Amid all the petty partisan bickering that happens during the October before an election, it can be easy to forget what’s at stake. Divided along our blue and red teams, bombarded with misinformation and disinformation, it can be hard to know who and what to trust. I get why people want to throw their hands up and walk away completely. I get why people start to see “both sides” as equally problematic.

But then something like back-to-back hurricanes, supercharged by climate change, flooding mountain towns hundreds of miles from the seacoast happens, and I remember what’s at stake.

Vice President Harris and President Biden get that. They understand that in emergencies like this, political parties don’t matter; people do—and those people, those Americans, deserve competent, measured, fact-based leadership. That’s why, right now, more than 8,000 federal personnel are on the ground across the Southeast, including in Florida, to continue Hurricane Helene recovery efforts and respond to the impacts of Hurricane Milton. That’s why the governor, local elected officials, and tribal leaders in Florida have a direct line to the White House. That’s why the Biden-Harris Administration has forward deployed members across the government, from NOAA to the DoD and FEMA, to get ahead of what might come.

I served twenty-four years in active-duty U.S. Army uniform, and if I learned one thing during that time, it was just how critical leadership can be, especially during times of crisis. When the operating environment is chaotic, changing, and full of unknowns, having a steady presence at the helm can be the difference between returning home after a mission success or a mission failure.

Vice-President Harris is that presence. She has the poise, competence, and character to lead us through whatever might come over the next four years.

Former President Trump, however, is too busy squabbling and spreading false information to be trusted to lead. If we want to know how a second Trump administration would look in the middle of a disaster, we need to look no further than his first.

Trump delayed California wildfire funding, citing the state’s democratic leanings, until senior staff showed him voter file data demonstrating how many supporters of his lived in the impacted area, treating communities in their moment of need not as people but as poll numbers. “We went as far as looking up how many votes he got in those impacted areas…to show him these are people who voted for you,” said Trump’s former advisor Mike Harvey, who recently endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris alongside more than 100 other Republican former national security officials.

In fact, he withheld or threatened to withhold disaster relief from Pennsylvania, Washington, Maryland, and California, citing personal disagreements with state leadership or a lack of political support from voters. He diverted $155 million from FEMA in 2019 to a half-baked plan to deport migrants—because that issue plays to his political base. Trump delayed Puerto Rico’s $20 billion rescue package in hurricane recovery aid and even refused to acknowledge the death toll of Hurricane Maria. He likewise denied 99 percent of federal funding requested by the State of North Carolina after Hurricane Matthew, leaving residents struggling to pick up the pieces alone.

Through a mix of incompetence and policies meant to serve Trump’s ego over his country, Trump botched emergency response time and time again.

He can’t lead in a disaster. He is a disaster.

Project 2025 seeks to formalize this incompetence and blatant disregard for human suffering by breaking up FEMA, downsizing NOAA, and limiting the operations of the National Weather Service. That’s the very office that tracks and predicts severe weather events, giving government officials and communities the crucial early warnings that allow us to evacuate and prepare for disasters. Project 2025 promotes the idea of commercializing weather forecasts, arguing that Americans already use private apps to track weather, apparently ignorant of the fact that private companies regularly use data from the National Weather Service.

The sprawling plan, written by several former Trump officials, would phase out the program that allows homeowners and small business leaders to obtain flood insurance, cutting people off from both government aid and private funding to rebuild after natural disasters.

Under Trump, we won’t be able to see a crisis coming, and we certainly won’t be able to recover.

No, this election isn’t just about the letter behind a candidate’s name. It’s not about petty partisan squabbling or “he said, she said.” It’s about electing a leader we can trust to lead every day and in a crisis. It’s about electing an adult who doesn’t think about voter turnout when she pledges to support those in need. It’s about electing a leader grounded in reality, not political mistruths. Vice President Harris is that leader.

About the Author: 

John Tien served as Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security from 2021-2023. He retired from the United States Army in 2011 after more than twenty years of service at the rank of Colonel and was a combat battalion commander in Iraq.

Image: Shutterstock.com.