The Republican president has criticized former President Joe Biden for his administration's response in North Carolina. Trump also believes the Democrat government in California should have taken steps that would have helped reduce the impact of the devastating wildfires there.
Laurie Carpenter, a 62-year-old retiree in Newland, North Carolina, said she's looking forward to Trump visiting because she's been disappointed by the federal response. She said there's still debris and trash strewn around her part of the state months after Hurricane Helene.
“If anybody’s going to do something about it, I think he will,” Carpenter said.
Trump tapped Cameron Hamilton, a former Navy SEAL, as FEMA’s acting director. He also said that individual states should be in charge of directing response to natural disasters rather than FEMA, and that the federal government should only step in subsequently to provide funding.
The White House has asked California congressional members, including Democrats, to hold a roundtable at an airplane hanger in Santa Monica during Trump’s visit, according to a person briefed on the plans who demanded anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss them.
After visiting North Carolina and California, Trump plans to hold a Saturday rally in Las Vegas. Advisers said he will offer details on keeping a campaign promise to exclude tips from federal taxes, while reveling in having won Nevada in an Election Day upset.
“I’m going to go to Nevada to thank them,” Trump said. He was the first Republican candidate to win the state since 2004, when George W. Bush beat John Kerry.
