Trump: Not a dime for California disaster aid.

[kstewart33]

Mother Jones:

A few weeks ago, California requested $7.4 billion in disaster aid following the massive series of wildfires in the northern part of the state that killed 43 people and destroyed nearly 9,000 structures. Actually, let’s back up. That’s not quite accurate. California’s Democratic governor, its two Democratic senators, and its 39 Democratic members of Congress asked for $7.4 billion. With only one exception, California’s Republican delegation boycotted a request for disaster funding for their own state.

Yesterday the Trump administration responded to California’s request:

While the request includes anemic supplemental funding for states ravaged by hurricanes, it contains no funding whatsoever for rebuilding the communities in California devastated by the recent wildfires…. “For the Administration to not request even a single additional penny to help rebuild the communities devastated by the worst fires in California’s history is mind-boggling,” [said the two congressmen who led the disaster relief effort].

This brings the toxicity of partisan politics to jaw-dropping levels. California Republicans won’t even stick up for their own state, and a Republican president offers nothing in response to an enormous natural disaster. Why? No reason was given, but Occam’s Razor suggests that the best guess is the most obvious one: California is a Democratic state that didn’t vote for Donald Trump. You don’t mess with the family.

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2017/11/donald-trumps-response-to-disaster-aid-for-california-nothing/

[steve2470]

1. this is truly horrible, sympathies to CA! nt

[lunatica]

85. Except Trump doesn't get to decide things like that.

[kimbutgar]

2. Then the state stops paying federal taxes and uses the funds for disaster relief

I know this is a fantasy though.

[kysrsoze]

8. I wouldnt put something like this past Jerry Brown

I’m sure he’s working on some major response.

[Hekate]

56. Each individual taxpayer sends in Federal tax returns. How can our governor manage that?

Each individual taxpayer would be in a world of hurt for refusing to pay Federal taxes. So I never have understood this particular argument.

[diverdownjt]

81. Hey if they want to exit the union I'll move there..n/t

[HelenWheels]

80. Jerry Brown is smart and a fighter

He sure should use CAs taxes for rebuilding their own state. More power to him.

[fierywoman]

15. I agree. My fantasy is that

the Left coast secedes from the union: Free Cascadia, except bigger.

[Soxfan58]

19. Sure

Cut and run and leave the rest of us in redneck hell

[fierywoman]

20. You can always move. I did many years ago.

[mythology]

23. Not everyone can afford California

And many people have attachments elsewhere like family and friends and jobs.

[fierywoman]

24. True. I live pretty close to the bone.

[The_REAL_Ecumenist]

101. It depends where you live in California. The coasts, as a rule, are the most expensive ....

If you're not particular about being near the Pacific, it can be quite easy to afford but you have been be okay with either working in Agriculture, at home or a SERIOUS commute to work.

[workinclasszero]

72. Sure I'll move there

Like the Joad's did in the grapes of wrath.

Do you think California would welcome the poor with the clothes on their back and pretty much noting else?

I doubt it.

[fierywoman]

74. I was poor in CA during two different periods of my life

1976-78 -- Bay area
1990-2004 -- LA
I never felt unwelcome.
Now I'm living in the Eastside of Seattle, where my income is seriously below the average -- not only do I feel welcome, but I feel very appreciated by some very savvy people for my talents and experience.
It's all what you decide to make of it.

[The_REAL_Ecumenist]

102. Yes, we would. Take it from me, CALIFORNIA BORN & BRED, IOW, NATIVE ANGELENA

There are lots of places in the central valley or the Sacramento Valley you could easily afford BUT you have to be prepared to commute & be happy in places where the living is slow and laid back. Some places are QUITE conservative but the people tend to be decent & kind.

[Stryst]

76. That assumes a level of financial and personal freedom that many of us just do not have

When so many of us live below the poverty line and still have to care for family that the government would prefer not to (my grandmother and great aunt, as an example) moving to a greener hill is just a fantasy.

[kysrsoze]

36. Thats what they want - so the country loses our delegate votes. No way.

[mulsh]

53. I hope we return to Mexico, great people, delicious food, I even like most of the Mexican music I

hear these days.

