Reuters points out that Trump made these statements Monday as Biden came back from his vacation:

 

"I just spoke to Elon," Trump said in his remarks. "We want to get Starlink hooked up because they have no communication whatsoever and Elon will always come through." Trump added: "We are going to try and get the Starlink in there as soon as possible."

 

Those arrangements had already been made before Trump's comments, President Joe Biden's administration pointed out afterward. "This is already happening," a White House spokesperson said on social media, linking to a press statement dated Monday from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

 

Aside from an urge to just default back to the press's partiality for the Biden-Harris administration, and dismiss the Reuters claim that Trump is the one lying, based on he-said-she-said aspect of the story, with both parties having an interest in saying them, there's also the matter of the Harris-Biden administration's history of lying about such matters for political purposes, with corrections to be made six months later.

 

But there may be certain differences in what they are saying, too.

 

Biden is referring to the deployment of satellites, which are then used from Starlink terminals, and in his statement he emphasized their use for "first responders," meaning, FEMA, and perhaps other government agencies, which thus far have done little, and in any case, are out of money to help the residents. He said he got 50 terminals out there from the satellite deployments which isn't a lot, given the area in need.

 

Trump and his private-sector allies, plus Ivanka Trump, have indisputably been distributing Starlink terminals for residents to phone their families and tell them where they are, whether they are safe, how they got through the hurricane, and ask them for help if needed.

 

Those may be two different missions.

 

There are also other potential reasons for the discrepancy -- the satellite deployment may have already been in the works when Trump spoke to Elon. Elon may have adjusted what was up for deployment to the Carolinas on his own with neither Biden nor Trump. Elon may have assured Trump it was in the works, even if the Biden team had made the call. There isn't anything on Elon's Twitter feed suggesting anything actually, other than use of Starlink terminals will be free to all for 30 days, and maybe as a businessman, he's being held to silence on a federal contract.

 

All the same, the preponderance of the evidence from the past suggests that Biden is more than likely playing catch-up to Trump -- when Trump went to the border, Biden got up off his duff and went, too, as did his border czar, Kamala Harris. When Trump called for no-tax-on-tips for tipped workers, Kamala Harris jumped up and said she would be in favor of that, too. 

 

There's also the matter of the Biden administration's denial of a $900 million FCC grant to SpaceX's Starlink to rural areas as not good enough in the recent past. That would have put 19,500 terminals on the ground in the area, Biden is bragging about installing 50. Bottom line here is that suddenly, they have come crawling back with a different point of view about Elon's Starlink, Eddie Haskell-style, making one wonder what Elon must think.

 

There are definitely those who think Biden is trying to claim credit:

 

🚨🇺🇸BIDEN TRIES TO STEAL CREDIT AS TRUMP, ELON DEPLOY STARLINK FOR HURRICANE VICTIMS

Trump says he spoke with @elonmusk to deploy Starlink for emergency communications in areas hit by Hurricane Helene.

This came before Biden claimed he "directed" the Starlink rollout, which… pic.twitter.com/p6eIdXStPg

— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) October 2, 2024

 

Elon's mother, Maye Musk, said that all he boy Elon wanted to do was help:

 

And his ideas were crazy. He said he wanted to save lives by launching satellites for people stranded on hilltops, in forests and in the ocean. I thought that would be good, but had no idea how important it was. @Starlink is essential now after Hurricane Helene. Elon sees the… https://t.co/FHtOCqNE2f

— Maye Musk (@mayemusk) October 3, 2024

 

Biden's quest to claim credit in a situation like this is unseemly, given the inadequateness of the federal response seen so far.

What's needed is results now, credit can be sorted out later. Trump certainly isn't angling for credit, he is just doing stuff and moving on to the next thing to do. But as other news reports have stated, Biden is upset that he's not getting much attention, or "credit" from even his fellow Democrats who are glad to see the back of him.

For now, most people can see that Elon is indispensible in a crisis, not a bad guy as the Bidenite regulators harassing him would have it; Trump is on the ground, raising money, getting Starlink delivered, donating his own cash and resources, and working with churches to haul in supplies for the needy. And Florida's Gov. Ron DeSantis is also pitching in significantly in North Carolina as well as has his own state's hurricane cleanup operation and planning quite under control. Those are the people who are helping, those are the good men in a storm. 

How like the wretched Biden, though, to want to claim all the credit.

Image: Twitter screen shot