2025
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Comments
The timing of these hurricanes and fires (occurring on Biden’s and Harris’s watch), and, the incompetence of federal and local officials (in NC and California, respectively) in anticipating, and, after the fact, responding to them, truly puts a wretched and emphatic coda on the rotten tenure of the utterly callous, incompetent and derelict “Biden-Harris” Administration.
The timing of some of the incidents with FEMA happening during early voting probably had a big impact on some people’s voting.
Everyone in FEMA should be canned. and banned from all federal jobs.
This is what happens when you don’t give “The Big Guy” his 10%, you live in a tent in the freezing cold while the former president sent billions to a foreign country so they could fight a war that we have no strategy stake in.
AFAIAC, Joe Biden isn’t fading away in our rear view mirror anywhere near fast enough.
FJB.
The nation starts healing now
We’re going to supply the money, supply a lot of the money,
Whoa, there Don! What you mean “we”, Kemosabe? Where in the Constitution is the article allowing tax funds to be appropriated for acts of charity?
This is what leadership looks like. For some people, like Trump, leadership comes easily.
For people like the Biden and Harris’s of this world there is is quite literally nothing they could ever do that would ever be a good example of leadership. These last four years have shown us this.
It’s no secret that western NC didn’t vote for Biden so got nothing. I bet there are now a whole bunch of FEMA people clutching their short clothes with Trump saying he was going to bypass that whole defective agency and get American’s the help they need.
Burn it down, root and branch.
If Trump is consolidating security details, the FEMA offices down that way would be good candidates.
Carolinians were hammered by an Act of God.
Californians were hammered by acts of Democrats they eagerly elected.
First things first,
In the old days, before FEMA, the fedguv would just cut a grant check, and places like Carolina would use it to rebuild, while places like New Orleans or Los Angeles would divert the money to fancy marinas and State Pedrocare. Can’t have that graft with the people’s money, so invent a new fedguv agency that eats 20% of the funds to provide “oversight.” Then we get whole states ignored as political payback, and… oh look, National Pedrocare! Yeah, limiting the scope of the graft and saving the 20% would be a big win.
Now Trump should devolve TSA back to the airlines, for the very same reasons,
I imagine that this is but one of the disasters that was supposed to paralyze President Trump and his administration. But damn, he came, he saw, he heard from the people on the ground and came up with a plan.
Apparently, the people on the ground he listened to, knew exactly what needed to be done and in what order it needs to happen. Now cuts red tape, to get it done.
Leadership!
I am sure the President Trump actually listened to the people of North Carolina.
This is a true story. I was fortunate enough to meet Trump in 2016 running for president the first time. When he met you, anybody, he had a question for them..
There was a long line of people behind me. I’ve been watching him with the people in front of me. To each person, he asked a question or two. He expected an answer. And he repeated your answer.
He never once looked over your shoulder to see who was coming next. What politician do you know who will give you undivided attention for 30 seconds, a minute? Longer?
Donald Trump is a rare gem!
I have property in NC. We are right on the Continental Divide at 3k feet. We had 20 inches of rain. Fortunately we didn’t flood but that water went towards western NC and added to their misery. I’ve been to Asheville many times. Not only should FEMA be cut out of the recovery, Pam Bondi and the new AG for NC should start an immediate criminal investigation! Don’t let these bureaucrats hide behind “ I was told to do it”. It all goes uphill to the WH. Someone told FEMA to make it difficult for these people.
The leftists must be furious watching Trump undo the intentional damage they worked so hard to inflict on America over the past 4 years…..oh, the horror. This will be an excellent 4 years for the far left wingers who work as mental health counselors…..Prozac Nation 2.0.