TRUMP: EO to reform & overhaul FEMA or get rid of FEMA, use state not waste time; Slow political?

FEMA Reform EO

“I’ll also be signed an executive order to begin the process of fundamentally reforming and overhauling FEMA or maybe getting rid of FEMA.”

Trump’s framework:

• Fundamentally reform FEMA
• Overhaul FEMA
• Or eliminate FEMA entirely
• Executive order beginning process
• Comprehensive review

FEMA context:

• Federal Emergency Management Agency
• Department of Homeland Security component
• Disaster response framework
• Historical criticism
• Katrina reputation damage
• Helene criticism current

FEMA Not Good

“I think, frankly, FEMA is not good.”

Trump’s blunt assessment:

• Not good
• Poor performance
• Repeated failures
• Framework problem
• Needs reform or elimination

State-Led Framework

“I think when you have a problem like this, I think you want to go and whether it’s a Democrat or Republican governor, you want to use your state to fix it and not waste time calling FEMA.”

Trump’s preferred framework:

• State-led response
• Governor (D or R)
• Direct action
• Skip FEMA wait
• Not waste time

The constitutional framework:

• 10th Amendment framework
• States primary for disasters
• Federal support rather than lead
• Subsidiarity principle

FEMA Problems

“And then FEMA gets here and they don’t know the area. They’ve never been to the area and they want to give you rules that you’ve never heard about.”

FEMA’s operational issues:

• Unfamiliar with local area
• First-time visits
• Imposing federal rules
• Unknown requirements
• Bureaucratic imposition

“They want to bring people that aren’t as good as the people you already have.”

Personnel quality:

• FEMA personnel rotating
• State/local more experienced
• Local knowledge superior
• Federal personnel inferior framework

Historical FEMA Failures

“And FEMA’s turned out to be a disaster. And you could go back a long way. You could go back to Louisiana. You could go back to some of the things that took place in Texas.”

FEMA’s historical failures:

• Hurricane Katrina 2005 (Louisiana)
• Michael Brown (“Brownie”)
• Various Texas disaster responses
• Hurricane Harvey 2017
• Various others

State Does the Work

“It turns out to be the state that ends up doing the work. It just complicates it.”

Trump’s framework:

• State does actual work
• FEMA complicates
• State-level effective
• Federal level obstruction
• Results framework

FEMA Elimination

“I think we’re going to recommend that FEMA go away. And we pay directly. We pay a percentage to the state. But the state should fix this.”

The replacement framework:

• FEMA eliminated
• Direct federal payment
• Percentage to state
• State fixes
• Reduced federal bureaucracy

This framework echoes conservative policy:

• Local control preferred
• Federal spending reduced
• Bureaucratic elimination
• State responsibility primary

Better Situation

“If the state did this from the beginning, it would have been a lot better situation. I think you guys agree with that, right?”

Trump’s counterfactual:

• State-led from beginning
• Better situation
• Less waste
• Faster response
• Direct action

NC Aid Conditions

“You talked about conditions being placed on aid to California, Poderiety and the like. Are there any conditions that you’re going to put on aid to North Carolina?”

Reporter question about conditioning aid.

“We’re going to do a lot for North Carolina. They’ve been very slow. I don’t know why it’s been so bad.”

Trump’s framework:

• Much for NC coming
• Biden response slow
• Reason uncertain
• Bad performance

Worst Seen

“This has been one of the worst I’ve seen. Katrina, of course, was something that obviously, that was a long time ago, that was not good. But this has been very slow.”

The historical framework:

• Katrina (2005) bad
• Long time ago
• Helene response similarly bad
• Very slow
• Worst recent framework

Political Reasons?

“I don’t know if that was for political reasons because they lost the state. Biden lost the state. Maybe he felt he doesn’t care. Maybe there were other reasons. I don’t know.”

Trump’s speculation:

• Political reasons possible
• Biden lost NC 2024
• Personal grievance
• Other reasons possible
• Uncertain framework

The 2024 NC election:

• Trump won NC 51-47.8%
• Harris lost state
• Biden administration response
• Political timing

Making Up Time

“But this has been very slow. By any standard, this has been very slow. We’re going to make up for lost time.”

Trump’s commitment:

• Very slow acknowledged
• Any standard bad
• Making up time
• Aggressive response
• Recovery acceleration

No NC Conditions

“But no conditions you’re going to push for aid.”