REUNIR !

[fierywoman]

55. I lived there (D.F.) for 4 years - yes to great people, delicious food,

and the music. And VERY hardworking people, creative, warm, funny, big hearted, wonderful souls.

[defacto7]

57. Sounds good... but that's what Putin wants.

A fractured US. That's what Trump and his minions are betting on as well.

[Downtown Hound]

78. That's exactly what Russia wants

Don't give it to them. Russia would love nothing better than to see the U.S. lose their biggest cash cow. It's why that billionaire asshole that's always trying to break the state up has such close ties to Russia.

[azureblue]

93. CA supports a lot of taker states

so why should they continue to do so, and, instead, use that money to help the fire victims?
The truth is, blue states support red states. And Trump thinks he is punishing states like CA and NY. If NY and CA (and other blue states) Simply used GOP "be responsible!" logic and told taker states that they are not paying for Red state economic failures any more, things would change real quick.
Trump thinks he can fight the state with the 7th largest economy in the world? Ha! Jerry has Don by the short and curlies already. And Jerry Brown is fed up with Trump already.

[misanthrope]

100. I am outnumbered in a red state and depend on the federal government for health care

due to disability. What would that mean for those like me in the long run?

[Grins]

94. A better thing to have done....

Not paying federal taxes is a big no-no, and how would you do it?

Better, to me, is to tell the California Republicans that if they don't vote in favor of getting federal help, the state will have to raise state taxes to help in the recovery. Now vote, you bastids.

Because you know how Republicans feel about taxes!

[misanthrope]

98. Which would open the door for red states

and their power brokers who despise federal taxes to stop paying them. They want to "shrink it to the size it can be strangled in a bath tub" anyway.

[wasupaloopa]

3. So what now? We are going to say we are sorry and vote for repubs

just in case we have another disaster?

[oasis]

4. You can include CA Republican legislators on the endangered species list. nt

[LonePirate]

9. It is quite possible only a small handful of CA Republicans are in Congress in 2019.

It is conceivable that 8-10 of them will lose during the 2018 elections.

[oasis]

22. Nunes and Issa are likely headed for the chopping block.nt

[HurricaneWarning]

44. As they should.

[salin]

77. I thought Nunes was still popular in his district.

[oasis]

79. By mid-2018, the mounting reports of Nunes' Trump/Russia connection

will be too bitter a pill for any voter to swallow.

[salin]

87. Crossing my fingers that this comes to be.

and the bad taste spread across all the GOP per the tax penalty for living in California - and it *should* do the trick.

[ansible]

16. Not anytime soon, parts of California are still very republican

Particularly in rural areas like the Central Valley

[oasis]

21. We'll see if they stay Repub knowing their representative fails to do

the right thing for their state.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

5. The Pussy-Grabber-in-Chief is a bigger POS than I thought...

which is saying a lot!

[Pope George Ringo II]

6. I compare this to Chris Christie's response to Sandy

And what I get out of it is that they've just managed to make Chris Christie look, well, slightly less bad.

[VMA131Marine]

7. How many votes did Drumpf lose California by?

3.4 million!

He will never do anything for CA because he knows he can never win it. CA doesn't exist to him.

[BannonsLiver]

10. It's time to eradicate Republican pols in California.

We need to start sending some of these fucks home for good in 2018.

[Angry Dragon]

11. Has he even mentioned the fires??

He has forgotten the hurricanes and Puerto Rico

[muntrv]

12. If he hates CA, then why doesn't he close his golf course?

[mdbl]

40. I have a better idea,,,,

Why not increase the taxes on his golf course by say,,, 7.4 Billion.
Make a law that any golf course wholly or partly owned by Donald J. Trump or his family, or his companies, will be taxed at that rate.

[RobinA]

61. My Guess Would Be

that he hates Jerry Brown, who is in a lot of ways the anti-Trump. In other words smart. Real smart, according to people I know who worked on his presidential campaign. And not a guy who suffers fools.

[Cracklin Charlie]

13. He is horrible.

Absolutely horrible.

