Right-wing media ramped up attacks on the Biden administration’s hurricane recovery efforts in southern Appalachia after President Joe Biden announced $1 billion in humanitarian aid for Africa.

On December 3, Biden became the first president to visit the African country of Angola, where he announced new aid “to address food insecurity and other urgent needs of refugees, internally displaced persons, and affected communities in 31 African countries,” according to the United States Agency of International Development. 

According to Oxfam, a federation of international nongovernmental organizations addressing global poverty, “more than 24 million people in southern Africa face hunger, malnutrition and water scarcity due to drought and floods.” Oxfam also described southern Africa as a “climate disaster hotspot.”

Earlier this year, FEMA was the subject of right-wing attacks falsely accusing the agency of squandering disaster relief money on immigrants, preventing victims of Hurricane Helene from accessing aid, and even seizing the land of people whose homes had been destroyed. Conspiracy theories about government weather manipulation also circulated online. 

Right-wing media falsely accused the Biden administration of favoring Africa over hurricane-stricken communities in the U.S., reviving harmful FEMA misinformation

• Hurricane relief funding requires congressional approval and is separate from foreign aid and immigration spending, but Fox News has continually suggested otherwise. Top-rated hosts like Jesse Watters and Sean Hannity led the charge in repeating false claims that money allocated for disaster relief went to helping immigrants, but the Federal Emergency Management Agency maintains separate funds for those two purposes. In October, senior congressional correspondent Chad Pergram posted on X (formerly Twitter) that Fox News had obtained a GOP memo saying there is “no funding connection between” the migrant shelter program and the Disaster Relief Fund. Similarly, none of the humanitarian aid for Africa is coming from FEMA. Foreign disaster aid — like that being directed to Africa — typically comes from USAID and the State Department. [Media Matters, 10/11/24, 10/10/24, 10/9/24, 10/9/24; Council on Foreign Relations, 10/23/24; usaid.gov, 12/3/24]
   
• Right-wing media misinformation about FEMA’s actions in southern Appalachia was followed by violent threats against FEMA personnel on the ground. Misinformation about the responses to hurricanes Helene and Milton — ranging from accusations that FEMA is actively keeping aid and donations from hurricane victims to conspiracy theories that the government used weather manipulation to target certain populations — surged across social media platforms in the weeks after the hurricanes. In October, FEMA workers in both Rutherford County, North Carolina, and Carter County, Tennessee, faced threats of violence from armed civilians. [Media Matters, 10/18/24, 10/9/24, 10/10/24]
   
• While there is still work to be done helping victims in southern Appalachia, the federal response has been more robust than right-wing media claim. According to NC.gov, “over $244 million in FEMA Individual Assistance funds have been paid so far” in western North Carolina. According to FEMA, “The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), administered by FEMA, has paid policyholders over $1.4 billion for flood losses stemming from Hurricane Helene recovery” across affected states. [NC.gov, 11/20/24, fema.gov, 11/27/24]
   
• In reporting on Biden's trip to Africa, right-wing media ignored Biden’s recent request from Congress for billions more in recovery funding for impacted states. In November, Biden asked Congress for roughly $100 billion in emergency disaster aid to help North Carolina and other impacted states, including $40 billion for FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund. [CNN, 11/18/24]
   
• One America News Network host Dan Ball called the assistance “wasteful” and “frivolous,” saying, “There are Americans still right now, as I sit here, who are in need. And it's our money. It's their money. They'd like some more to rebuild from flooding. Like the residents of North Carolina who are still dealing with the devastating aftermath of hurricane Helene.” He later added: “FEMA is nowhere to be found. It’s like they don’t even want the people to rebuild.” [OANN, Real America with Dan Ball, 12/6/24]
   
• On Infowars, host Harrison Smith ranted that the government should have built four high tech “schools per state” with the $1 billion aid pledged to Africa or “rebuilt hurricane-ravaged Appalachia,” but instead “people pay taxes to their government and the government just skedaddles with it to some third world nation and hands it over to a dictator.” He later added: “I wonder where all that money went because it certainly didn't go into fixing the infrastructure in the places that were damaged,” referring to FEMA aid that has already been allocated to impacted states. [Infowars, The American Journal, 12/4/24]
   
• On Fox Business, host Elizabeth MacDonald and right-wing radio host Jason Rantz attacked FEMA and the Biden administration, saying that aid for Africa is “the ultimate slap in the face” for Americans recovering from Hurricane Helene. MacDonald said that Biden “wants to spend more than 1 billion bucks of your money in Africa and on Ukraine but not on the victims of Hurricane Helene in North Carolina. They are literally freezing to death living in tents and RVs, no heat, no electricity, little food.” MacDonald also misleadingly said that the government “burned through a billion bucks in FEMA money on illegal aliens.” [Fox Business, The Evening Edit, 12/4/24; Media Matters, 10/11/24]
   
