Let's start by acknowledging that almost any national event that dominates a news cycle during a presidential election now inevitably also becomes the subject of fierce – and all too often – dishonest political gamesmanship.

Back-to-back massive hurricanes in the six weeks before the country picks either Vice President Kamala Harris or former President Donald Trump? Let the games begin.

How the Democrats and Republicans approached all that tells you plenty about where they are as political parties right now.

Many Democrats in the U.S. House advocated for an immediate increase in funding for disaster relief. Many Republicans, from Trump on down, grasped instead for conspiracies, including lies about assistance being withheld in states hit by the hurricanes and the all-out bonkers claim that Democrats somehow manipulate the weather to aim storms at Republican strongholds.

For all that bluster, not much is expected to happen before the election. Some political points will be scored while the electorate gets flooded with disinformation. Governing? Please. There's an election to win.

Sixty-three Democrats in the U.S. House wrote a letter Wednesday to Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, just before Hurricane Milton came ashore in Florida, calling on him to reconvene Congress from its election vacation to approve more funding for disaster agencies such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). That came 13 days after Hurricane Helene brought death and........

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