‘We’re preparing for disaster’: Alarm over Trump’s attack on federal disaster agency | Donald Trump

DOnald Trump has proposed limiting or even eliminating the federal response to major disasters. That would end aid that largely helped support Republican-leaning states that voted for him in last year’s U.S. presidential election.

Trump said that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) “hasn’t done its job for the last four years” and that there will be “a big discussion shortly because I would rather see the states deal with their own problems.” take care.” “.

In an interview with Fox News, the US President said about Fema that “it only complicates everything” and that even states that have strongly supported him, such as Oklahoma, are primarily dealing with the consequences of severe storms, floods, etc. Fires should be faced.

“I love Oklahoma, but you know what? If they get hit by a tornado or something, Oklahoma is supposed to fix the problem,” Trump said. “And then the federal government can help them with the money. Fema stands in the way of everything.”

Shifting the burden of disaster relief to states, an idea laid out in the right-wing Project 2025 manifesto before the election, would hit Republican-leaning states hardest, federal spending figures show.

Since 2015, states that voted for Trump last year have received $31 billion in assistance from Fema, led by storm-prone states Florida, Texas and Louisiana, compared to just $7 billion for states that voted for the Democrats voted. U.S. territories were able to receive $27 billion in Fema funding, a number that was boosted by the catastrophic Hurricane Maria that struck Puerto Rico in 2017.

Fema, whose interim leader is now Cameron Hamilton, a former Navy Seal with no experience coordinating responses to major disasters, was founded in 1979 because states were unable to fully respond to extreme weather impacts without federal help. As disasters due to the climate crisis have begun to worsen, the demands on Fema have become even more intense.

“This would have a huge impact on many red states; It’s hard to find the words for how bad it would be,” Samantha Montano, a disaster relief expert at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy, said of Trump’s comments.

“Florida and Texas are high risk, but poorer red states like Mississippi and Alabama would be even worse off because they have less money to make up for a loss in federal funding.”

“What (Trump) is saying is completely incoherent and illogical. He says North Carolina needs more help, but this would help drive North Carolina into bankruptcy.

“The Trump administration is in a difficult position because their ideology is to spend less money, but disasters cost a lot of money. Many of his supporters and Americans in general expect the federal government to write a check after a disaster so they can rebuild their lives.”

Trump visits North Carolina and then California on Friday and voiced sharp criticism of the disaster response in both states. In September, Hurricane Helene became the deadliest storm to hit the U.S. mainland since Katrina in 2005. What followed was a flurry of baseless conspiracy theories, fueled by Trump accusing Joe Biden of failing to respond even as state governors, including Republicans, failed to respond. praised the federal aid efforts.

More recently, wildfires have devastated parts of Los Angeles in what may be the costliest fire outbreak in California history. Trump has attacked the state’s Democratic leadership for failing to contain the fires, and his Republican allies in Congress suggested attaching different conditions to aid to California.

“I think he is poorly informed about how emergency management works, because American states have emergency management programs, as do territories like Puerto Rico,” Michael Coen, who was Fema chief of staff under Biden, said of Trump. Fema intervenes when the capacity of these programs is exceeded, he said.

Trump said California should not have access to resources until local officials “allow water to flow from the northern part of the state,” repeating a claim he made on the campaign trail. But Los Angeles actually doesn’t rely on water from Northern California, Coen noted. “It just shows his ignorance of the challenges that the California fires pose,” he said.

While Trump falsely blames immigrants and even the protection of a small fish for worsening these disasters, scientists have pointed to a climate crisis that is increasing fires, storms and other extreme weather events.

Last year there were 27 disasters that caused $1 billion or more in damages, with the rising toll of life and property prompting several insurers to flee states such as Florida.

However, Trump called climate change a “giant hoax” and issued a flurry of executive orders in his first week in the White House to open up more American land and waters for oil and gas drilling, block new wind turbines, etc., and phase out electric cars again USA from the Paris Climate Agreement.

In addition to floating the idea of ​​cutting Fema, Trump has also repealed requirements first introduced by Barack Obama to set tough new standards for federally funded projects like hospitals, housing and highways to ensure they can better withstand extreme flooding Sea level rise.

“While red states benefit the most from Fema, I would say we all benefit from Fema wherever we are,” Montano said. “In the last 72 hours, America has become much more precarious in terms of the risk we face. The promise of worsening the climate crisis, coupled with the dismantling of Fema, is setting us up for disaster.”