Not even a week into his second presidential term, President Donald Trump is visiting the regions in North Carolina devastated by Hurricane Helene months ago, where roads still are closed, residential areas simply have vanished and life is anything but moving forward after Joe Biden promised benefits of a few hundred dollars to victims.

And Trump has announced he has plans to help Los Angeles recover from the wildfires that struck at the New Year.

BREAKING: President Trump just announced to the victims of Hurricane Helene that he is deploying the Army Corp of Engineers to rebuild their bridges, roads, riverbanks, etc

“I’ve asked Susie Wiles and all of my people to start calling up. Get the Corps ready.”

The Democrat… pic.twitter.com/zw1JD7PqlD

— George (@BehizyTweets) January 24, 2025

Trump, on a tour Friday to North Carolina as well as California, announced “he is deploying the Army Corp of Engineers to rebuild their bridges, roads, riverbanks, etc.,” reports said.

“I’ve asked Susie Wiles and all of my people to start calling up. Get the Corps ready,” he announced.

The devastation wrought by the hurricane, which killed more than 200 people and left another two dozen people still missing, stalled over the state after coming ashore, dumping feet of rain and literally washing some communities away.

There long have been complaints that the federal government has responded, under the then administration of Joe Biden, inadequately.

Fox News explained Trump blasted the Federal Emergency Management Agency for its failures in North Carolina.

“I’ll also be signing an executive order to begin the process of fundamentally reforming and overhauling FEMA, or maybe getting rid of FEMA,” Trump confirmed.

“I think, frankly, FEMA is not good.”

He said he has assigned members of his administration to get help on the way.

“We’re going to fix it, and we’re going to fix it as fast as you can. It’s a massive amount of damage. FEMA has really let us down. Let the country down. And I don’t know if that’s Biden’s fault or whose fault it is, but we’re going to take over. We’re going to do a good job.”

In fact, thousands of North Carolina families remain in motels as their homes, washed away, have not been replaced with even temporary housing.

“It’s been a horrible thing the way that’s been allowed to fester, and we’re going to get it fixed up,” Trump said. “It should have been done months ago from the hurricane that took place almost four months ago.”

He also addressed the California wildfires, which have killed dozens and destroy as many as 12,000 or more homes and other buildings.

A report in the Washington Examiner explained Trump expects several responses from California, in return for federal relief.

“I want to see two things in Los Angeles. Voter ID so that the people have a chance to vote, and I want to see the water be released and come down into Los Angeles and throughout the state. After that, I will be the greatest president that California has ever seen,” Trump said.

In fact, some of the areas burned by the wildfires did burn at least partly because there was no water in the fire hydrants, a result of apparent mismanagement of the area’s reservoir system.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, whose Democrat political star was rising before his reputation took a massive blow because of the wildfires, rejected the president’s ideas.

“Under current CA law you must be a CA resident and U.S. citizen (and attest to being one under penalty of perjury) AND provide a form of ID such as driver’s license or passport that has been approved by the Secretary of State in order to register to vote,” his office said on social media.

Trump had explained earlier, “Los Angeles has massive amounts of water available to it. All they have to do is turn the valve. They wouldn’t do it because, politically, they didn’t think it was good. I think it’s great politically. I think they’re dead politically. What they’ve done, they’ve destroyed the city.”

Conditioning aid for American citizens is wrong.

FACT: Under current CA law you must be a CA resident and US citizen (and attest to being one under penalty of perjury) AND provide a form of ID such as driver’s license or passport that has been approved by the Secretary of State… https://t.co/obwSGH74Eb

— Governor Newsom Press Office (@GovPressOffice) January 24, 2025