Clay T<p>Further to this disgraceful story, Politico’s Scott Waldman & Thomas Frank write in their recent article that “Trump initially refused to give California wildfire aid because it’s a blue state, ex-aide says” (1).</p><p>I repeat, for the benefit of <a href="https://mastodon.au/tags/American" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>American</span></a> readers, our experience of this kind of <a href="https://mastodon.au/tags/politicisation" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>politicisation</span></a> of <a href="https://mastodon.au/tags/disasters" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>disasters</span></a> in Australia: we had a <a href="https://mastodon.au/tags/conservative" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>conservative</span></a> prime minister that in 2022 was faced with massive <a href="https://mastodon.au/tags/floods" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>floods</span></a> and <a href="https://mastodon.au/tags/politicised" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>politicised</span></a> the response to them: <a href="https://mastodon.au/tags/funding" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>funding</span></a> his party’s seats and states but not the other party’s seats and states (2). What happened to that prime minister is instructive: he led his party to the next <a href="https://mastodon.au/tags/election" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>election</span></a> and was soundly <a href="https://mastodon.au/tags/defeated" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>defeated</span></a>: recording the worst result for Australia’s <a href="https://mastodon.au/tags/centre" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>centre</span></a>-right <a href="https://mastodon.au/tags/governing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>governing</span></a> parties in seventy years. The state <a href="https://mastodon.au/tags/government" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>government</span></a> that benefited most from the disaster funding also lost office.</p><p>When the election results begin to come in on Tuesday <a href="https://mastodon.au/tags/Nov5" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Nov5</span></a> and the former <a href="https://mastodon.au/tags/POTUS" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>POTUS</span></a> inevitably starts <a href="https://mastodon.au/tags/lying" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>lying</span></a> about another ‘stolen election’, spare a thought for those in states affected by <a href="https://mastodon.au/tags/Helene" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Helene</span></a> who <a href="https://mastodon.au/tags/flipped" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>flipped</span></a> their <a href="https://mastodon.au/tags/vote" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>vote</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.au/tags/blue" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>blue</span></a> after Trump’s disgusting behaviour following the <a href="https://mastodon.au/tags/hurricane" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>hurricane</span></a>: it will be these <a href="https://mastodon.au/tags/voters" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>voters</span></a>, amongst many others, that he will be trying to <a href="https://mastodon.au/tags/disenfranchise" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>disenfranchise</span></a>.</p><p>(1) <a href="https://www.eenews.net/articles/helene-isnt-the-first-time-trump-inserted-politics-into-a-natural-disaster/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">eenews.net/articles/helene-isn</span><span class="invisible">t-the-first-time-trump-inserted-politics-into-a-natural-disaster/</span></a></p><p>(2) <a href="https://www.sstuwa.org.au/WesternTeacher/20/volume-513-april-2022/man-who-should-not-be-pm" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">sstuwa.org.au/WesternTeacher/2</span><span class="invisible">0/volume-513-april-2022/man-who-should-not-be-pm</span></a></p><p><a href="https://mastodon.au/tags/2024Election" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>2024Election</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.au/tags/uspol" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>uspol</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.au/tags/uspolitics" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>uspolitics</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.au/tags/VoteBlue" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>VoteBlue</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.au/tags/HarrisWalz2024" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>HarrisWalz2024</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.au/tags/HarrisWalzLandslide2024" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>HarrisWalzLandslide2024</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.au/tags/HarrisWalzBringHope" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>HarrisWalzBringHope</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.au/tags/WereNotGoingBack" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>WereNotGoingBack</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.au/tags/ANewWayForward" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ANewWayForward</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.au/tags/VoteKamala" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>VoteKamala</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.au/tags/Harris" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Harris</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.au/tags/KamalaHarris" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>KamalaHarris</span></a></p>