WASHINGTON: An ugly political storm is churning over disaster aid for hurricane victims, with MAGA Trumpers alleging that Kamala Harris is “stealing” emergency relief money to give to illegal immigrants and fund war in Ukraine.
The charges are coming from the top levels of the MAGA hierarchy, with Trump, his son Eric, and his tech-bro Elon Musk among others making the case, with wild numbers and conflated data, that Harris is short-changing Americans in favor of illegal immigrants and foreign countries.
Trump himself, under scrutiny from the left over apprehensions he is already setting the stage to claim election fraud, unloaded against Harris at a rally on Thursday, alleging her administration “stole” billions in emergency relief money to house illegal immigrants in luxury hotels — including giving them $1 billion for gift cards — while trying to register them to vote in the election.
“There are 157 hotels in New York City that are completely full of illegal immigrants… and then you see these pictures of husbands and wives and children who’ve lost everything… and what does Kamala do? She comes out and offers $750… ” Trump son Eric told Fox News, the leading echo-chamber for MAGA views.
MAGA principals also raged against money being spent on foreign wars, including in Ukraine and Israel, alleging sums ranging from $ 60 billion to $ 175 billion had been funneled into the conflicts.
While political mavens say Harris herself has little discretion in the matter (the money appropriated by Congress where Republicans have majority), analysts, economics Nobel laureate Paul Krugman among them, accused Trump of “political dishonesty” in “trying to persuade voters that America is a nation with a collapsing economy overrun by violent immigrants.”
Still, the charges of money diversion caught on MAGA circles, where demonisation of immigrants had now taken on dangerous proportions.
“Yes, they are literally using YOUR tax dollars to import voters and disenfranchise you! It is happening right in front of your eyes. And FEMA used up its budget ferrying illegals into the country instead of saving American lives. Treason,” Elon Musk said on his platform X (formerly Twitter), where he has repeatedly posted disinformation and MAGA propaganda.
Musk also announced that he will join Trump at a rally on Saturday in Butler, Pennsylvania, site of the first assassination attempt on the former President, as the MAGA narrative of stolen elections picked up steam.
On Thursday, a judge in Colorado sentenced Tina Peters, a 69 year old election clerk, to nine years in prison for illegally hacking voting systems during the 2020 elections. Peters was found guilty by a jury of allowing unauthorized access to confidential voter data to private individuals affiliated with a prominent Trump MAGA supporter Mike Lindell.
Prominent MAGA activists raged against the sentence on Thursday. presenting Peters as a Gold Star mom and cancer survivor who was monitoring “election fraud” — even though they have failed to establish such fraud on a large scale — and how she is now a “political prisoner” imprisoned by a political system controlled by Democratic “deep state.”