Just one month ago, Donald Trump said he wanted to “wean” the United States off the Federal Emergency Management Agency after this year’s hurricane season.
“We want to bring [FEMA] down to the state level,” Trump told reporters during a briefing in the Oval Office. “A governor should be able to handle it, and frankly if they can’t it, the aftermath, then maybe they shouldn’t be governor.”
This week, in the wake of the floods in the Texas Hill Country that left at least 119 dead and over 161 still missing, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott praised Trump for quickly approving a major disaster declaration for Kerr County, the hardest-hit area. “The swift and very robust action by President Trump is an extraordinary help to our response,” Abbott said.
If you use Trump’s logic, maybe Abbott shouldn’t be governor.
Trump unlocked federal money that includes paying for debris removal; search and rescue experts, who are working around the clock; and housing, food and other immediate necessities for those who have lost their homes. The irony is that, because of provisions included in Trump’s budget, which he signed into law on July 4, this action may not be available to him — or any other president — in the future.
On the same day Texas officials were engaged in search, rescue and recovery efforts along the Guadalupe River, masked and heavily armed Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents marched on foot and galloped on horseback through MacArthur Park in Los Angeles in a performative show of force.
We all know where Trump’s heart lies — and it isn’t with the victims of a natural disaster. On the same day Texas officials were engaged in search, rescue and recovery efforts along the Guadalupe River, masked and heavily armed Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents marched on foot and galloped on horseback through MacArthur Park in Los Angeles in a performative show of force.
“It is outrageous and un-American that we have federal armed vehicles in our park,” Democratic Mayor Karen Bass said at a City Hall press conference afterward. “What happened to the criminals, the drug dealers, the violent individuals? Who were in the park today were children. It was their summer camp, their summer day camp.”
Imagine if those ICE officers were instead marching and galloping through the Texas Hill Country, trying to aid and assist the families who lost loved ones at a summer camp because of a natural disaster. Apparently, Trump doesn’t possess the empathy to order that. His grand plan appears to be rounding up people, and making them suffer, rather than assisting those already suffering.
When Isidro Perez, a 75-year-old who was admitted into the U.S. from Cuba nearly 60 years ago, died in ICE custody, Trump’s deportation czar Tom Homan said, “people die in ICE custody, people die in county jail, people die in state prisons.” The question, he said, should be “how many lives does ICE save?” We will never know, because Homan and Trump aren’t using ICE in humanitarian roles. They are, however, implementing and defending the masked raids, and putting the government and unarmed citizens on a potentially deadly course of confrontation that is bound to erupt in violence.
It didn’t have to be like this.
Right now there are hundreds, and potentially thousands, of people personally affected by the recent floods in the Texas Hill Country. Two dozen parents who sent their daughters to summer camp are grieving, while others are waiting in anguish with the slimmest of hopes because their loved ones have yet to be found. The parents of the dead will speculate for the rest of their lives about the lives their children will never have: Who would they have married, what job would they have had? Would they have had children; wouldn’t it have been nice to spend time with the grandchildren?
While these families are suffering, others are using the disaster to score political points. It began when a member of local law enforcement said in a press conference that the National Weather Service had failed. The Democrats took this as an opportunity to blame Trump who, in turn, blamed the “Fake News” and pointed out that the NWS predictions included heavy rain, flood watches and warnings. Though he has cut funding for the NWS and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Trump said the weather forecasters did their job. Some fringe players on the far-right took to calling the deadly floods a fake event and claimed that clouds were seeded to cause destruction. Yeah, it’s as crazy as it sounds.
And when a reporter asked Abbott a question about government responsibility, the governor said the reporter was a loser. “That’s horrible,” former MSNBC anchor Katie Phang explained on the podcast “Just Ask the Question.” “That’s our job.”
So, who’s at fault?
Some would describe it as an act of nature. Humans have never been able to control those. Others would call it an act of God. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, the president’s personal garden gnome, had a different view. During Trump’s recent cabinet meeting, she said “I’m extremely grateful for God’s hands in that whole situation, because hundreds and hundreds of people were saved.” In her logic, God apparently both caused the flood and saved the people he liked. And no one even had to build an ark.
Want more sharp takes on politics? Sign up for our free newsletter, Standing Room Only, written by Amanda Marcotte, now also a weekly show on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.
