Tipsheet

Tom Cotton Destroys NBC's Kristen Welker When She Brings Up 'Misinformation' About FEMA Funds

Guy Benson
Guy Benson  |  October 07, 2024 2:01 PM

Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton has distinguished himself as one of the most consistently superb Republican representatives in major media settings over recent months, effectively and calmly skewering all sorts of dishonest and bias from the Democrats and their media allies.  For instance, in light of Kamala Harris' latest explanation-free flip-flop on electric vehicle mandates, Cotton took to social media with literal receipts.  Just like the Democratic Senate nominee in Michigan, Harris is now claiming she will never tell people what sort of car they can drive, despite championing mandates that would push gas-fueled cars into extinction.  But she literally co-sponsored the bill:


Here's the fresh lie itself, delivered in Michigan, of course:


And here are more details exposing that lie, via Axios:

Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign won't say whether she supports requiring automakers to build only electric or hydrogen vehicles by 2035 — a position she took during her 2020 campaign for president...Harris' campaign has sent contradictory signals about her position on a mandate for automakers — a key issue in pivotal Midwestern states...In a lengthy "fact-check" email last week that covered several issues, a campaign spokesperson included a line saying that Harris "does not support an electric vehicle mandate" — suggesting she changed her previous position, without elaborating.  On Aug. 28 Axios asked the Harris campaign to clarify her position, and whether she would sign or veto a bill she co-sponsored in 2019 that included such a mandate for manufacturers.  On Tuesday afternoon, Harris' campaign ultimately declined to comment...As a senator from California, Harris co-sponsored the Zero-Emissions Act in 2019,which would require by 2040 that 100% of new passenger vehicle sales in the U.S. release no greenhouse gases. Only electric and hydrogen vehicles currently fit that criteria. The bill didn't pass. During her 2020 campaign, Harris promised to go further and implement an "accelerated model" of the Zero-Emission Vehicles Act, according to her archived website.

Perhaps Harris will be asked for clarification on this -- or any -- of her no-explanation abandonment of her own stated positions during her upcoming "media blitz," but I wouldn't hold your breath.  All of the hosts mentioned in this headline are open and avowed Harris supporters. Meanwhile, back to Cotton, who appeared on Meet the Press yesterday.  Anchor Kristen Welker wrung her hands about supposed 'misinformation' regarding FEMA money going to illegal immigrants, and the Arkansas Senator set the record straight:


Money is fungible, and cash directed to one purpose is cash that is unavailable for other purposes -- like natural disaster emergency relief, which should be the overwhelming priority for FEMA.  But stacks of FEMA money, furnished by taxpayers, have gone to accommodating illegal immigrants. Indeed, Harris administration Press Secretary Karine Jean Pierre has been slapped with her own words from 2022, as she now tries to 'categorically deny' the charge that FEMA funds have flowed to illegal immigrants:

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More evidence from the time:


DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas -- spotted this weekend at a high-end men's clothier he frequents in Georgetown, while hundreds of thousands of Americans remained without power, more than a week into the Hurricane Helene ordeal -- boasted this summer that FEMA was "tremendously prepared" for the storm season.  "This is what we do," he said with a smug grin.  Now he's saying FEMA is out of money for the remainder of the current hurricane season, with another storm potentially bearing down on Florida.  People understandably reacted to this by noting how many FEMA dollars have flowed to deal with the Harris-Biden-Mayorkas border and migrant crisis.  Hair-splitting about whether funds have been 'redirected' to migrants is not the point.  The point is that huge sums of FEMA dollars have been spent on migrants, as the White House previously bragged about.  And Scott Jennings' point on CNN about the optics and media reaction is utterly inarguable to anyone who lived through Katrina:


As the days have dragged on, the federal response has improved, but many people on the ground have issued scathing reviews of the incompetence, delays, and worse.  The response may have been uneven and better some places than others, but journalists and Democrats should think twice before smearing the storm victims and patriotic volunteers who've been doing a lot of the heavy lifting as liars.  Listen to this interview:


And just look at this:


I'll leave you with what Kamala Harris has been up to amid the ongoing, widespread and immense human suffering among American citizens (her tweet about aid to Lebanon has gotten nuclear-ratioed):


Also: On a crassly partisan level, since others have brought it up, Republicans must do everything within their power to not just help the victims of this hurricane, but to also help them vote.  Some top Democrats think the destruction could help them win the election -- not because of how well their party has handled the catastrophe, but because rural Trump supporters whose communities have been ruined may not be able to vote.  This should serve as a profound and urgent motivator: