In the midst of one of the state’s worst ever natural disasters, relief, volunteers and well wishes have poured into North Carolina. In a time of absolute calamity and suffering, people across the world have come together to demonstrate the very best of humanity to support our state.

Well, almost all of humanity.

While regular people have rushed to help North Carolinians, some of our country and state’s foremost political leaders rushed to capitalize on the tragedy. Of course leading the way was the ever-ethical, morally upstanding leader of the Republican Party, former President Donald Trump.

In the days that followed Hurricane Helene’s landfall in North Carolina and the surrounding states, Trump was spewing every form of lie and conspiracy he could muster in an attempt to see what would stick.

You’ve probably seen something about the government only offering disaster victims $750 on social media, a gross misconstruction of the process perpetuated by Trump. This is easily debunkable, and while victims are able to receive this payment, there is much more support to follow in the relief process.

He took a few leaps of logic from there to say the Biden Administration and various Democratic leaders weren’t working to provide aid at all, saying Vice President Kamala Harris had stolen money from FEMA to give to illegal immigrants. Very classy.

In the most valiant use of his platform, the former president claimed Gov. Roy Cooper was going out of his way to not help people in conservative areas, and “targeting” Republican voters.

This kind of rhetoric is beyond disgusting and a reprehensible exploitation of politics that spits on the American tradition of rising above partisan divisions in times of tragedy. From the most documented liar in history, you’d think people would know it’s not true.

Of course, Trump’s cult following has doubled down to spread these fabrications far and wide. This has become such a trend in the aftermath of the storms that FEMA, whose attention should probably be on real-life disaster relief, has had to start an entire “rumor response” webpage to dispel misinformation.

You may have seen Marjorie Taylor Greene — in her typical rational fashion — claim the hurricane and weather in general was controlled by “them,” and intentionally targeted red voting districts. Yes, Democrats in Washington can barely figure out how to staple a piece of paper together, but of course they can bend the Earth’s atmosphere to their will like Greek Gods.

Or maybe she was talking about Jews again, who knows.

Speaking of antisemitism, Mark Robinson might not be good at clearing his search history, but he’s great at sniffing out the political opportunity in his constituents dying. With Robinson’s campaign torpedoing after being outed as a pro-slavery pervert Nazi, the Lieutenant Governor rushed to the mountains for a photo-op in hopes to shift the narrative.

His narrative toed right in-line with his party’s presidential nominee. In addition to lying about the government’s outreach and involvement in the state’s recovery, Robinson levied unsubstantiated accusations at the media for not reporting on rural parts of North Carolina. All before failing to fulfill his duty as an elected official and skipping votes to authorize a state of emergency.

This isn’t all to say FEMA is an infallible organization and that the government’s response has been faultless. I’m not on the ground in Western North Carolina, and bureaucracy in times of crisis will always have its limits. But these allegations are so detestably untrue that a rabbit with an iPod Touch could deduct their true intentions.

The strategy of Trump and his allies is clear, and nothing new for the brand: fear-mongering manipulation through blatant deception.

Trump does not have anything close to a plan for any of the issues he rages on about. He derailed bipartisan efforts to address the border crisis because it was politically inconvenient for the government to find real solutions through governing. He wants to get rid of Medicaid and has no plan to replace it. Every economist that analyzes his financial plans has no idea what he is talking about.

He makes empty promises without premise and says the other side will murder you with immigrants and crime. It is nothing new — actually, it’s a well-documented historical Republican strategy.

Though a few weeks have passed and Helene victims have become second fiddle to whatever xenophobic delusion or whichever deceased golfer’s penis he wakes up focusing on, the consequences of his rhetoric rage on in North Carolina. FEMA was forced to temporarily suspend relief efforts in parts of the state because of threats born from the rampant misinformation.

Trump intentionally sewing mistrust into government institutions to cause chaos is another prominent fascist theme of his political career. His tirade against public health during the pandemic was another episode that, again, had incredibly serious implications. People living in Trump-heavy counties were three times as likely to die from COVID-19. Medical experts predict 40% of the deaths the country faced could have been averted if not for Trump’s mishandling and misinformation.

If you think those are too circumstantial of examples, there are actual academic studies that tracked how many people died from COVID after attending Trump rallies in 2020.

What studies and reports will we see from North Carolina after Helene? How many will die from his intentional ignorance to the truth, telling vulnerable people to fear the people desperately trying to help?

So I frame this sentiment for the reader, and hopefully for the potential Trump voter: He is killing you, he is politically profiting off of your death and he is laughing at you behind your back.

In all likelihood, Trump will carry North Carolina for a third general election in a row. His “Martin Luther King on steroids” Mark Robinson will likely lose the gubernatorial election, but not without amassing hundreds of thousands of votes first. A large portion of our state will vote for, again, a self-pronounced Nazi. N-A-Z-I.

North Carolina, my friends and colleagues who I know want to vote for Trump, I implore you to have an honest reflection on the effect this singular individual has had on our state. On the condition of political discourse and the lunacy it now requires to engage in it. I’m not asking you to vote for someone else, just to not vote for the Nazi-endorsing, psychotic tyrant-hopeful who’s making a painstakingly obvious attempt to take advantage of you and our state.