Trump Admits "Truckloads" of Hurricane Relief Didn't Come from Campaign
Trump's campaign took credit for supplies delivered by Samaritan's Purse
Written for MeidasTouch by J.D. Wolf
Just a few days ago, Trump started using the aftermath of Hurricane Helene to hold political events and attack his political opponents. In a press release on Sunday, the Trump campaign stated Trump would be visiting Valdosta, Georgia to "facilitate the distribution of relief supplies."
During his visit to Valdosta on Monday, Trump claimed that he brought "truckloads" of relief for those in Georgia who are "suffering in the terrible aftermath of Hurricane Helene." However, in a less publicized portion of Trump's speech, Trump also stated, "We came down with truckloads of things, and we’re going to have that done by Franklin’s incredible organization."
The Trump campaign promoted Trump's "truckloads" of relief comments online. Pro-Trump right wing outlets and MAGA Republican accounts amplified Trump's claims often leaving out the part about Samaritan's Purse, the disaster relief organization ran by Franklin Graham.
Samaritan's Purse regularly arrives after a disaster to bring relief. Their semi-trucks are numbered and even have hurricane imagery on the side. Trump offered no explanation how his involvement added anything to the normal operation of Samaritan's Purse.
The Trump campaign's comments generated headlines such as the one below from Georgia based WTOC Channel 11 which simply reposted Trump claims.
In a Breitbart article, Trump spokesperson Karoline Leavitt admitted that "President Trump partnered with Samaritans Purse to deliver truck loads of critical, much needed resources for the people of Georgia including fuel and construction tools." The Trump campaign, however, issued and announced that read, "Trump delivered relief, support to hurricane-ravaged South," and again emphasized that Trump "delivered relief supplies" and linked back to their campaigns own tweet of Trump's remarks as evidence.
The Trump campaign's Monday announcement made no explanation that the "truckloads" of relief actually came from Franklin Graham organization. However, buried in Trump's campaign's evening newsletter, the campaign admitted that "Trump partnered with Franklin Graham and Samaritans Purse to provide truckloads of relief supplies."
"Maybe Trump motivated Samaritan's Purse to visit Valdosta," one might be thinking. As it turns out, Samaritan's Purse tweeted on Sunday that they were already deploying to Valdosta, Georgia and posted a video of one of their hurricane relief semi-trucks rolling out.
As mentioned above, Trump began politicizing the hurricane respone on Tuesday, exploiting hurricane damage and flooding to attack Kamala Harris. That's two days after Samaritan's Purse announced they were headed to Valdosta.
The Trump campaign's statements on the delivery of these "truckloads" are inconsistent and has led the public to believe that Trump did something that he hasn't proven that he did. It also raises several questions.
Why is the Trump campaign claiming that Trump delivered and distributed truckloads of supplies when Franklin Graham's group is doing to work? Why haven't we seen Trump distributing the supplies like he said he would?
Samaritan's Purse announced their Valdosta trip on Sunday while Trump announced the truckloads on Tuesday, likely after any trucks from Samaritan's Purse already arrived. How many truckloads of supplies did Samaritan's Purse send? When did they arrive?
Did Trump actually have any impact at all on the number of "truckloads" or relief supplies or is this simply another campaign stunt just like when he redelivered cold pizzas to firefighters?
It’s a pathological liar taking credit again for something he had NOTHING TO DO WITH!
Trump, still pretending he’s president. Pathetic.