As Hurricane Milton hits: How will 'storm of the century' impact US presidential race?

The Debate

Here in France, the flood waters are rising as the remnants of Storm Kirk dump biblical amounts of rain. But that's just a drop in the bucket compared with what the southeastern United States faces. Hurricane Milton is forcing the evacuation of 5.5 million Florida residents, with President Joe Biden warning this could become the storm of the century.

Even more dramatic is that Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas and beyond are still reeling from the US's deadliest storm since 2005, with Hurricane Helene killing at least 230 people and causing billions in destruction.

Now is not the time for partisan politics, or is it? Democrats accuse Republicans of a mass disinformation campaign about the rescue and cleanup effort from Helene, while Donald Trump doubles down on accusations that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris funnelled money to charities that help migrants.

Just how much will Mother Nature be on the ballot on November 5? More broadly, there is a populist backlash on both sides of the Atlantic against carbon-cutting policies. According to Hungary's Viktor Orban, France's Marine Le Pen and Germany's far right, those policies punish the pocketbooks of the middle classes while taking away individual freedoms.

Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Annarosa Zampaglione.