As more floods battered Central Texas, those who survived the mismanaged disaster and response still grateful to the administration.
A former White House reporter who covered Donald Trump’s first term was shocked by an answer provided by a survivor of the recent floods in Texas.
Brian J. Karem, who famously asked Trump if he would commit to a peaceful transfer of power if he lost the 2020 election, wrote a piece on Substack called, “Donald Trump – the ultimate pimp.” In the article, he argues that “the Texas floods are an allegory for the United States in 2025.”
He goes on to describe a recent trip to Texas, in which he interviewed those impacted.
“Unfortunately, many of them still love Trump. In Kerrville I ran across some of them,” he wrote. “I asked a woman who stood along the road to get a glimpse of her ‘favorite President’ if she thought the federal government was doing enough for those suffering from the floods. ‘Hell no,’ she said as she waved a Donald Trump sign.”
“We tried to call FEMA and couldn’t get through, and it’s been a week and people are still missing. Those poor families. My cousin’s daughter is still missing,” the woman said.
Karem replied, “President Trump says the federal government has responded very well.”
Her response is what stunned the veteran reporter.
“Well, President Trump knows best,” she replied, according to the article.
“I was speechless,” Karem wrote Sunday. “Elsewhere, near Ingram, I ran across people who had, by word of mouth, alerted others to the floods, had driven to affected campgrounds and risked their own lives to help evacuate others.”
Karem also said there was plenty of blame to go around.
“As much as the response to this year’s flood is a reflection on Donald Trump – (who no longer wants to eliminate FEMA after witnessing the devastation in the Hill Country firsthand) and about Texas governor Greg Abbott as well as all the local, state and federal legislators who could have done something over the years but didn’t – it is more importantly a reflection of who we are,” he wrote.
In an effort to shrink the federal government, President Trump and congressional Republicans have taken steps that are diluting the country’s ability to anticipate, prepare for and respond to catastrophic flooding and other extreme weather events, disaster experts say.
Staff reductions, budget cuts and other changes made by the administration since January have already created holes at the National Weather Service, which forecasts and warns of dangerous weather.
Mr. Trump’s budget proposal for the next fiscal year would close 10 laboratories run by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that research the ways a warming planet is changing weather, among other things. That work is essential to more accurately predicting life-threatening hazards. Among the shuttered labs would be one in Miami that sends teams of “hurricane hunters” to fly into storms to collect critical data. The proposed budget would also make major cuts to a federal program that uses river gauges to predict floods.
The president is also envisioning a dramatically scaled-down Federal Emergency Management Agency that would shift the costs of disaster response and recovery from the federal government to the states. The administration has already revoked $3.6 billion in grants from FEMA to hundreds of communities around the country, which were to be used to help these areas protect against hurricanes, wildfires and other catastrophes. About 10 percent of the agency’s staff members have left since January, including senior leaders with decades of experience, and another 20 percent are expected to be gone by the end of this year.
They’re the “common clay” of the Hill Country.
From Blazing Saddles.
They are just common people, the salt of the earth. You know, stupid.
Unkind, I know, am sorry. Would have deleted it but had already pressed ‘Comment’.
Maga = Madness