Texas Weekly Online

Eye of the Storm: Back-to-back hurricanes threaten to upend Harris-Trump presidential showdown

Eye of the Storm: Back-to-back hurricanes threaten to upend Harris-Trump presidential showdown

As the death toll rises and roughly a quarter of a million people remain without power or running water a week and a half after Hurricane Helen tore a path of destruction through the southeast United States, another powerful storm is bearing down on the region. Hurricane Milton, now an extremely dangerous Category 5 storm, is on course to slam into Florida Wednesday evening. With four weeks to go until Election Day in November and Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Trump locked in a bitter margin-of-error showdown in the race to succeed President Biden in the White House, and with two of the hardest-hit states from Helene — North Carolina and Georgia — among the seven key battlegrounds that will likely determine the outcome of the 2024 election – the politics of federal disaster relief are once again front and center on the campaign trail. Trump has been attacking the vice president and her boss over the federal response to Hurricane Helene for well over a week. Harris, on Monday, fired back, accusing Trump of pushing “a lot of mis and disinformation.”  HEAD HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS WEATHER UPDATES ON HURRICANE MILTON The former president has repeatedly charged that Biden and Harris have been incompetant in their handling of rescue and recovery efforts. “It is going down as the WORST & MOST INCOMPETENTLY MANAGED ‘STORM,’ AT THE FEDERAL LEVEL, EVER SEEN BEFORE,” Trump claimed last week. On Monday, he argued in a social media post that the administration’s storm response was “the WORST rescue operation in the history of the U.S.” And Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, charged Monday in a “Fox and Friends” interview that the administration’s efforts were “incompetence of the highest order.” The Trump campaign, in announcing Vance would hold a town hall Thursday in Greensboro, North Carolina, argued that Harris “completely left North Carolina behind in the wake of devastation post-Hurricane Helene.” And in a blatant pitch for votes, the former president claimed that “NORTH CAROLINA HAS BEEN VIRTUALLY ABANDONED BY KAMALA!!! DROP HER LIKE SHE DROPPED YOU – VOTE FOR PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP. MAGA2024!” CLICK HERE FOR UP-TO-DATE FOX NEWS REPORTING ON THE STORMS Trump’s repeatedly made unsubstantiated claims as he’s targeted Biden and Harris – among them that Republican Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia had been unable to reach Biden when Helene first tore through the Peach State. Kemp later confirmed that he had already been in contact with the president. Despite the untruths from the former president, he did beat Biden and Harris to the scene, surveying the storm-damaged region two days before they did last week. The optics put the president and vice president on defense, and they’ve been forced to repeatedly correct the record. The White House has publicized FEMA’s [Federal Emergency Management Agency] efforts in assisting the hard-hit states. Biden made back-to-back trips to the southeast last Wednesday and Thursday, as he stopped in the four hardest hit states, and Harris also made two trips to survey damage. Huddled with Democratic and Republican politicians from the region last week, Biden emphasized that “in a moment like this, we put politics aside, at least we should put it all aside. We have here — there are no Democrats or Republicans, only Americans — our job is to help as many people as we can, as quickly as we can, and as thoroughly as we can.” Trump – along with his allies – has repeatedly aimed to tie the storm response to the combustible issue of border security, as he claimed that FEMA funds for the rescue and relief efforts in North Carolina were being diverted to support undocumented migrants. The Harris campaign, firing back, said that Trump and Vance and their allies have been “pushing debunked lies about Hurricane Helene response.” A top North Carolina Republican – Sen. Thom Tillis – asked about the charges, said on the Sunday talk shows that “I believe that we have to stay focused on rescue operations, recovery operations, clearing operations, and we don’t need any of these distractions on the ground.” Harris, on Monday, called Trump’s actions “extraordinarily irresponsible.” “It’s about him. It’s not about you. And the reality is that FEMA has so many resources that are available to folks who desperately need them now, and resources that are about helping people get back on their feet and rebuild and have places to go,” Harris emphasized. But longtime Republican strategist David Kochel noted that Trump had been “very aggressive” with his initial quick trip to the storm-damaged region.  “I think he put a lot of pressure on them to try to do something,” Kochel, a veteran of numerous GOP presidential campaigns, told Fox News. “He’s out there pushing a line that they don’t care, they’re not doing anything, and I think they’re reacting to it.” Now, with Hurricane Milton bearing down on Florida, the Biden administration highlighted their efforts in a release headlined “Federal Assistance for Hurricane Helene Exceeds $210 Million, FEMA Prepares for Dual Response with Hurricane Milton Strengthening as it Moves Toward Gulf Coast of Florida.” As Biden declared a state of emergency in Florida on Monday, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida said during a news conference that 5,000 National Guardsmen had been mobilized in his state, with another 3,000 on the way. “We have gotten what we need from the feds,” DeSantis said. “The president has approved what we asked for….I’m thankful for that.. Everything we’ve asked for from President Biden, he’s approved.” This is far from the first time that a tropical storm has impacted a presidential race. Then-President George H.W. Bush took a political hit over FEMA’s disorganized efforts to provide relief in Florida from Hurricane Andrew, which pounded the then-key battleground state weeks before Election Day. Fast-forward a decade and his son – then-President George W. Bush – likely enjoyed a political bounce in Florida during his 2004 re-election thanks to his aggressive response to Hurricane Charley, which hit

