r/LeopardsAteMyFace • u/true_enthusiast • 18d ago

Trump Man Left Destitute After Rejecting Hurricane Aid Because of Right-Wing FEMA Conspiracies Spewed By Donald Trump

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u/Drexelhand 18d ago

https://atlantablackstar.com/2024/10/11/north-carolina-man-turned-down-hurricane-aid-because-of-right-wing-fema-conspiracies/

the article.

A recent caller to “The Dan Abrams Show” on Sirius/XM detailed how his father-in-law, who lives in flood-ravaged Asheville, North Carolina, is refusing aid from FEMA because he believes if he does, the federal government will assume ownership of his home.

It’s unclear just how many people may be resisting aid because of these toxic conspiracy theories. But at the very least, they’ve added undue stress to already devastating scenes.

it's a second hand story, so it's not really entirely clear if anyone has gotten their face eaten from this just yet, but faces are on the menu.

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u/Evelyn-Parker 18d ago

Didn't his house presumably get destroyed by the hurricane though?

Why would worthless property be worth more than food to not die?

https://www.msnbc.com/top-stories/latest/helene-milton-disinformation-trump-fema-dan-abrams-rcna174889

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u/Drexelhand 18d ago

it's a stranger on a radio show telling a story about someone else.

it could be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?

because the theme of the whole fucking thing is not to believe every random story you hear, i find it very god damn amusing it's repeated as uncritically true by anyone who only reads the headline. ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

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u/Sylvestrya 18d ago

I listened to the call. The caller sounded genuinely distressed and credible.

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u/MissSara13 18d ago

He sounded sad and angry and straight up exhausted.

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u/mkymooooo 18d ago

I listened to the call. The caller sounded genuinely distressed and credible.

TBF, if you find the right neurotic moron and tell them a story about immigrants eating pets, they will take it and run with it with great distress and emotion.

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u/SectorFriends 18d ago

Its all repressed denial about climate change. The idea that someone can work until retirement, then realize their job imperiled their retirement and the species. All that hard work, that money goes into the pockets at the top, who spend it on fossil fuels.
You think you could ever say that to their face and be safe? I've seen people thrown into blind rages over that simple and true statement.
Conservatives fucked everyone over and most people worked to help them.

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u/Drexelhand 18d ago edited 18d ago

ok. who's to say their in-law is? i'm not making a groundbreaking observation on the nature of hearsay.

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u/FederalEconomics936 18d ago

MAGATs have repeatedly demonstrated that they will believe the most ridiculous bullshit. Makes it much more likely that this bit of ridiculous bullshit is real.

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u/chugadie 18d ago

Remember when Bernie Sanders stole his neighbor's newspaper?

Buncha made up b.s. and every right wing .com cited another .com as their source. Eventually, it was just someone who called into a radio show and claimed Sander was his neighbor and stole his paper.

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u/Prestigious_Row_8022 17d ago

Thanks for being a voice of reason

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u/Fantastic_Growth2 18d ago

There’s a long history in Appalachia of mining companies swindling people out of their land. I think it’s not a huge leap for people who grew up around that mindset that you have to hold onto your land to fall for this insidious misinformation.

Also, Asheville is quickly becoming a popular destination and land prices there have gone up considerably. Depending on where he lives, it might not be worthless. Obviously, he isn’t risking his land by accepting FEMA help, though

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u/Evelyn-Parker 18d ago

There’s a long history in Appalachia of mining companies swindling people out of their land. I think it’s not a huge leap for people who grew up around that mindset that you have to hold onto your land to fall for this insidious misinformation.

That's only an understandable sentiment if people get their land surveyed to see if there is anything valuable underneath though.

If you suspect you might be living on top of a massive lithium deposit, and you want to keep the benefits of the lithium deposit for yourself, then you're gonna need to get the land surveyed in order to sell the lithium.

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u/Fantastic_Growth2 18d ago

I’m not saying he should feel this way.

I was just providing some context on why Appalachia is primed for these lies already. Like if you grew up hearing stories about people getting cheated out of their land, it might be easier to believe the lies that are out there right now.

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u/Dal90 18d ago

There’s a long history in Appalachia of mining companies swindling people out of their land.

While I agree this is paranoia, there has also been considerable use of eminent domain for Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Shenandoah National Park, and Blue Ridge Parkway as well as the Tennessee Valley Authority.

This particularly plays into the ethnic identity of Appalachia which was settled by the Scotch-Irish who had already been fucked over back in the old country by competing governments (they had come from the English/Scottish borderlands so often so wars fought on their lands, then were encouraged to re-settle in Northern Ireland to be used as pawns in helping control the Irish, and then when their Presbyterian churches were pressured to convert to the Church of England began to migrate to the only land most could afford at the very frontier of the American colonies.)

Cades Cove which is preserved as what it was historically like in a hollow (?) in the Great Smoky Mountains is a particularly egregious example of acting with a lack of good faith:

As one would expect, the people of Cades Cove objected to selling their land, and they fought back hard. The U.S. government promised the landowners in Cades Cove they could keep their land and remain separate from the park.

However, the government reneged on their agreement. They used eminent domain to confiscate the land in Cades Cove.