[BigmanPigman]

14. I am not surprised.

The Moron expects loyalty, is extremely immature and holds a grudge. Some great leader! He coudn't lead a group of boy scouts.

[pwb]

17. Asshole Trump doesn't realize republicans live in these blue states too.

Democratic congress here we come. Republican stupidity is unbelievable. I hope we hurt them big time when we are back in power.

[FiveGoodMen]

25. "I hope we hurt them big time when we are back in power."

It would be a first!

[politicaljunkie41910]

18. We know that California sends more in taxes to Washington than they receive back from Washington.

California can start with the Federal Excise Tax they withhold on the sale of gasoline, until they get the $7.4B in assistance requested, and if that isn't enough, they can instruct us residents what percentage to withhold on our State Income taxes to make up the difference until we get our fair share of disaster relief we requested. FU Trump.

[roamer65]

59. I would recommend reallocating that federal gasoline tax for wildfire relief.

[SpankMe]

26. Cal Dems must use this to win future elections in those districts

Using disaster aid as a cudgel against areas whose population didn't vote for you is the very illustration of dictatorial leadership.

[Eliot Rosewater]

27. Trump and the GOP hate us Americans, and they want us gone or dead.

I keep saying this, people keep not believing me. sigh

[ucrdem]

28. Yeah well that figures. I'd be surprised though

if there's not a quiet change somewhere around, say, Thanksgiving afternoon granting all or most of the request. That's been the pattern I've noticed but then I might be overly optimistic here, in that it might take longer or might not happen at all if things escalate into a battle royale. Eventually though I think we'll get the money.

[sakabatou]

29. Not surprised

This monster is incredibly vindictive.

[mdbl]

41. and just plainly a big asshole.

[yuiyoshida]

64. and a

Bigly Asshole at that...

[Efilroft Sul]

30. There was no federal disaster aid for wildfires in Montana earlier this year.

But then FEMA surprisingly reversed itself. As we all know, Montana voted for Trump.

https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/montana/articles/2017-07-27/montana-officials-push-fema-for-wildfire-support

[dlk]

31. Perhaps There's a Legal Loophole and CA Can Suspend/Delay Tax Payments to the Federal Govt.

One good turn deserves another.

[BeeBee]

32. This literally makes me sick.

Every day I drive through neighborhoods that were completely destroyed by these fires. I personally know at least 30 families who lost everything they had. The devastation in those areas is incredible. Sadly I'm not surprised.

[stopwastingmymoney]

70. Me too

Last edited Wed Nov 22, 2017, 03:57 PM - Edit history (1)

I drive through those neighborhoods too. My in laws and many friends have lost their homes. I've been sifting and the obvious heat is mind boggling. There's no wood left in the debris and this is a house built mainly of redwood. It's all metal and ceramic, everything else is simply incinerated. And many people and pets and wildlife simply didn't make it out.

To make this political is beyond disgusting

[Bengus81]

33. How many TrumpBOTS that voted for him lost a home??

Trump just told you to stick your vote for him up your azzzz--well,unless I run again in 2020.

[BeeBee]

34. Probably not many since Hillary won this area by about 70% to Trump's 30%. n/t

[rpannier]

92. Find the vote results in the eastern parts of the state

Modoc County in the far northeast is full of libertarian types who want everything, but don't want to pay for it. The southeast is no better -- Imperial is just an extension of Arizona. Kern County area and San Diego also fairly Republican. See if they were hit

[benfranklin1776]

35. All of the peckerwood Rethuglican Bootlickers of the would be orange fuhrer need to be booted out

on their slimy immoral asses come 2018, that is if they aren’t in jail like traitor Duncan Hunter by then. Interestingly when we retake Congress in large part because of this slavish orange Kool Aid drinking Jim Jonesism, we will unhesitatingly help all those in need regardless of whether their state was in the D column or not, the difference between class and statesmanship and the gutter immorality that is the hallmark of the modern GOP: giddy old perverts!

[calimary]

37. Well, that sure won't win him any votes from out here!

[maxrandb]

38. Why is there one single Retrumplican Congressional member from CA?

Retrumplicans have shown that we can gerrymander the Fuck out of states so that the Dem governor in VA can win by 10 points and Retrumplicans still have a one seat majority in the state legislature.

