Trump Cheating Blue States With Disaster Relief

Vermont received FEMA disaster aid after the 
catastrophic July, 2023 floods, shown here. But that
was during the Biden administration. If another 
flood happened now, Trump very likely wouldn't
approve disaster aid because too many 
Vermonters voted against him. It's Trump
disgusting retribution against perceived enemies

 Things have gotten so bad that if a disaster strikes your blue state, you won't get assistance because the Orange Cockwomble, Donald Trump is butt hurt you didn't vote for him.

As Politico reported on July 29,  Trump earlier this summer overruled his own agencies when he denied disaster aid for four Democratic-led states.

The latest issue involves New Jersey, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, who were seeking federal disaster funds to help recover from a massive, record-breaking blizzard this past February.

FEMA field offices verified that the damage qualified for disaster assistance, but Trump overruled them. Presidents have sole authority to grant disaster relief to states, but historically, until Trump, presidents never overruled the field offices. 

Presidents Since George W. Bush and before Trump approved all 69 state requests for snow assistance, except for one, Politico reports. The one denial was because FEMA funds had been mishandled. 

This is a continuation of Trump ignoring disasters in Democratic-led states. Politico says Trump has rejected disaster aid for Democratic-run states at the highest rate in the entire 47-year history of FEMA. Meanwhile, Trump has approved nearly 90 percent of disaster aid requests from states run by Republicans. 

Politico continues: "He approve just 23 percent of disaster funding requests from states with a Democratic governor and two Democratic senators since returning to office 14 months ago. For states with a Republican governor and two Republican senators, it's the opposite - Trump has approved 89 percent of their requests."

In all previous administrations, there has been no discernible bias in presidential disaster declarations.  Democratic and Republican-led states got equal treatment. Until Trump. 

Interestingly, during the first Trump administration, his pattern of approving disaster assistance almost exactly matched previous administrations. It was only during the current term that the disparity became apparent. 

Since taking office for his second term, the Associated Press says Trump has approved 65 requests for major disaster declarations and denied more than two dozen others. 

On top of all that, Trump is taking longer to declare disasters than any other presidential administration.

Trump's spokesperson Abigail Jackson, wrote, "There is no politicization to the President's decisions on disaster relief."

Riiiiiight.  

Jackson also explains the slow approval on Trump conducting a more thorough review than any administration before him.  Yes, of course, sure. Can I do a rolling eye emoji here?

Democrats in Congress have asked the Government Accountability office to look into the criteria of how FEMA determines whether to recommend disaster declarations from Trump. But even if there's some sort of smoking gun at FEMA, that won't stop Trump from politicizing all current and future disasters. 

Two of the most recent disasters to hit the United States were the severe floods in Indiana and the extreme wildfires in and around Spokane, Washington.  Indiana is a red state. Washington is a blue state.

Two different states, two different disasters. But both have caused a lot of heartache and loss for residents of those states

Will Trump help Indiana and snub Washington? My guess is yes. 

It should be obvious to everyone except Trump and his minions that economically strapped individual, towns and states can't handle mega disasters on their own. But Trump only cares about himself. 

We knew that before he became president. But too many Americans didn't care, and here we are. 

 

Indiana Mobile Home Park Owners Ban Air Conditioners For Vulnerable Residents

A chain of mobile home communities is banning window
air conditioning units like this one. The policy is a danger
to elderly and ill people living in these units. 

Every one in awhile, a local news story captures my attention and enrages me. 

Which brings us to a mobile home community in South Bend, Indiana.  

As television station WNDU reports, the Countryside Village mobile home park does not allow window air conditioning units. 

Many of  Countryside Village's residents are elderly.  Older people are especially vulnerable to the effects of hot weather .

WNDU interviewed a gentleman named Charles Hicks, a disabled veteran who lives in the mobile home park.  

He was ordered  by the mobile home park owners to remove his window air conditioner. The heat immediately built up his his home, and he found himself struggling to breathe.  

The television station interviewed Hicks on June 29, when the high temperature in South Bend reached 91 degrees. That day, he said, "By the end of the week, am I still going to be here? Or will I be in the hospital? Fighting for my life?"

The next day, a day with a high 92 degrees, Hicks was in the hospital, overcome by the heat. 

As in many mobile home parks, most residents own the home, but the land the homes sit on is owned by Countryside Village. 

But this is much bigger than one mobile part in Indiana. 

Countryside Village is owned by Yes Communities, one of the largest manufactured home parks in the United States, with roughly 270 parks and 77,000 home sites, notes pestakeholder.org.

All the Yes Communities ban window air conditioners. Residents can install central air conditioners, but that's much more  expensive than most residents can afford. They can also purchase portable air conditioners, but those are ineffective and don't readily disperse the heat from mobile homes. 

The Yes Communities policy has drawn complaints from around the country,  notes pestakeholder. org. At Five Seasons in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, one resident worried about her husband, "If he gets too hot, he could go into seizures, and it can really harm him."

In Denton, Texas, a resident at a Yes Communities mobile home park said of the window air conditioner ban: "I'm on disability, I've got multiple sclerosis and diabetes, so I can't regulate my body temperature as well as everyone else, and my living room is 103 degrees right now."

These quotes have come from news stories over the past three years. So this isn't a new issue. As noted, many residents of these mobile home communities are older. 

According to Harvard Medicine:

"Studies show that it can be hard for even healthy older adults to tell when it's too hot or if they're dehydrated. Cognitive decline exacerbates these problems. Older bodies also hold more heat than younger ones when the temperature climbs. Glands don't release as much sweat. The heart doesn't circulate blood as well, so less heat is released from vessels in the skin. Systems from the cardiovascular to the immune struggle to compensate."

I'm not sure why Yes Communities officials seem not to care about their residents' health. They have not  responded to inquiries from news agencies about the air conditioner issue. 

It's not as if nobody tried to help these residents. Indiana State Senator David Niezgodski introduced a resolution in the summer session to get lawmakers would take a good look at the issue. Nothing happened. Legislators said there were too many other things to deal with in the brief session. 

Niezgodski said he would try again next year to prevent landlords from banning window air conditioners. 

WNDU continues: 

"South Bend Common Councilwoman Sheila Niezgodski, who is married to Sen. Neizgodski, also weighed in. 

"What message are you sending to our seniors here? Sorry, you just have to languish. You just have to suffer through the heat. When we know that they're one of the most vulnerable populations that are susceptible to heat strokes. I'm really just having a hard time understanding the reasoning behind a policy that is so harmful," she said. 

Other states are also taking action. After a deadly 2021 heat wave, Oregon enacted a law that prohibits landlords from banning portable air conditioners. That includes window units. 

Even so, there are loopholes. A landlord can still ban windows air conditioners if they violate state or federal building codes. Some landlords are using that loophole to stop these air conditioners. 

Washington State also passed a law similar to Oregon's. That came over the objections of landlord lobbying groups. 

As for the mobile homes parks owned by Yes Communities, there might or might not be a sign relief. A private equity company called Brookfield is in the process of acquiring Yes Communities. I don't entirely trust private equities, but maybe they will rescind the air conditioner ban? One can only hope.