More idiocy from Donald Trump:
Trump: "I'll be signing an EO to begin process of fundamentally reforming & overhauling or maybe getting rid of FEMA. I think, frankly, FEMA is not good. When you have a problem like this, you want to use your state to fix it & not waste time calling FEMA..I think we're gonna recommend FEMA go away"
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) January 24, 2025 at 8:49 AM
For starters, "recommend" is all Trump can do. FEMA is enshrined in law and only Congress can eliminate it. Fat chance of that.
Still, I can see people thinking, why not? Keep the funding but send it to the states when they have an emergency. They're closer to events on the ground and can handle the local response better.
Sure. Except it's not just money. You also need an army of people, and states can't afford to maintain big armies that sit around most of the time and leap into action only for occasional disasters. Only a national agency can do that. FEMA has upwards of 20,000 people who can be surged into a disaster zone when states are overwhelmed, and because they serve the whole country they're always kept busy. More than busy, in fact, since climate change has steadily increased the number and size of national disasters, and FEMA is chronically short of staff.
In any case, lots of FEMA money already goes to states. Why? Because they're closer to events on the ground etc.
I dunno. Sure, it's just Trump blathering about whatever pops into his brain. But isn't there anyone on his staff that he trusts who could keep him within shouting distance of the real world?
Well, if he kills FEMA we in California won't have to divert the "water from the Pacific Northwest", kill the little fish, and have voter ID in LA.
Too bad there's not a constitutional way for us to withhold funds from the Feds.
Someone needs to ask him to point on a map where the valve is that could send water from the PNW to California.
"But isn't there anyone on his staff that he trusts who could keep him within shouting distance of the real world?"
No.
They are going to let him run wild at the mouth and the pen until he screws us over enough to depose him in favor of the tech boy puppet, Vice President Vance. God, it makes me sick to say that. Imma want to move to Iceland right now and watch the volcanos erupt.
They are going to let him run wild at the mouth and the pen until he screws us over enough to depose him in favor of the tech boy puppet, Vice President Vance.
Not a chance.
I'd love to think you're right, mind you. Vance is a deeply worrying, reactionary figure in myriad ways. But he's not a lunatic. I'd be elated to see the end of Trump. I doubt every ounce of Trumpism vanishes when he's gone (far from it). But I also think Trump is clearly sui generis—we've never seen his like in our politics—and I strongly believe the MAGA movement will be weakened when he's gone.
Anyway, it's abundantly clear Trump is firmly in charge. Sure, there are one or two Trump-whisperers (Elon?) who can plant ideas in his head. And he's obviously influenced by whatever the Fox prime time lineup is blathering on about. But this notion that a right-wing cabal put him in office and is "tolerating" him until they have no more use for him is a mechanism for coping with the fear that quite understandably accompanies having someone like him in the White House. It is indeed terrifying. But he's not going away before 2029 unless something truly extraordinary (like, his death, or a veritable collapse in his cognitive capacity) transpires. Enjoy the next 47.5 months. (I do expect we'll get some relief after the midterms, provided we still have a recognizable country left.)
How could there be? He knows more about everything than anyone else. To disagree with him would serve only to demonstrate one's ignorance. Why just yesterday, he explained that he knows interest rates much better than the stupid banks (that's literally what he said: "I know interest rates").
Despite going through the experience of throwing paper towel rolls and visiting California in response to a previous wildfire, the guy is unlikely to know even half of what FEMA does.
Having said that, I totally embrace this chaos.
Assign an existing federal department to dole out block grants of emergency money based on per-capita basis for insurance. Let states become the only insurer of last resort for millions of people throughout the south where hurricanes regularly hit. The true cost of insuring homes in flood zones should be borne by states that let people live in flood zones, amirite?
Let states pay for and stockpile their own temporary housing, food, water, and contract out search and rescue as needed. If they exceed their block grant, too bad.
Isn't this the world Republicans have always wanted, slashing wasteful spending? I'm 1000% all for it!
We'll get to see how fast the US economy fails after a handful of major climate change related disasters.
How did things (not) work before FEMA was created?
Good question. Turns out the feds have always played a role in disaster response. FEMA was established in 1978 to centralize functions scattered in several departments.
How do things work when FEMA doesn’t function? See hurricane Katrina, George W. Bush, and “heck of a job Brownie” FEMA administrator Micheal Brown.
Wait until you see how fast he doesn't remember saying that and labels it fake news.
"Keep the funding but send it to the states when they have an emergency. "
This is exactly how it fucking works, for the most part. Know-nothings just want to say this kind of shit to blow up government.
Source: have worked directly with state emergency management agencies as pass-throughs for FEMA funding.
"This is exactly how it fucking works, .."
The change he actually wants is to make it more directly under the control of the president, so he can punish states that annoy him.
+1
"But isn't there anyone on his staff that he trusts who could keep him within shouting distance of the real world?"
Once again, as I commented several days ago, Kevin Drum shows he is perhaps the most naive motherfucker on the planet. Who the hell does he think Drumpf has on his staff, or as unofficial "advisers," this time around? Out and out Nazis like Stephen Miller, Sebastian Gorka, and Elon Musk. Christian Nationalists like Russell Vought salivating to usher in the Republic of Gilead. And incompetent MAGAt loons who actually believe the movement's risible conspiracy theories and worship their orange man god. Even the careerist yes men and women who are secretly semi-rational are practically extinct among his inner and outer circle. Just who is going to explain reality to him?
And, once again, Marlowe fails to recognize sarcasm when they see it.
He's trolling you, dipshit, and you fall for it every time.
Sarcasm is not trolling, it's just sarcasm, and yes, Marlowe seems unable to recognize it.
sounds like a plan...
Let's get rid of FEMA, I want the Red States who keep voting for these assholes suffer the consequences of their vote...
He wants to send money right to the states so he can withhold funds for states he doesn't like.
Hurricane season is in 4 months. Sure, shut 'er down.
Not only does FEMA have their own surge capacity, they coordinate everyone else’s response-/ federal, state, local, non-government
NO ONE. absolutely no other agency maintains that capacity. Without FEMA there would be no unified response