1 year after Hezbollah strikes, Israel reinforces troops and questions mount over ‘limited’ operation

1 year after Hezbollah strikes, Israel reinforces troops and questions mount over ‘limited’ operation

One week after Israel launched a ground incursion into Lebanon and one year after Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, in support of Hamas, Jerusalem reinforced its troops fighting inside Lebanon with a third division, prompting immediate questions over the extent of its “limited” operations in Lebanon. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Sunday sent troops from its 91st Division, also known as the Galilee Formation, to join forces already in Lebanon hunting down Hezbollah strongholds.  The 91st Division, traditionally responsible for overseeing security for the entirety of the border with Lebanon, will reinforce efforts already being carried out by two other divisions. AMERICAN FATHER OF HAMAS HOSTAGE ITAY CHEN PUSHES US, ISRAEL ON ‘PLAN B’ AS NEGOTIATIONS FALTER Israel’s initial advance into Lebanon was led by soldiers from the 98th Division on Oct. 1, which encompassed paratroopers, elite commandos and the 7th Armored Brigade, who were transferred to northern Israel from the border with Gaza in early September for training, reported the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) Long War Journal on Sunday ahead of the IDF announcement. “Forces from the Commando Brigade, including soldiers from the Egoz Unit, located and destroyed a Hezbollah attack infrastructure, which included a rocket launcher, explosive stockpiles, and additional military equipment,” the IDF said of the initial operation. Though Hezbollah’s response was fairly muted as many were believed to have retreated ahead of the incursion, at least nine IDF soldiers were killed between Oct. 1-2 during one of the opening battles in Lebanon, confirmed the Long War Journal. Reinforcements from the IDF’s 36th Division, including the Golani infantry, 188th Armored Brigade and the 6th Reserve Infantry Brigade were then sent in, according to reports last week.  Following the Israeli incursion – a security measure that the U.S. and other international allies warned Jerusalem against – IDF spokesperson Rear. Adm. Daniel Hagari said Israel would not push its ground forces north toward Beirut and would instead focus on securing the villages near the border. Jerusalem has said the operation in Lebanon is necessary to secure the area so some 60,000 Israelis from northern Israel could return home, though data collected by the FDD shows that some 150,000 Israelis have evacuated from the northern border areas.  IDF MEETS LITTLE RESISTANCE FROM HEZBOLLAH AFTER WEEKS OF HITTING TERROR TARGETS, OFFICIALS SAY Hagari said the incursion would be “limited” and take “days” to “weeks” to complete.  But the renewed support of additional troops on Monday prompted questions over the scope of Israel’s plans in southern Lebanon, including from the U.S. State Department on Monday.  In response to questions from reporters regarding Israel’s operations in Lebanon, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said, “We’re watching this very closely.” “We support their ability to target militants, to degrade Hezbollah’s infrastructure, to degrade Hezbollah’s capability. But we are very cognizant of the many times in the past where Israel has gone in on what looked like limited operations and has stayed for months or for years,” he added. “And ultimately, that’s not the outcome that we want to see.” Israel has not announced any additional plans for its ground forces and said the IDF Divisions have engaged in “targeted, limited, and localized operations” in southern Lebanon to destroy Hezbollah’s infrastructure. But one security expert with the FDD pointed out that Israel could be taking precautionary steps to build up its force in the region should Israel decide it needs to bolster its ability to go after Hezbollah even further. “What the Israelis have been doing is gradually ratcheting up pressure on Hezbollah to make the price of continuing to attack in support of Gaza too costly for the organization,” David Daoud, senior fellow at FDD specializing in Hezbollah and Lebanon, told Fox News Digital.  Daoud explained that in the wake of the Oct. 8 attacks, Israel and Hezbollah engaged in “mutual attrition,” continuing to strike one another but rarely taking the level of attack beyond aerial bombardments, unlike the attacks carried out by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023.  ISRAEL’S GROUND INVASION INTO LEBANON IMMINENT AS CABINET APPROVES NEXT PHASE OF THE WAR This level of engagement shifted after Israel’s telecommunication device operation in which it allegedly detonated some 5,000 pagers previously distributed to Hezbollah operatives, killing more than three dozen and wounding nearly 3,000 others in a coordinated attack in late September.  Israel has not taken credit for the attacks, but according to open-source data compiled by the FDD in its latest interactive report dubbed “Road to the Third Lebanon War, Mapping the War of Attrition,” the event was a clear launching point in which Jerusalem drastically changed its modus operandi when it came to countering Hezbollah. On Sept. 22, Israel carried out its most significant bombardment against the terrorist group than at any other point since the Oct. 8, 2023,attacks, firing some 1,182 strikes, nearly five times the number of attacks it fired during its second-heaviest strike campaign on Feb. 11, 2024, when 239 strikes were fired, the FDD found.  “I would call it a kind of proactive attrition,” said Daoud, who co-authored the FDD report. “The Israelis are no longer keeping a balance of attrition, they’re really weighing heavily on Hezbollah without going to a full ground invasion.” The expert explained that the IDF is “ratcheting up pressure” on Hezbollah in an attempt to get it to back off its support for Hamas, a similar strategy it has taken in Gaza in an attempt to persuade Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar to hand over the hostages.  The merits of this approach are debatable as hostages remain in Hamas captivity despite the immense pains the IDF has caused in the Gaza Strip, and Daoud questioned whether this tactic would be effective against Hezbollah, an organization that is more sophisticated, better armed, better financed and more entwined in Lebanese society. “I don’t see Hezbollah backing down, even at this level of pain that the Israelis are inflicting upon them,” Daoud said. “So a ground invasion may become necessary, and you

