Jessica Tarlov didn’t mince words Monday as she called out her The Five co-host Jesse Watters for what she sees as a clear double standard in his response to the Texas flash floods compared to his past commentary on Hurricane Helene.
Tarlov criticized Watters for failing to hold former President Donald Trump accountable for spreading misinformation about FEMA in the wake of the devastating September 2024 hurricane, while being quick to critique President Biden for his administration’s handling of similar disasters.
“I don’t think talking about preparedness or what might have helped qualifies as impugning the memory of those that have been lost,” Tarlov said. “This river has been flooding for a very long time. But I don’t recall Jesse Watters saying Trump should stop spreading lies about the Biden administration and FEMA when Hurricane Helene struck.”
She then reminded viewers of Trump’s false claims in the aftermath of that storm:
“Trump went out there and said, ‘They’re giving your FEMA dollars to illegals, they’re housing them with your FEMA dollars.’ Then he claimed people would only get $750 from FEMA — which was completely false. Republican officials have confirmed that some people didn’t receive aid because of the misinformation Trump and others were pushing.”
Tarlov added that Republican lawmakers have also failed to act on meaningful disaster prevention measures, rejecting over $54 billion in identified disaster resistance funding that could have helped prevent the scale of destruction Texas is now facing.
“That’s something they can work on moving forward — to hopefully avoid a tragedy like this again,” she concluded.
The catastrophic flooding swept through Texas over the Fourth of July weekend, with more than 100 lives lost, including 27 campers and staffers from Camp Mystic. The death toll is expected to rise as search and rescue efforts continue.
Camp Mystic issued a statement Monday expressing gratitude to the community and first responders:
“We are deeply grateful for the outpouring of support… as authorities work tirelessly to search for our missing girls.”