That aside, a nation with even a mediocre knowledge of science would understand that more intense storms are occurring more frequently as the climate warms. Denying that fact is irrelevant. It merely underscores the fact that millions of people have less than a mediocre knowledge of science. How you wish to parse responsibility among the electorate and local, federal and state governments is up to you.
I covered flash floods in the Texas Hill Country for years, and I did my fair share of reporting from Kerrville. I remember seeing people rescued from trees by helicopter as the rampaging Guadalupe River roared through the once-dry valley. It is not an uncommon occurrence in a place called “Flash Flood Alley.”
The floods serve as a symbolic reminder of the constant and complete failure of Trump’s government. Just this week we have had to deal with speculation on Pam Bondi being fired, revelations that Trump talked about bombing Moscow, the MAGA split caused by the latest Jeffrey Epstein controversy that Trump doesn’t want to talk about, tariff problems and the president’s “TACO” reputation — Wall Street’s indictment that “Trump Always Chickens Out” — and any of a number of other controversies brought about by a man who speaks out of both sides of his mouth and his posterior at the same time.
Trump has successfully made the country numb with the unending obfuscation of facts, bombardment of controversial and stupid actions, as well as his vitriolic hatred of anyone who doesn’t shut up and fall in line. During a recent celebration, from a lectern behind thick bulletproof glass in Des Moines, Iowa, last Thursday, he picked a curious way to celebrate the birthday of the United States.
“Every Democrat in Congress voted against the ‘big, beautiful bill,’ many fiercely criticizing the expected cuts it would bring to Medicaid,” he said. “They wouldn’t vote only because they hate Trump, but I hate them, too, you know?’I really do. I hate them. I cannot stand them, because I really believe they hate our country.”
Trump leads the way, with a reality show mentality, playing the same note he has played since he was actually on a reality show. And while Trump pretends to be a Christian, he rarely – if ever — adheres to the teachings of the Bible.
Moments like this make it understandable why millions of Americans have hardened their hearts to their fellow man. Trump leads the way, with a reality show mentality, playing the same note he has played since he was actually on a reality show. And while Trump pretends to be a Christian, he rarely – if ever — adheres to the teachings of the Bible.
“For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” Christians will know this as Galatians 5:14, which either means that Donald Trump doesn’t care about the Bible, or if he is true to it, then he must really hate himself. My grandfather often said two things can be true at once.
During Trump’s recent cabinet meeting on Tuesday, as search and rescue workers were attempting to locate the dead and missing in Texas, he showed his true colors again. When asked about New York Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, Trump let his anger flow. “We’re not going to have — if a communist gets elected to run New York, it can never be the same. But we have tremendous power at the White House to run places when we have to,” he said. “We could run D.C. We’re looking at D.C. We don’t want crime in D.C. We want the city to run well.”
While Trump’s threats mount, his continued anger manifests itself in untold actions of cruelty by the masked officers of ICE. Imagine what FEMA, NOAA and the NWS could do with the $178 billion Trump has pumped into immigrant raids and constructing concentration camps in the Everglades courtesy of the bloated ICE budget in the big, beautiful bill that is now a law.
We need your help to stay independent
If the NWS did its job as well as Trump claims, additional funding could only improve its already stellar performance. Wouldn’t that be nice? Additional rescue and recovery help would certainly be appreciated in Texas right now.
Ultimately the flooding in Kerr County, Texas, is, unfortunately, about politics. To pretend otherwise is wishful thinking. But, at the same time, it is about much more — something that transcends politics. It is about decency. It is about humanity. It is about doing the right thing to ease the suffering of your fellow man. Basic public service includes assisting those in need. We used to understand that. Most once thought it was stamped in our government’s DNA, but not today.
Golf is stamped into the president’s DNA. Every weekend, like clockwork, he takes care of himself at his favorite country club while ignoring the rest of the country. In the last six weeks, he’s routinely only shown up for work at the White House four out of every seven days. Nice work if you can get it. The very least Trump’s government could do, even as he negotiates a sand trap, is to provide extra boots on the ground to aid in recovery efforts, instead of tormenting innocent children in a city park. If the president cannot meet this extremely low bar, and if we accept his inhumane actions, what does that say for us all?
