Less than a week into his presidency, Donald Trump is enacting some of his most controversial “concepts of plans,” and average Americans are bracing themselves for his next move. Signing more than 200 executive orders in one day, rolling back civil rights, terrorizing anyone even suspected of being an undocumented immigrant, and pardoning 1500 insurrectionists might be hard to top, but 47 is well on his way to managing it.
Trump appeared on Sean Hannity‘s Fox News program after his inauguration, where he attacked none other than the Federal Emergency Management Agency. FEMA, a robust agency that relies on taxes for funding and operates under the Department of Homeland Security, helps victims recover from natural disasters by coordinating rescue operations, living situations, and monetary compensation.
Trump asserted that “states take care of their own problems” and his comment has sounded alarm bells over possibilities that the agency will be dismantled.
Will Trump dissolve FEMA?
Trump has been railing against FEMA for years. Complaints range from the agency not working fast enough, to claiming that it withheld aid from Trump supporters — but he insists that it actually worked under his watch. “Unless you have certain types of leadership,” he told Hannity, FEMA only “gets in the way.”
Planting the seed of doubt has worked out for Trump’s administration in the past, and his digs at FEMA are almost certainly laying the groundwork for his administration, or the Heritage Foundation, as some online believe, to abolish the agency, or heavily rework it. At the time of writing, however, FEMA is still fully operational. Unfortunately, in the coming months, California will serve as a litmus test for the rest of the country.
The Golden State is suffering one of the worst fires of our lifetime. Major parts of California have burned, particularly in Los Angeles and adjacent counties, including the historic and diverse community of Altadena, and Pacific Palisades — home to a plethora of Hollywood elites — and the blaze is continuing with gusto. Before Trump ascended to the White House, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson was already pushing for California’s aid to be withheld, insinuating that Governor Gavin Newsom and the state’s majority Democratic Representatives would have to capitulate in order to receive aid. Some of his Republican colleagues pushed back against the idea, but Trump has yet to comment, and seems to be leaning in.
While speaking with Hannity, Trump reiterated a talking point he has been fond of lately — that states should be responsible for their own disaster aid and recovery. “FEMA is gonna be a whole big discussion very shortly because I’d rather see the states take care of their own problems,” he told the host. He doubled down, saying that he doesn’t believe “we should give California anything until they let the water flow down.” The President signed an executive order to redirect water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta in the northern part of the state, which experts quickly shot down as “political posturing” and advised would do more harm to the Golden State than good.
Many experts have warned that, since FEMA only responds to emergency situations, several states receive more funding than any others — chiefly those that ring the Gulf of Mexico. Coincidentally, historically, Trump-supporting red states like Florida, Texas, and Louisiana receive the most aid, with Florida receiving nearly $2.5 billion. It’s the same amount Governor Newsom proposed California set aside in case of natural disasters in November of 2024, just before multiple fires ravaged the Los Angeles area. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, on the other hand, only spared an additional $7.8 million for those impacted by Hurricane Helene.
While FEMA came about during the administration of the late President Jimmy Carter, disaster aid has existed since the inception of our country, and though it’s changed names several times throughout the decades, it’s always been used to provide relief as quickly as possible to people in need. FEMA has of course, taken time to help people, like its failure to help people trapped by Hurricane Katrina for five days, but speed has also led to trouble. Investigations have shown that FEMA’s haste to approve funerary, housing, and medical costs has allowed Americans to take advantage of the program. More recently, FEMA has been accused of not caring enough, but the organization has warned for years that experienced workers are exhausted, and that readiness is not where it needs to be.
2024 marked some of the worst hurricane seasons on record, and FEMA has been on the ground helping wherever it can. Trump has never been about helping people, he’s only ever wanted to help the people who adore him. Many fear that if Trump does leave states to fend for themselves, he will inevitably find help for those state whose governors align with Trump’s values. If killing FEMA means hurting governors like Gavin Newsom, he wins — no matter how many other people lose.
