While over 200 are dead and the toll keeps rising, convicted felon Donald Trump is now stealing millions of dollars from Hurricane Helene victims.
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On Thursday, Septembe r 26th, a category 4 hurricane made landfall on Florida's Gulf Coast with winds exceeding 130 miles per hour. By Friday the 27th, crews in Florida, Georgia, North and South Carolina were conducting water rescues. And people were being air-lifted from the roof of a flooded hospital in Tennessee, 512 miles inland from the nearest point of the Atlantic Ocean.
At the time of this recording, we don't know yet how many people will be found alive or not from this tragedy and insurance experts estimate the losses financially could exceed $160 billion.
But on Monday, September 30th, Donald Trump visited Georgia and his team set up this press conference with a small wall built from bricks of the destroyed building behind them. In front of Trump was his press and his secret service blocking off the roads that emergency crews needed to use to help save victims still trapped in their homes. But I'm glad Donald got a good photo op from the devastation.
When he landed in Georgia, Trump said President Joe Biden was "sleeping" and not responding to Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, a Republican. During the press conference, Trump said "The governor's doing a very good job...He's having a hard time getting the president on the phone. Federal government is not being responsive."
But you should know, Governor Brian Kemp, again a Republican, said "The president just called me yesterday afternoon and I missed [President Biden's call] and called him right back and he just said 'Hey, what do you need?' And I told him, you know, we've got what we need, we'll work through the federal process...[President Biden] offered if there are other things we need just to call him directly, which I appreciate that."
First off, even if it was true - which again, it is not - that Biden refuses to help affected areas of Helene, it would be hypocritical of Trump to say a president had a terrible response to a disaster. In 2018 when Trump was president and when wildfires broke out in California, Trump refused to approve wildfire aid until he learned affected areas were MAGA supporting areas. And just earlier this year, Trump v owed that if he were reelected, he would block wildfire funding to California if Governor Newsom isn't more friendly to him.
Now, Newsom and I may not agree on everything and he's a governor so he should be open to criticism but blocking aid to help victims of forest fires because he won't be your best friend is the most narcissistic thing I've ever heard and I've been editing Trump speeches for 8 years now.
So, the governors of states affected by Helene are in constant communication with President Biden and Vice President Harris according to republican governors including Kemp from Georgia and DeSantis from Florida. So, why lie about such a thing? Well, in lying about how terrible of a response Biden and Harris are having to the disaster, it opens the door for an opportunity. If the federal government doesn't have the resources, why not a private company help out?
That is where this comes in. Just after his press conference in Georgia in front of a makeshift brick wall, a fundraiser was started on GoFundMe called "Support Hurricane Helene Victims - Trump Authorized". But the fundraiser was not organized by Trump himself so why does it say it's authorized by Trump?
Well, for that answer, we just need to look at who did organize it. It's a woman named Meredith ORourke. That name might not ring a bell but Meredith is the National Finance Director and Senior Advisor to Donald Trump's presidential campaign.
The description of this fundraiser says that "...Trump has launched this GoFundMe campaign as an official response for MAGA supporters to offer their financial assistance to their fellow Americans impacted by Hurricane Helene...All donations will be directed to help those most affected by Hurricane Helene." And in big, bold text they say, "Any level of generosity will go a long way for your fellow Americans who are suffering."
You might be wondering, if Trump really wanted to help victims, there are plenty of charities already on the ground helping those victims so why not just send out a link on social media, asking people to donate directly to those causes? Why go through GoFundMe and give the victims 3% less after processing fees?
It makes no sense unless there's a reason you don't want donations going right into the non-profit organizations themselves. But Trump supporters don't really see that as a problem. Some of the biggest donors so far have been Steve Witkoff, a long-time friend of Donald and donor of Trump's campaign and Former Senator Kelly Loeffler from Georgia who both gave half a million dollars each. Other big donors include Bass Pro Shops, Kid Rock, Alliance Motors, and more.
At the time of this recording, the campaign reached over $4.6 million and it will likely climb even more by the time this episode airs - and if so, there will be an updated amount listed here taken immediately before we post this episode.
But you might notice one name missing from the donor list, Donald Trump. He apparently authorized this GoFundMe so why doesn't he pull out his big checkbook and be the top donor? Well, that's because he very well likely is the benefactor of the campaign.
Remember, the campaign says funds will go to "help those most affected by Hurricane Helene." But Trump is someone who owns a property that was hit by the hurricane. He owns Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida which was hit hard by the storm. So, Trump has a legal claim to say he is a victim of the hurricane.
But don't worry. It's not like Trump has a long-standing history of scamming Americans out of millions of dollars - I say sarcastically, knowing our previous episode this week discussed how Trump stole over $636.7 million from taxpayers.
And by the way, hundreds of people who commented on that video were Trump supporters who all seemed to have a common message. They all seem to celebrate the fact that Trump stole money from them. For example, this comment from an account we redacted for this episode to spare you from supporting a Trump channel, says "Haha YES! Trump 2024! Biden stole millions which is Amateur Hour compared to Trump's HUNDREDS of millions." I wish this was just someone trying to joke but hundreds of comments were celebrating the fact that Trump stole money and falsely claimed Biden stole money too without any evidence of such actions.
Hundreds of other comments were from regular Americans who graciously shared with us their hardships and sometimes even described how they live under the poverty line, and yet they paid more in taxes than Donald Trump did. Reading those comments was heartbreaking but our team sincerely thanks everyone who shared their stories with us.
So, yet again we are faced with an impossible question. How do we stop a man from stealing millions of dollars when the republican-led congress won't even question him. The federal courts won't prosecute him because he appointed many of them to their positions. And half the country, not only doesn't care that their money is being stolen - while at the same time being so butt hurt over gas prices and food being a bit more expensive - but they're genuinely proud of how much he stole.
I wish I could say they've learned their lesson in a "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me" situation. But after reporting on this, I realized, the issue is not that Trump supporters don't know he's stealing from them because they are perfectly aware he's stealing from them. But the true issue is, they don't care because Trump really is like a savior figure to them. And this GoFundMe campaign just proves, no matter how sketchy it looks, Trump supporters seemingly will always open their wallets anytime Donny boy asks them for more money.
I really wish I could say the worst thing Trump ever did in the fact of a hurricane was draw permanent marker on a map. And I wish I could say that stealing from the victims of a hurricane is the worst thing he's ever done. But then I remember, Trump's family literally stole from a children's cancer charity in 2017. So, this election was and will always be between a tin man who will rob anyone, no matter what hardship they're going through and a woman who actually has a heart and will use it to help those in need.
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