Then-New Jersey Governor Chris Christie was not a fan of President Barack Obama in 2012. As the top surrogate for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and a rising star in Republican politics, he spent most of the year railing against Obama’s handling of the economy. blasting him as unreachable and ineffective.

But when Superstorm Sandy devastated the mid-Atlantic in late October (just days before the 2012 election), killing 117 Americans and causing tens of billions in property damage, Christie put it all aside — in a way that seemed strange feels in light of recent events.

The governor worked closely with Obama, speaking to him frequently on the phone, touring the devastated Jersey Shore with him and touting his relief efforts in interviews, at one point leading a Fox News host in an attempt to win him back over Romney to let them talk.

Christie rejected the proposal. “If you think at this point I care about presidential politics, you don’t know me,” he said.

It was a high point for cooperation between the two sides in the aftermath of a natural disaster, but it also seems to have been the death knell. On Wednesday evening, Hurricane Milton made landfall as a Category 3 storm near Siesta Key, Florida. Today the Americans will wake up, assess the damage and try to rebuild. But it’s worth remembering that the trail of destruction left by Superstorm Sandy also seems to include the long tradition of bipartisanship after a natural disaster.

A major reason is that Christie’s cooperation and praise were seen as helping a Democratic president win re-election.

Polls showed that voters gave Obama sky-high marks for his handling of the hurricane, and exit polls suggested that this may have been an important factor for the late-deciding voters who supported him. Obama’s efforts are largely to blame, but Christie’s praise may have helped win over Republican-leaning independents who haven’t seen them firsthand.

But even if Christie had no influence on the race, many loyal Republicans were convinced he did. A photo of Obama placing his hand on Christie’s shoulder at the Atlantic City airport as the two men shook hands turned into a “hug” in GOP memories. Christie was unapologetic about his handling of the storm, but memories of his close working with Obama haunted his failed 2016 bid for the Republican presidential nomination as primary voters regularly cited it as a concern.

It still haunts Republicans. Governors who might one day run for president are now much more cautious about praising a Democratic president for his handling of a natural disaster.

After Hurricane Ian hit Florida in 2022, Governor Ron DeSantis was so careful to avoid anything close to a “hug photo” with President Joe Biden that he accidentally created the opposite. During their joint tour of Fort Myers, Biden was photographed chatting amiably with a man wearing a camouflage cap and a “Florida cracker” T-shirt as DeSantis walked by somberly.

As embarrassing as that viral moment may have been, it didn’t hurt DeSantis’ bid for the Republican nomination this year. He may not have come much closer to the nomination than Christie, but he certainly didn’t fail because Republican primaries worried that he might have once been too nice to Biden.

Nor has he changed course. As Hurricane Milton headed toward Florida, an aide to DeSantis told NBC News that he avoided taking calls from Vice President Kamala Harris about Helene’s recovery efforts because he said they “seemed political.” (DeSantis later denied the report, claiming at a press conference that he “didn’t know she had called” and that no one in his office said it was political.)

From there it only got worse. Harris unfortunately took the bait, saying that “playing politics” after a natural disaster is “completely irresponsible” and “selfish.” DeSantis then fired back, telling Fox News that the vice president “has no role” in disaster recovery and that she in turn was “being selfish by trying to blunder into this when we’re doing just fine.”

This is all deeply stupid. At least 220 people died at Helene’s hands, while some communities were wiped off the map along a 500-mile path of destruction. Milton is expected to produce life-threatening storm surges of up to 15 feet along the west coast of Florida. Turning all of this into an opportunity to score political points is not only foolhardy, but will likely backfire among voters affected by the storm.

Looming over all this is Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, whose response to Helene was to spread disinformation, rush to visit the affected area even though it is considered disruptive so early in the aftermath, and try to ride out the storm to turn his political advantage. His allies are no better, as billionaire Elon Musk shared false claims about the federal response to X and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene shared strange conspiracy theories about weather control.

To be fair, not every Republican has gone along with all this. Senator Thom Tillis, Representative Chuck Edwards and Senator Kevin Corbin have dismissed conspiracy theories about Helene. Georgia Governor Brian Kemp and South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster have been professional in their work with the Biden administration on relief efforts.

But the damage has been done. Even though most elected officials are focused on working together to deliver relief to their communities, it only takes a few to derail the conversation into conspiracy theories and sharp attacks. And that is a disaster that is completely man-made.