I spent the morning looking into whether Donald Trump plays favorites with disaster relief, favoring red states over blue states. The answer seems to be inconclusive.
For example, after severe flooding hit Kerr County a few days ago, a solidly Republican area represented by Chip Roy, Trump quickly approved a major disaster declaration, unlocking federal aid almost instantly. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Texas would get whatever it needed, no questions asked.
California, on the other hand, a blue state, got a colder reception. Just hours before the Texas decision, Trump’s wildfire advisor, Ric Grenell, publicly attacked Governor Gavin Newsom. Grenell said he told Trump to hold back aid unless California changed its environmental policies. The message was clear: wildfires in blue states aren't natural disaster but simply Democratic failures.
Trump has also clearly connected disaster aid to unrelated political demands, putting forward the idea that California should pass stricter voter ID laws to qualify for more help. In other words: do you want funding for your burning forests, then show us some voter reform first.
My home state of Washington was denied federal aid after a bomb cyclone, just as North Carolina didn’t get full reimbursement after Hurricane Helene. Both are blue states.
There’s also talk that Trump wants to phase out FEMA after this hurricane season, forcing states to manage disaster response on their own. That might be easier to accept if aid wasn’t already being handed out like a partisan prize, red states win, blue states lose.
Contradicting my statements above, it seems that, in 2024, states Trump won got slightly less FEMA money per person than those won by Kamala Harris, but that still doesn't change the fact that Trump has verbally linked political considerations with getting disaster help.
Whether a state is red or blue should be irrelevant to getting help during natural disasters.
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