House GOP targets Biden ‘social cost’ policy for rising energy prices

House GOP targets Biden ‘social cost’ policy for rising energy prices

FIRST ON FOX – House Republicans are moving to roll back a progressive Obama-era regulatory metric for greenhouse gas emissions, arguing that it’s sandbagging the U.S. energy sector by using “nonscientific” standards. “North Carolinians are struggling to fill up their tanks and pay their electricity bills. The last thing they are worried about is the ‘social cost’ of energy,” Rep. Richard Hudson, R-N.C., told Fox News Digital. “We need to be unleashing American energy to lower prices, not crippling production with burdensome, costly regulations.” Hudson, who also chairs the National Republican Congressional Committee, is leading 12 fellow GOP lawmakers in introducing a bill to stop federal agencies using the “social cost of carbon” when creating new regulations for the U.S. energy sector. HOUSE PASSES BILL BLOCKING BIDEN ADMIN ATTEMPT TO REQUIRE TWO-THIRDS OF NEW CARS TO BE ELECTRIC WITHIN YEARS Models calculating the “social cost” of greenhouse gases use several factors, including population health, sea level changes, economic impacts and other human-felt costs. Because of the vastly different indicators, “social cost” emissions projections can vary widely, according to the Brookings Institute. It was first used as a federal regulatory tool under the Obama administration but was rolled back by former President Trump. President Biden made it part of his clean energy plan when he took office, directing a task force to study where federal agencies should consider the “social cost of greenhouse gases” as part of an executive order titled “Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science to Tackle the Climate Crisis.” BIDEN-HARRIS EV MANDATES WILL HURT WORKERS IN STATES LIKE MICHIGAN: TUDOR DIXON Democrats have held it up as a necessary tool that presents a more holistic picture for the long-term harms of carbon pollution. Republicans, however, have criticized the metric as a nonscientific tool that’s responsible for burdensome regulations. Republican Study Committee Chair Kevin Hern, R-Okla., a co-sponsor of the bill, said the “social cost” metric and the Biden administration’s green energy push overall was pushing gas prices up. EXPERTS RIP ‘TRIPLE CROWN OF BAD REGS’ AS BIDEN ADMIN POSTS GAS STOVE RULE IT DENIED WAS A BAN “It’s just a fact that government interference in the energy industry has directly contributed to these rising costs. No more manipulated studies and biased research – the American people deserve transparent and honest information,” Hern told Fox News Digital. Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, another co-sponsor of the bill, said, “The Biden-Harris White House has proven their willingness to hide behind biased and flawed research to advance their war against American energy producers.” “The White House should unleash clean, affordable American energy to bring costs down for the American people,” he said. The White House did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

