Trump on Disaster Relief… is a Disaster

Natural disasters occur all over the US, and part of the role of the federal government is to help out states in recovery. Except… Trump seems to think Democratic states deserve disasters, and withholds aid based on his political needs. Federal Disaster Aid in Democratic & Republican States An article earlier this year in Politico included data showing Trump was using disaster relief funding denials and delays for political punishment. [1] This was recently confirmed by some Associated Press reporting picked up by Boston’s PBS station, WBUR. [2] Let’s see what’s going on there. First, Trump in general seems to be denying state applications for disaster relief at an overall historical low: President Donald Trump has rejected disaster aid for Democratic-run states at the highest rate in the 47-year history of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. But his denials have been politically extremely biased, as shown in the plots over time of the number of grants approved in red/blue states…