AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
Did you hear the one about how the government geo-engineered Hurricane Helene just to get Kamala Harris elected? It's untrue. Or how the government is bulldozing the community of Chimney Rock, North Carolina, to get at its lithium deposits? This is also untrue, or that the most you can expect to get from the federal emergency management agency is $750, no matter if your whole house was destroyed? This is not so. Those are just some of the outlandish falsehoods spreading on - where else? - the internet in two weeks since Hurricane Helene hit. And there are some Hurricane Milton falsehoods going around as well. Congressman Chuck Edwards represents the hardest-hit part of North Carolina and recently put out a press release to debunk these myths and falsehoods. He joins us now. Thank you, Congressman, for coming on, and I want to give my condolences to your constituents who have lost their loved ones because of Helene.
CHUCK EDWARDS: Well, thank you very much for that. Thanks for having me.
RASCOE: Do you feel like these sorts of rumors hurt the relief effort, and if so, how?
EDWARDS: Well, first of all, they hurt the relief effort in the resources that it takes to debunk them. I had my staff in D.C. and here in the district answering phones, listening to constituents and then responding when we could have been fielding the calls from folks that were still asking for help.
RASCOE: So who do you think is behind these rumors? And have you ever seen anything like this in your experience as a congressman after a disaster?
EDWARDS: Well, this is my first natural disaster. This is my first term in Congress, and so it's my first natural disaster. So I don't have anything to compare it to. But there are folks out there all the time that start rumors. I really credit these rumors to old-fashioned storytelling. Most of us have been involved at one point in our life, where we were told a story, and then we were asked to pass it on to someone else, and someone else passed it on, and by four or five iterations, it looked considerably different than it did in the beginning. I'd like to credit some of these rumors to that type of innocent storytelling. But I also believe there are an awful lot of folks out there that like to increase their attention on social media, and sometimes they conjure things up just to get folks stirred up. There's no question some of that was taking place as well.
RASCOE: Former President Donald Trump has repeated some of these rumors, like the one about people only getting $750. He also said that Republican areas were specifically not getting the help that they needed because they were Republicans. You're a Republican. How do you feel about the leader of your party saying these sorts of things and giving your constituents misleading information like that?
EDWARDS: Well, my focus is on trying to help the people here in Western North Carolina, and I know that sometimes folks that are running for office depend on people around them to inform them. Sometimes they're given incorrect information. I believe that may have been the case with the $750 rumor.
RASCOE: You don't have any evidence that the federal government is withholding aid to your area because it's predominantly Republican, right?
EDWARDS: I don't believe that FEMA is making this political. I do believe - in fact, I'll tell you with great certainty that FEMA has been slow to respond. I don't believe that it's because it's political. I think that it's because it is a very complex and inefficient bureaucracy from the very top that has caused this problem. We just happened to be in a Republican district.
RASCOE: So, I know you've suspended campaign events for your reelection so that you can focus on recovery efforts. What are you hearing and seeing on the ground from your constituents?
EDWARDS: Folks are in either one of two categories. They have been unbelievably devastated by this storm and they're trying to pick up the pieces or they're in the category of trying to help those folks who have been devastated. I'm just so heartened and so amazed at the effort that I see here in Western North Carolina to help folks. We've got church organizations, the good Samaritans, emergency responders out collecting goods and distributing those to folks that still don't have power, that still need help. That's what I'm seeing here in Western North Carolina.
RASCOE: That's Congressman Chuck Edwards, Republican of North Carolina. Thank you so much for coming on.
EDWARDS: All right, thanks for having me. I enjoyed the chance to chat with you.
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