‘Social cost of greenhouse gases’: House GOP targets progressive Biden policy for rising energy prices

‘Social cost of greenhouse gases’: House GOP targets progressive Biden policy for rising energy prices

FIRST ON FOX: House Republicans are moving to roll back a progressive Obama-era regulatory metric for greenhouse gas emissions, arguing that it’s sandbagging the U.S. energy sector by using “nonscientific” standards. “North Carolinians are struggling to fill up their tanks and pay their electricity bills. The last thing they are worried about is the ‘social cost’ of energy,” Rep. Richard Hudson, R-N.C., told Fox News Digital. “We need to be unleashing American energy to lower prices, not crippling production with burdensome, costly regulations.” Hudson, who also chairs the National Republican Congressional Committee, is leading 12 fellow GOP lawmakers in introducing a bill to stop federal agencies using the “social cost of carbon” when creating new regulations for the U.S. energy sector. HOUSE PASSES BILL BLOCKING BIDEN ADMIN ATTEMPT TO REQUIRE TWO-THIRDS OF NEW CARS TO BE ELECTRIC WITHIN YEARS Models calculating the “social cost” of greenhouse gases use several factors, including population health, sea level changes, economic impacts and other human-felt costs. Because of the vastly different indicators, “social cost” emissions projections can vary widely, according to the Brookings Institute. It was first used as a federal regulatory tool under the Obama administration but was rolled back by former President Trump. President Biden made it part of his clean energy plan when he took office, directing a task force to study where federal agencies should consider the “social cost of greenhouse gases” as part of an executive order titled “Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science to Tackle the Climate Crisis.” BIDEN-HARRIS EV MANDATES WILL HURT WORKERS IN STATES LIKE MICHIGAN: TUDOR DIXON Democrats have held it up as a necessary tool that presents a more holistic picture for the long-term harms of carbon pollution. Republicans, however, have criticized the metric as a nonscientific tool that’s responsible for burdensome regulations. Republican Study Committee Chair Kevin Hern, R-Okla., a co-sponsor of the bill, said the “social cost” metric and the Biden administration’s green energy push overall was pushing gas prices up. EXPERTS RIP ‘TRIPLE CROWN OF BAD REGS’ AS BIDEN ADMIN POSTS GAS STOVE RULE IT DENIED WAS A BAN “It’s just a fact that government interference in the energy industry has directly contributed to these rising costs. No more manipulated studies and biased research – the American people deserve transparent and honest information,” Hern told Fox News Digital. Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, another co-sponsor of the bill, said, “The Biden-Harris White House has proven their willingness to hide behind biased and flawed research to advance their war against American energy producers.” “The White House should unleash clean, affordable American energy to bring costs down for the American people,” he said. The White House did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Kamala 2.0’s challenge? Making more news, and not just with ultra-friendly hosts