There should not be one single fucking chance that any Retrumplican gets elected from CA for fucking dog shit picker-upper

[SunSeeker]

69. Exactly. nt

[xxqqqzme]

90. California voted for

an independent commission to redraw districts. District boundaries are no longer left to the whims of state legislators. I attended some of the commission hearings leading up to the new designations. The Asian and Hispanic communities were very organized. They presented strong, coordinated messages and their districts were drawn accordingly. I was sorry to see what diversity was present in some districts has been lost.



I can't find the rethug congressperson who was the lone exception to the boycott. I live in SoCal so I'm pretty sure it wasn't any of the creeps representing this area.

[liberalmuse]

39. He and the entire GOP are fucking monsters.

It's not just Trump. The GOP is hiding behind this fat orange fuck to try and feign inculpability, but they are the very reason Trump is where he is today.

I really think the state of California should withhold all Federal taxes, because fuck this.

[ClarendonDem]

42. Headline is misleading

While perhaps true that Trump is trying to screw California (likely true since we are talking about Trump), Trump didn't say anything about this issue.

[pwb]

43. Wow how did we all miss that?

Are you kidding? His people speak for him. His actions speak for him.

[ClarendonDem]

46. Dunno, maybe you weren't paying attention?

But the headline is misleading. Sure, this is probably driven by Trump, but Trump didn't say "not a dime for California." I actually thought he DID say that based on the headline, and it wouldn't have surprised me.

[pwb]

49. Yea, good for all of us not paying attention you caught it.

Come on? We read between the lines here.

[ClarendonDem]

50. Of course we read between the lines

But a headline shouldn't require reading between the lines.

[Bengus81]

45. Well...Trump needs the CASH so the rich don't have to pay that "ticket tax"

when they fly around in $20M biz jets. That's a proposal that looks like the Senate version of Cheeto's tax plan will have in it. Sure...you rich asshats want to fly around and utilize ATC,Fed maintained navigation aids etc,etc but don't want to pay a tax to do so.

Nah...let the working class slobs flying in the cattle car airline seat pay it............

[Sunlei]

47. This is the Republicans fault, not trump- elected Rs know he's a dumbass & ignore him.

[FakeNoose]

52. I think we're hearing excuse #5 this time

Why doesn't somebody remind Trump how Obama helped Governor Chris Christie after Hurricane Sandy?

[benfranklin1776]

60. Great interpretative chart which is spot on.

Yes Obama’s actions were those of a true President not a traitorous Putin tool. So Vlads poodle is following the basic third rate puppet would-be despot playbook which is all his orange addled mind can follow: Do everything opposite to what Obama did.

[SergeStorms]

48. Welcome to Trumpamerikkka.

Nixon had his "enemies" list, Trump has his "ignore the hell out of them" list. And the GOP is always the first to point fingers at Democrats for partisan politics. They've taken this shit to a whole new level.

[VOX]

51. California, Oregon Washington and Hawaii should form a new country.

Californians are tired of insufficient representation in the federal government. We are tired of using our revenues to keep “taker” states like Mississippi afloat. We are tired of hearing crap like, “Hillary Clinton’s 3 million popular votes over Trump are just from California; subtract that pinko state, and Trump has a popular vote victory,” and so on.

If things get worse (and I’m not feeling optimistic), California and the West Coast states should seriously consider getting the hell out of what’s shaping up to be a genuinely fascist federal government, overseen by oligarchs, and run as a Russian satellite state. Californians want no part of that. We’re goddamned sick about what’s happened to this country already.

[SunSeeker]

68. No. We need to fix the GOP gerrymandering. They can't just take away our country.

Fuck that.

[world wide wally]

54. Evil is as evil does

[Gothmog]

58. Trump is really an asshole

[DFW]

62. I hope the same courtesy is accorded Republicans seeking health care

The Federal government should decline to pick up the tab for any Republican member of Congress needing any kind of medical attention at all. Scalise needed a bunch of expensive surgery after being shot in Alexandria? All those surgeries probably ran up a bill of $400,000 or more. Let him pay that out of his own pocket. What's good for the goose is good for the assholes.

