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| Flooding in Chicago this past July. Donald Trump is blocking disaster aid to Illinois, probably mostly because he doesn't like the state's governor. |
The Trump administration turned down another request from Illinois to help the state recover from severe flash floods in July. That, according to the Washington Post, is despite a recent assessment detailing the the widespread damage and financial losses associated with the disaster.
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson in a statement tried to paint the Illinois detail as fiscal responsibility. "Gone are the days of rubber stamping FEMA recommendations," Jackson huffed, saying the Trump administration is "committed to empowering and working with State and federal governments to invest in their own resilience before disaster strikes, making response less urgent and recovery less prolonged."
In other words, states must somehow looked into their crystal balls, determine when and what kind of disasters will strike in the future and cough up the millions of dollars they don't have to do these mythical resiliency projects.
Of course, few believe Trump is trying to help Illinois.
First of all, Illinois is a blue state. More importantly, Trump is feuding with Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, because the governor objects to Trump's idea of sending the National Guard deployment in and around Chicago and legally dubious ICE arrests (some would say kidnappings) of people in Illinois.
Trump, ever the statesman, keeps insulting Pritzker over his weight (calling the governor a big fat slob on Wednesday) rather than actually dealing with the governor in a rational way. If we're going to get into body shaming, Trump isn't exactly the most svelte character I've ever seen.
Things have gotten so ridiculous in Illinois that, in early November, Illinois and Federal Emergency Management Agency officials had to remove personnel who were surveilling flood damage in Chicago neighborhoods.
Why? Because immigration agents were patrolling and conducting raids nearby, according to the Washington Post.
"The decision to halt the disaster assessment teams' work on Nov. 6 came amid an ongoing immigration crackdown in the city, leaving the coordinating state an agency officials worried that FEMA's efforts could put residents as well as surveyors at risk.
The shift meant about 10 groups of federal, state, county and local workers had to stop work surveying hundreds of homes that sustained heavy water damage in parts of the city hit hard by recent storms - assessments that help the federal agency document disaster impacts, and ca make a case for why an area may need help paying for recovery."
The whole thing seems suspicious.
Toward the end of October, FEMA's regional administrator told Homeland Security officials about upcoming surveys in the area, as a heads up to avoid conflicts with Homeland Security's immigration crackdowns in Chicago.
As WaPo explained, "It is unclear why immigration agents the ended up in the same place as emergency personnel. Multiple FEMA employees said there were discussions meant to prevent that from happening."
Instead, as FEMA workers set off into a flood-damaged neighborhood, they suddenly saw ICE vehicles and heard whistles - which is a warning people give when ICE comes into an area
So the assessments weren't done. Which might be part of the excuse as to why Trump keeps rejecting disaster aid for Illinois.
As if the fine citizen of Illinois would suddenly turn MAGA to keep our Orange Cockwomble happy.
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