Kamala 2.0’s challenge? Making more news, and not just with ultra-friendly hosts

For well over a month, Kamala Harris rode a wave of the most positive press any presidential candidate has gotten in two decades, and her own skills, to turn what had been a lost cause for the Democrats into an extremely tight race. But does she have a second act? Kamala 2.0, under constant attack by Donald Trump and the Republicans, doesn’t have much new to say. She is conducting a play-it-safe campaign, like a basketball team sitting on a lead and running out the clock. But Harris doesn’t have a lead in the three “blue wall” midwestern states she needs to win, and the loss of any one of them could hand Trump the presidency once again. VANCE-WALZ VP DEBATE ENDED IN A ‘DRAW’: DEMOCRAT REP. DEBBIE DINGELL For all the focus on Pennsylvania, Harris leads by 0.7 percent in Michigan – a statistical tie, based on the Real Clear Politics average. On Sunday’s “Media Buzz,” Democratic Rep. Debbie Dingell told me her state could go either way.  “The vice president has a problem with union workers,” Dingell said. “Many of the men, as well as, quite frankly, African-American young men who have said to me, I was with a group with them last week. ‘You know what, Donald Trump talks to us. Democrats take us for granted.’” The lawmaker recalls how “everybody got mad at me” when she predicted in 2016 that Trump would win Michigan – which he did, along with Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. A major problem for Harris is that she doesn’t seem to know how to make news. With less than 30 days to go, with many voters understandably believing they don’t know her, or enough about her policies, since she took over for Joe Biden, the VP is stitching together parts of her stump speech and recycling the same anecdotes virtually verbatim. A presidential candidate has to deliver a few new lines, a new proposal, something to break into the news cycle, which is currently being dominated by Trump.  So what’s on this week’s agenda? Kamala will sit down with Howard Stern (who is totally against his old pal Donald); “The View,” where the ladies despise Trump, and Stephen Colbert, who hosted fundraisers for Joe Biden in 2020 and this year. For good measure, she’s also spoken to Alex Cooper, whose podcast, “Call Your Daddy,” is about sex. WHY VANCE EASILY BEAT WALZ IN DEBATE, SOFTENING HIS IMAGE IN THE PROCESS I’ll go out on a limb here and say these sessions are designed to be friendly – not unlike the conversation with MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle, who kept agreeing with Harris and had just pronounced Trump a danger to democracy.  In fairness, Harris also sat for a “60 Minutes” interview, an invitation declined by Trump. Look, there’s nothing wrong with candidates showing their softer side with unorthodox outlets in our fragmented media universe. We’ve come a long way since critics scoffed at candidate Bill Clinton answering the “boxers or briefs” question on MTV, calling it unpresidential.  On “Call Your Daddy,” Harris was actually quite thoughtful in responding to Sarah Huckabee Sanders saying that her kids keep her humble and the VP doesn’t have anyone to keep her humble.  Rather than jab at the Arkansas governor, which would have produced a cheap headline, she ruminated that families come in all shapes, bound by blood or love, that she is deeply involved with her stepchildren, and this isn’t the 1950s anymore. They also discussed, uh, tampons. Still, the party is getting nervous. “Democratic operatives, including some of Kamala Harris’ own staffers,” says Politico, “are growing increasingly concerned about her relatively light campaign schedule, which has her holding fewer events than Donald Trump and avoiding unscripted interactions with voters and the press almost entirely.” Since the convention, the veep has spent more than a third of days on meeting and briefings, with no public events. With early voting under way in more than half the states, Politico describes this “a do-no-harm, risk-averse approach to the race.”  GEORGIA GOP CHAIR SHARES 2-PRONGED ELECTION STRATEGY AS TRUMP WORKS TO WIN BACK PEACH STATE Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan, who fervently doesn’t want Trump to win, nonetheless is whacks Harris pretty hard: “She hasn’t fleshed out her political intent — what she stands for, what she won’t abide, what she means to establish, what she won’t let happen. What is her essential mission? Is it national ‘repair,’ is it to ‘stabilize’ an uncertain country, is it ‘relaunch’?.. “She so far hasn’t conveyed a sense of intellectual grasp. Her campaign has placed too many chips on the idea of the mood, the vibe, the picture.” And vibes can only take you so far. But the VP has certain duties, and spent two days visiting hurricane victims and relief workers in North Carolina and Georgia–which also happens to be good politics. She also met with Volodomyr Zelenskyy. Harris attended a fundraiser over the weekend. Why bother? Her campaign has already had $400 million roll in. She’s already outspending Trump 2-½ to 1 on ads. She doesn’t need any more money. What’s more, Harris doesn’t make news at these fundraisers, which in any event are off camera. A ground game is great, but it has to be married to a winning message. Here’s one more: Dan Pfeiffer, a former top Obama White House official, says on Message Box, his Substack column, that “the media — and Politico Playbook in particular — are fuming over the Harris-Walz media strategy.” Kamala “must be on offense at all times — say new things, be edgy enough to get attention, and dictate the terms, or the campaign could “take on water…In this media world, there is a never-ending, insatiable appetite for content. Either serve lunch or become the menu… “Dominating attention is Trump’s political superpower…Even when he doesn’t have a big moment, Trump speaks so outrageously that it shifts attention to his issues of choice.” Now it’s easy to snipe from the sidelines. For Harris to be