Caleb Newton

Former President Barack Obama recently hit the campaign trail in Pennsylvania — a closely watched battleground state in this year’s race for the White House — to stump for Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris. “Real strength is about helping people who need it and standing up for those who can’t always stand up for themselves,” Obama told the enthusiastic swing state crowd. “That is what we should want for our daughters and for our sons.

At a recent campaign rally in southern California — which recent electoral precedent suggests will go strongly for Democratic pick Kamala Harris in this year’s election, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump threatened the withholding of aid for the state to deal with wildfires. He threatened that refusal in the event (assuming Trump is president) that California state authorities don’t go along with what Trump apparently wants for the state’s water distribution.

At the White House late last week as the response to the recent storms Helene and Milton continued, President Joe Biden addressed — again — the spread of conspiracy theories surrounding the government’s reaction to the hurricanes. Republican presidential nominee — and former President — Donald Trump himself quickly became a key propagator of such theories, claiming, for instance, that authorities “stole” disaster relief money to use on migrants, which officials have consistently rebutted.