• On Fox Business, host Maria Bartiromo complained that Biden is “shelling out” money in Africa and called it “incredible” that he is “giving all that money to Ukraine, another billion to Africa. Meanwhile, what about these people that are still trying to recover from these hurricanes?” Guest and former Bloomberg host Adam Johnson added, “FEMA got criticized during the campaign, as you recall, from the politicization of some of the surveys that they were doing, but also saying, how much money are we spending on the migrant crisis but we’re not spending in terms of FEMA response? And then he goes to Africa and gives this money away. What is the strategy as he exits the door here?” [Fox Business, Mornings with Maria, 12/4/24]
   
• On Fox & Friends First, co-host Todd Piro called the aid “a double-edged sword” because “we want to be in Africa to counteract China” but “there are people in North Carolina that just got destroyed by a hurricane and they’re getting measly $750 checks.” 
  [Fox News, Fox & Friends First, 12/4/24] 
   
• On Newsmax, Wake Up America co-host Alex Kraemer called the aid and humanitarian assistance part of Biden's “Americans last policy” while co-host Sharla McBride attacked FEMA. Kraemer called it “mean” for Biden to give a “blank check to other countries” and said he has a “sitting back, let them eat cake” attitude toward North Carolina. McBride said: “Still people are out of their homes. A lot of people dealing with the effects of the flooding they went through, and many of them still struggling to get money from FEMA, from the money they deserve as being an American citizen.” [Newsmax, Wake Up America, 12/4/24]
   
• Fox News headline: “Biden pledges $1B in aid to Africa as North Carolina residents continue to struggle after Helene.” The article’s subheadline read: “Social media users fumed over Biden's decision to help foreign countries before his own.” [Fox News, 12/3/24]
   
• On Infowars’ War Room, host Owen Shoyer said that “Joe Biden just gave you another middle finger,” calling the aid “obviously absurd” because “Americans can't even get assistance with FEMA or other emergencies.” He continued: “We're paying for refugees if they come here. We're paying for refugees if they stay there.” He also said that people in North Carolina are “basically living in huts” because “they won’t sell their land. They won’t give up everything to the government in this land grab.” [Infowars, War Room, 12/3/24]
   
• Daily Wire reporter Ryan Saavedra: “Biden announces $1 billion in disaster relief for Africa while there are people still living in tents in North Carolina after their homes were destroyed by Hurricane Helene.” He added: “It's now winter in North Carolina and people there are facing freezing temperatures.” [Twitter/X, 12/3/24]
   
• Fox News host Laura Ingraham said that Biden’s Tuesday speech announcing aid for Angola “sounded more like ‘Angola First.’ Countries with their hands out love having a weak American president like Biden in office.” [Fox News, The Ingraham Angle, 12/3/24]
   
• Fox host Sean Hannity said, “That billion dollars in federal aid? No, that’s not going to rebuild homes in North Carolina. Instead, Joe is sending your hard-earned tax dollars to Africa.” He also called the move “a fitting end to a historically bad presidency marked by weakness, incompetence, utter dishonesty, corruption, and putting the interests of foreign nationals well before the needs of his fellow Americans.” [Fox News, Hannity, 12/3/24]
   
• Shroyer: “Biden just announced $1 Billion for Africa. People in North Carolina are still homeless after Hurricane Helene as winter hits and Christmas is approaching. We were told there's no money for Hurricane victims, yet another country gets billions from Biden on his way out.” [Twitter/X, 12/3/24]
   
• Conspiracy theorist Lara Logan linked to an article about the aid Biden pledged to Africa, writing, “Is anyone else still in shock & disbelief over the treatment of people in North Carolina?" She continued: “How is this happening? They’ve been abandoned & where is most of the media?” [Twitter/X, 12/4/24]
   
• Right-wing influencer Gunther Eagleman: “Joe Biden just announced a $1B aid package for AFRICAN nations that are rebuilding from natural disasters. What about North Carolina? This is DISGUSTING.” [Twitter/X, 12/3/24]
   

• Former Fox host and current Newsmax host Todd Starnes claimed Biden “abandoned” people in Western North Carolina because it’s “Trump Country” and is instead sending disaster relief to Africa. “It is snowing in the Western North Carolina mountains,” he said. “Many people are living in tents. Others have no home. FEMA has abandoned the people there. So has Biden. Instead, the president is sending $1 billion in disaster relief aid to Africa. That's because Western North Carolina is Trump Country. And the Marxists within the administration want the citizens there to suffer. It's really that simple and it's really that appalling.” [Twitter/X, 12/3/24]