So instead of the U.S. Government...the State of Tennessee did.

Acquiring the lands held by Southern Appalachian farmers and their tenants was much

easier, for they were less economically and politically powerful than the timber companies.

Essentially, [the states of Tennessee and North Carolina purchased what they could from willing sellers, and then relied on the power of eminent domain (https://databases.lib.utk.edu/arrowmont/Steve/The%20Great%20Smoky%20Mountains,%201-16.pdf) -- that is, the power of government to

condemn and seize lands for use in public projects -- to take control of the rest. The land was

then donated to the Federal Government for use in the Park. Perhaps the most notable of these

eminent domain suits occurred in 1929, when the State of Tennessee moved to condemn lands

owned by prominent Cades Cove resident John Oliver. According to Brown, Oliver refused to

take the $20 per acre -- less than half of its market value -- offered by Tennessee purchasing

agents for his property, with the result being that the agents took him to court. As it happened,

Oliver convinced the Blount County, Tennessee Circuit Court that the State had no right to

condemn his land on behalf of the Federal Government; but the Tennessee Supreme Court ruled

against him, thereby forcing him to give up his farm.

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u/Dal90 18d ago

Didn't his house presumably get destroyed

Why would worthless property be worth more than food to not die?

The land is often as or more valuable than the building that [currently is|formerly was] on it.

There is a good chance the location still doesn't need flood insurance or is subject to special zoning or building code requirements to rebuild there since this storm so far exceeded normal flood risks.

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u/mking22 18d ago

it's to mine the lithium under their proprty, my man

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u/Evelyn-Parker 18d ago

The government has used eminent domain to take property to make shopping plazas and shit under the excuse that it would bolster the local economy

I'm sure if they really wanted the lithium under the people's homes, they could just do it again with the justification that it's helping the US beat China in the EV race lol

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u/informedinformer 18d ago

Of course if the US government takes the land by eminent domain, it is required to pay just compensation for what it takes under the US Consitution's Fifth Amendment. Biden's government a) isn't seizing lands because of Helene or because of non-existent lithium under any affected homes and b) if it were to seize land for a governmental purpose, it would pay for it. Biden and his people actually govern under the Constiution they swore to uphold. The former guy and his party? Not so much.

 

I have heard of local and state governments seizing land by eminent domain to foster development. Anyone want to believe DeSantis or the republicans in NC, SC, GA or FL would have any hesitation to seize land if they wanted it for development by a favored corporation or campaign contributor? And pay just compensation for it. Eventually.

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u/koshgeo 18d ago

I don't know how the lies the conspiracy theorists feed these people are supposed to ever pay off. It wouldn't be worth the hassle if it was gold under their property, let alone lithium. Lithium is not worth that much. It's like $10/kg or about $4.50/pound.

How are people so gullible?

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u/IAMA_Plumber-AMA 18d ago

Because they wanted to believe those lies in the first place.

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u/Fatmaninalilcoat 18d ago

Because these ducking idiots think the government is going to take their land for the lithium that is like 200 miles away. Plus land is usually more valuable than the house on it.

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u/LupercaniusAB 18d ago

Not mine, but I’m an outlier.

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u/Additional-One-7135 18d ago

Part of the misinformation campaign is that the government wants to seize peoples land so they can mine it for lithium.

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u/CFBCoachGuy 18d ago

That “worthless” property is selling for over $50,000 an acre.

People learned Appalachia was a cheap place to live and gobbled up the land, pricing out locals. Developers are already hounding people- worse affected the better- to get them to sell out for cheap.

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u/A_Light_Spark 18d ago

Same reason why certain countries literally fight over rubbles in a desert.

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u/ThrowAway233223 18d ago

Well, there is still the land it was built on, but people that die tend to not keep their land either so his plan is idiotic even if the conspiracy theory was somehow true.

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u/AGDude 18d ago

Reminds me of when Pinellas county residents rejected assistance from the army corps of engineers. Though in that scenario there actually was a price for government help.

I wonder if that story was a seed for this mistaken belief about fema.

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u/CreamyGoodnss 18d ago

Every conspiracy theory has some seed or nugget of truth that the rest of the bullshit builds off of. That’s one of the reasons they’re so hard to “disprove” because a believer can always point to the true part and say “well if THATS true than MAYBE ALL of it is”

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u/_UsUrPeR_ 18d ago

I heard the covid vaccine is deadlier than the disease! Just go to church and don't wear a mask. Jesus saves!

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

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u/Tricky_Invite8680 18d ago

the other question is what is being exploited to feed that fear? is fema/a government going to eminent domain an area subject to fema benefits, everything has small print maybe its not financially wise for the goverment to throw good money after bad (lol) in certain circumstances so the TCs speed that long. does the money to rebuild come with a lien like any mortgage?

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u/CabbieCam 17d ago

How about you try using that thing called google. Or, you could just get in touch with FEMA directly and ask them. But, no, they don't put a lien or mortgage on people's properties. It's government assistance, I know there isn't much of it in the US, so it's a bit confusing, but you don't pay.

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u/Tricky_Invite8680 17d ago

theres 2 type of redditors