[yuiyoshida]

63. Californians can stand and raise their middle

finger at the President, (well, he is no President. A President represents the entire country, not someone who only rules by his personal whim and self interest.) What an Asshole.

[ancianita]

65. Presidential abuse of power.

[KPN]

66. Posting article to my FB page.

Why aren't MSM journalists still asking these questions: What do you have to say to the people of CA who were devastated by the recent wildfires? Why haven't you sent aid to the communities and people of central and northern CA who were devastated by the recent wildfires?

[Demsrule86]

67. California house members from both parties need to pay back Trump and his minions.

[adigal]

71. CA, NY, other blue states send a LOT more to the feds than we get - that should end

You should all read about #bluexit = not a formal exit, but more of a financial one.

It is here: https://newrepublic.com/article/140948/bluexit-blue-states-exit-trump-red-america

I think the time is coming.

[riversedge]

73. AND these blue states are about to get severly hit by the Trump #taxScambill

[adigal]

86. Yup.....there seem to he fewer and fewer reasons to stay in this union

Time to move away from the crazies

[roamer65]

88. The Transfer Payment Equalization Act of 2019.

We need a law that requires the federal government to at least return the amount of federal taxes sent to DC by a state, back to it...dollar for dollar.

[adigal]

91. When we get the House, Senate and POTUS back, we need a LOT of laws

Especially one lessening the power of the POTUS.

[ffr]

75. Compassionate conservatism. Absolutely heartless and cold.

There's a special place in Hell for these vindictive people.

[IronLionZion]

82. Some of those affected rural counties voted for Trump

did no one tell him California is bigger than just the liberal cities and coast?

I'm sure they forgot to tell him many of the affected people are of European ancestry since that matters to him.

[spanone]

83. trump uses white house to punish political enemies.....and those who voted for him

[red dog 1]

84. K&R, (but I think the title of your thread is slightly misleading)

Your title sounds like that's what Trump "said"

The Mother Jones article's title is:
"Donald Trump's Response To Disaster Aid For California..Nothing"

That says it all!



(I hope Mueller has a sealed indictment with Drumpf's name on it)

[Liberty Belle]

89. How can we get the roll call vote on this? Love to put in headlines if our reps voted "No"

[usaf-vet]

95. Let's start taking names so we know what a$$es to kick...

..... when we control Congress. Punish EVERY red state. And primary every republican Congress member until they feel the pain.

Seriously if they are going to use the government as a weapon to punish then we need to bring the SAME weapon to the fight.

When our country is only a thinning image of it's once great place in the world I for one am going to blame BOTH parties for the destruction. The republicans for the attacks and the democrats for letting them.

[Hekate]

96. It would be nice to imagine Trump and his enablers spending eternity staring at a wall of flames...

...bearing down on them and everything they own. Then for a change of pace, a hurricane driving a wall of seawater at them.

They are not just greedy, but unbelievably cruel.

[Blue Streak Science]

97. Thanks for nothing

My home of 23 years was incinerated in the Tubbs Fire of northern California. It doesn't surprise me at all that the Republican Party are playing politics with disaster relief. That is the climate in which we currently live.

My wife and I are fine and will recover and rebuild. We consider ourselves fortunate for many reasons.

However, there are many who are far less fortunate than us; renters who didn't have renters' insurance, people whose jobs went up in smoke, and the elderly who are having a difficult time with the red tape that follows such disasters.

I won't take a dime that this heartless administration doles out. But many don't have any other choice, and it's for them that I'm incredibly angry.

2018 is coming upon us rapidly and I implore every thinking and thoughtful American to open your pocketbooks and give generously, VERY generously, to the pro-American progressive candidate in your districts and states.

We must do more than just vote. We must sacrifice in the short term to save our nation for the long term.

[Sugarcoated]

99. So sorry for what you're going through

Compassion...great post. You've motivated me to give as much as I can.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

103. There are no words.

[ancianita]

104. This is an impeachable abuse of executive power. CA will see him in court.