Transcript of FEMA Misinformation, Candidates On the Podcast Circuit, Israelis Mark Oct. 7

Federal disaster authorities prepare for a new hurricane along with a flood of lies.

This rhetoric is not helpful to people.

What is FEMA actually doing in disaster zones and how do false claims get in their way?

I'm Steve Inskeep with A. Martinez, and this is Up First from NPR News. If you're hearing my voice, you know this is true. Many voters get their information from podcasts. Maybe that's why presidential candidates are appearing on so many of them lately. Sometimes they even make news.

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Americans preparing for Hurricane Milton faced two kinds of floods.

One is a flood of water, like the storm surge that hit Florida from the last hurricane or the rain that scoured the valleys of Appalachia. The other is a surge of misinformation about the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Fema says it's provided more than $210 million in aid so far. Federal personnel are deployed across the Southeast. They've delivered millions of meals and millions of liters of water, and the White House says it is positioning resources for Milton. At the same time, presidential voting is underway, and former President Trump gave a different picture of the federal response. This is a small part of a rambling campaign talk last week in the swing state of Michigan.

They stole the FEMA money just like they stole it from a bank so they could give it to their illegal immigrants that they to have vote for them this season.

Fema's administrator says this false claim is discouraging people from applying for the federal funds they need.

Npr, Stephen Fowler is covering this. So, Stephen, let's start with this claim that we just heard from Donald Trump, that FEMA gave away its budget to undocumented immigrants so that they could vote Democrat. Fact check that for us.

Sure. So for one, non-citizens still can't vote in the presidential election. Two, Trump and his allies are talking about a grant FEMA administered from Customs and Border Protection to municipalities that saw an influx of migrants. Three, that is not the same as the FEMA Disaster Recovery Fund that is funded by Congress to help with disaster recovery. Now, Trump also repeatedly says the government is only giving people $750 for recovery, comparing it to billions spent in foreign aid. That $750 is what's called Serious Needs Assistance, which is an initial direct relief payment intended to help cover emergency supplies like food, water, baby formula, and other basics It's also worth noting that he's making explicit attacks against Harris handling the recovery and migrants as election issues with less than a month to go before voting ends.

All right, so just to be clear, that's 750 bucks, just an initial payment. What's the broader, more accurate picture of the federal response?

There are thousands of people on the ground helping with rescue efforts across several states, passing out food, water, supply, signing people up for the fuller assistance. Emergency response isn't a one-way street nor a top-down mandate from the feds. I mean, it involves a lot of communication and coordination and planning at every level. So while national Republicans are complaining, state and local Republicans affected are complementary of the response and focused on the task at hand. Now, A, the disaster fund was running low earlier this year because there were lots of disasters. But when the new fiscal year started last week, that fund was replenished with its full $20 billion allotment. That said, Congress isn't coming back until after the election. Biden and lawmakers from both parties in these affected areas are pushing for a return sooner to provide more relief, especially as Milton is poised to cause massive destruction.

Yeah, Florida is now preparing for Milton, Gulf Coast in particular. What does that prep for the storm look like so far?

The White House says they've already approved Florida's emergency declaration request. They're pre-positioning resources to move in quickly once the storm passes and doing things to help expedite debris removal from the last hurricane that they're still dealing with. Unfortunately, the conspiracies are only getting worse. There are Congress members like Georgia's Republican, Marjorie Taylor-Green, who falsely claim a nebula. They control the weather. Hur hurricanes don't care who you vote for, and neither does the money to fix it.

Npr, Stephen Fowler in Atlanta. Stephen, thanks.

Thank you.

Vice President and candidate Kamala Harris have been stepping up media appearances lately. She's been getting criticism that she's not spending enough time in the public eye.

Harris has done traditional shows like 60 Minuts and also hitting the podcast circuit. Last week, she turned up on the podcast All the Smoke, hosted by former NBA champ Stephen Jackson and Matt Barnes. As someone who's been the first in a lot of spaces you've been in, a woman of color, knocking on the door to possibly be the next president, how do you protect your mental health and your mental space? Well, number one rule, don't read the comments. They're nasty. This was the same interview in which Harris made news by saying she supports legalizing cannabis.

Harris's opponent, Donald Trump, has also done a string of podcasts. So what's the media strategy here? Let's ask Axios media correspondence, Sarah Fish. Sarah, what do the candidates believe they have to gain by appearing on these podcasts.

Well, in the final months and weeks leading up to the election, you actually just don't have much to lose in not doing them, right? This election is going to come down to just a few hundred thousand, maybe even less votes in some swing states. And so the key here is to make sure that you are reaching people, reminding people of who you are and what your platform is ahead of the election. Now, typically in previous elections, you could go to television, you could do print interviews, you could do radio interviews to try to reach those people. And those mediums still do have a massive footprint. But what's different now is that podcasts, which are able to go viral on platforms like TikTok, have really big audiences in a way that they didn't even quite have four years ago. Now, those are seen as opportunities for candidates to reach different kinds of voters, whether it's with the Call Her Daddy podcast, Young Women, or the podcast that you just mentioned, which reaches a ton of young men and young people. This is the way that candidates feel like they can reach more people in the final days and weeks.

