Trump to Visit NC, CA Disaster Zones   01/24 06:18

   President Donald Trump is heading to hurricane-battered western North 
Carolina and wildfire-ravaged Los Angeles on Friday, using the first trip of 
his second administration to tour areas where politics has clouded the response 
to deadly disasters.

   WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump is heading to hurricane-battered 
western North Carolina and wildfire-ravaged Los Angeles on Friday, using the 
first trip of his second administration to tour areas where politics has 
clouded the response to deadly disasters.

   The Republican president has criticized former President Joe Biden for his 
administration's response in North Carolina, and he's showered disdain on 
California leaders for water policies that he falsely claimed worsened the 
recent blazes.

   Trump is also considering overhauling the Federal Emergency Management 
Agency. Some of his conservative allies have proposed reducing how much the 
agency reimburses states for handling floods, hurricanes, tornadoes and other 
calamities.

   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.

   Any meeting could be contentious. Trump has suggested using federal disaster 
assistance as a bargaining chip during unrelated legislative negotiations over 
government borrowing, or as leverage to persuade California to change its water 
policies.

   "Southern California and California has always been there for other regions 
of the country in their time of crisis, and we expect our country to be there 
for us," Sen. Alex Padilla, a Democrat from the state, said this week.

   Trump has a history of injecting politics and falsehoods into disaster 
response. During his first term, he talked about limiting help for Democratic 
states that didn't support him, according to former administration officials. 
While running for president last year, he claimed without evidence that 
Democrats were "going out of their way to not help people in Republican areas" 
of the battleground state of North Carolina.

   More recently, he's falsely insisted that California water policies, 
specifically fish conservation efforts in the northern part of the state, 
contributed to hydrants running dry in the Los Angeles area.

   "I don't think we should give California anything until they let the water 
run down," Trump said in an interview with Fox News Channel's Sean Hannity on 
Wednesday.

   The president also suggested shifting more responsibility to individual 
states for managing disasters.

   "I'd rather see the states take care of their own problems," he told 
Hannity, adding that "FEMA is getting in the way of everything."

   Michael Coen, who served as chief of staff at FEMA during the Biden 
administration, said Trump was "misinformed" about an agency that provides 
critical help to states when they're overwhelmed by catastrophe.

   In addition, Coen criticized the idea of attaching strings to assistance.

   "You're going to pick winners and losers on which communities are going to 
be supported by the federal government," he said. "I think the American people 
expect the federal government will be there for them on their worst day, no 
matter where they live."

   The last time Trump was president, he visited numerous disaster zones, 
including the aftermaths of hurricanes and tornados. But he also often sparked 
controversy, like when he tossed paper towels to survivors of Hurricane Maria 
in Puerto Rico.

   "If you're a disaster survivor, no matter who you voted for, it's always 
good when the president comes to town," said Pete Gaynor, who headed FEMA 
during the first Trump administration between 2019 and 2021. "You can see him 
and hopefully talk to him about what you need in your community."

   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 with limited experience 
managing natural disasters, 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.

   Biden vowed before leaving office that the federal government would cover 
all the costs of responding to the wildfires around Los Angeles, which could 
end up being the costliest natural disasters in U.S. history. However, that 
promise won't be kept unless Congress comes up with more funding.

   Friday's trip could prompt some uncomfortable conversations about climate 
change, which Trump has played down and denied. Both Hurricane Helene and the 
Los Angeles wildfires were exacerbated by global warming.

   In Helene's case, a study by international climate scientists at World 
Weather Attribution found that climate change boosted the storm's rainfall by 
10%. In California, the state suffered a record dry fall and winter -- its 
traditional wet season -- which made the area around Los Angeles more 
vulnerable to blazes.

   "This is just breaking our comfort zone of what is supposed to be normal," 
said University of Oregon researcher Amanda Stasiewicz.

   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.

   Las Vegas' 24-hour economy is fueled by the hospitality and service 
industries, where everyone from restaurant waiters to valet parkers to hotel 
maids relies on gratuities. However, exempting them from taxes would likely be 
difficult to implement and require an act of Congress to remain permanent. ____ 
Associated Press writers Stephen Groves, Seth Borenstein and Makiya Seminera 
contributed to this report.