If you have a specific slice, Sarah, people that you want to reach, there is a podcast for that. That's for sure. There's a lot of them. But when you and I are doing interviews, we have journalistic principles that we follow. Do these podcasts follow any of that?

Typically not. I mean, these are typically run by hosts who are influencers. Maybe they are former reality stars or former athletes. They are not people who typically have journalistic training, although you'll see they prepare for interviews. Sometimes they'll reference sound bites. They'll try to make sure that this interview feels very authoritative. But at the end of the day, the same type of journalistic standards and scrutiny that you and I would pose on an interview don't exist here. For example, with the Caller Daddy interview that Kamala Harris did, that entire interview, for the most part, was She's really just dedicated to women's rights, abortion. These are topics that are winning issues for Kamala Harris. She was not pressed on that interview about things like the border or immigration or debt or taxes, and the list goes on and on. The reason why I think you're going to have pressure to do both types of environments, a formal sit down interview with a journalistic outlet like an NPR, or in the case of last night, 60 Minutes, it's because voters want to know more about your actual platform, as opposed to if you're sitting down with a podcaster, they're just getting to know a little bit more about you personally.

That's Axios Media Correspondent, Sarah Fisher. Sarah, thanks.

Thank you.

Now to Israel, where people across the country observed a day of grief and reflection yesterday, marking one year since the attacks on October seventh.

That was the day that Hamas led militants stormed out of Gaza and attacked communities in Southern Israel. The killing and hostage taking on that day was followed by a year long Israeli offensive across Gaza so far, and also attacks on Israel from elsewhere in the region, including from Hezbollah in Lebanon. In recent days, Israel has expanded its offensive into Lebanon.

Npr's Kat Lonsdorff joins us now from Tel Aviv. So let's start with the memorials in Israel, Kat. What can you tell us about how Israelis marked the year?

Yeah, the mood was really somber here. There were several different memorials throughout the country. One was organized by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Netanyahu's government, one by the families of hostages and people killed last October, and a few more at the actual sites down south where the attacks took place. A big reason for those different memorials has to do with disagreements over Netanyahu's insistence for continuing the war in Gaza. Families of hostages and their supporters want an immediate ceasefire deal to end the war and get the remaining 101 hostages back. They didn't want to be part of the official government memorial. It's also worth noting, just here in Tel Aviv yesterday, sirens went off, warning of incoming rockets from three different places throughout the day. First, Hamas shot rockets from Gaza, a few of which hit in the Tel Aviv suburbs. Then later, the Israeli military said it shot down a missile from Yemen. Then late last night, huge booms in Tel Aviv. It actually shook my windows here as the Israeli military said it shot down projectiles from Lebanon.

The backdrop of all this, of course, is now multiple wars being fought by Israel, both in Gaza and Lebanon, and Israeli troops in the occupied West Bank. Kat, let's start with Gaza, which has been devastated by Israeli forces the past year. What happened there yesterday?

Israeli air strikes started early in the morning in Gaza, and Hamas also launched rockets back at Southern Israel. Both of those happened right around 6:29 AM, which was when the attack on Israel started last year. Israeli air strikes continued in Gaza throughout the day. Israel said it was taking out Hamas rocket launchers, but At least 39 Palestinians were killed, according to health officials there, and that's just yesterday. There were more Israeli evacuation orders for both North and South Gaza. This comes after an entire year of continuous displacement for Palestinians there. The Israeli military said it's about to go into the north with what it calls, quote, extreme force. We're going to watch and see what happens. Okay.

Then there's also Lebanon, where Israeli troops began a ground invasion last week. What do we know about that?

Well, it's hard to get much information about what's happening in Southern Lebanon because it's been declared a closed military zone by Israel. But we do know that Israel is continuing its strikes in Southern Lebanon and in Beirut. An Israeli airstrike killed at least 10 firefighters in the south yesterday, according to Lebanon's health officials. Those firefighters were getting ready to rescue people who'd been hurt other strikes. Israel says it's targeting Hezbollah militants in those strikes. Just in the past few weeks of Israeli strikes, more than 1,000 people have been killed in Lebanon, thousands wounded, and more than a million have been displaced, according to Lebanon's officials. Israel says it's going in for, limited operations, but this is also language that Israel has used about Gaza, and that war is still very much ongoing a year later. So many fear that Lebanon might be the same.

One more thing, really quick, when I watch on television, I see air sirens and The airstrikes, I mean, how is it just being in Tel Aviv? Do you feel safe at all?

It's gotten pretty normal here. The airstrikes happened up north a lot more. Yesterday was significant, but I think people have become relatively used to this, as sad as that is.

All right, that's NPR's Kat Lonsdorff in Tel Aviv. Kat, thank you very much for this reporting.

Thanks so much, Jay.

That's a first for Tuesday, October eighth. I'm E. Martinez.

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