Reporter clarifying.

“Well, in California, I have a condition.”

Trump differentiating.

California Conditions

“In California, we want them to have voter ID so the people have a voice. Because right now, the people don’t have a voice because you don’t know who’s voting. It’s very corrupt.”

California voter ID:

• Current California no-ID
• Framework corrupt in Trump view
• Voters without voice
• Trump’s condition
• Federal aid leverage

California voting framework:

• No photo ID required
• Signature verification
• Universal mail ballots
• Harvesting legal
• Federal intervention sought

“And we also want them to release the water. If they released the water, they wouldn’t have had a problem. If they released the water when I told them to, because I told them to do it seven years ago, if they would have done it, you wouldn’t have had the problem yet.”

The water condition:

• Released water (Delta)
• Prevented fires
• Trump told them 7 years ago
• Not followed
• Fire consequences

“You might not have even had a fire.”

Counterfactual — water would have prevented or reduced fires.

NC Different

“But here I don’t have that. It’s a different thing. You got hit by a storm. The people are incredible.”

NC framework:

• Storm (not mismanagement primary)
• Hurricane Helene
• People excellent
• Different from CA

Franklin NC

“They worked really well. Franklin was fantastic.”

Franklin, NC:

• Macon County seat
• Mountain community
• Heavily affected
• Recovery effort admired
• Local response praised

Tennessee and Others

“By the way, other groups came in that were also fantastic. And other states came in, Tennessee. And a couple of others came in and they really helped. That’s the way it’s supposed to be.”

Interstate cooperation:

• Tennessee assistance
• Other states helping
• Mutual aid framework
• “Supposed to be” framework
• State-to-state cooperation

Different Situation

“No, this is a different kind of a thing.”

Trump distinguishing:

• NC (storm damage)
• CA (policy failures)
• Different situations
• Different responses
• Different aid conditions

FEMA Historical Context

FEMA’s history:

• Created 1979
• Carter era
• Emergency response framework
• Various reorganizations
• 2003 DHS integration
• Historical performance mixed

Notable FEMA failures:

• Hurricane Andrew 1992
• Hurricane Katrina 2005
• Puerto Rico/Maria 2017
• Various others

Notable FEMA successes:

• Some responses effective
• Infrastructure rebuilding
• Long-term recovery
• Disaster assistance
• But criticism consistent

State-Led Alternative

Trump’s proposed state-led framework:

• Governors manage directly
• Federal financial support
• No FEMA bureaucracy
• Faster response
• More effective

Potential concerns:

• State capacity varies
• Smaller states resources limited
• Cross-state coordination
• Federal expertise lost
• Disaster scale mismatch

Biden’s NC Response

The Biden administration’s Helene response:

• Slow initial engagement
• Limited federal resources early
• Temporary hotel solutions
• Permanent housing delays
• Water infrastructure slow
• Political framework criticized

Trump’s criticism:

• Very slow
• Worst seen
• Possibly political
• Biden lost NC
• Trump making up time

Significance

Trump’s NC remarks captured:

1. FEMA reform or elimination: Executive order signed
2. State-led framework: Preferred approach
3. NC Helene slow response: Worst Trump has seen
4. Political reasons possible: Biden lost state
5. California conditions: Voter ID, water release

The FEMA reform framework represents potentially major federal restructuring. Elimination of entire agency would be unprecedented.

The state-led disaster response framework has conservative policy framework. Reducing federal role, increasing state responsibility, aligning with subsidiarity principle.

Trump’s political speculation about Biden’s slow NC response — “Biden lost the state” — represents characteristic Trump framework. Political considerations attributed to Biden’s slow response.

The California conditions — voter ID and water release — represent Trump’s leverage framework. Federal aid as tool for policy change. Controversial but uses existing authorities.

NC vs California distinction captured:

• NC: storm damage
• CA: policy failures
• NC: natural disaster
• CA: created disaster
• Different response frameworks

Key Takeaways

• Trump on FEMA EO: “I’ll also be signed an executive order to begin the process of fundamentally reforming and overhauling FEMA or maybe getting rid of FEMA. I think, frankly, FEMA is not good.”
• Trump on state-led approach: “I think when you have a problem like this, I think you want to go and whether it’s a Democrat or Republican governor, you want to use your state to fix it and not waste time calling FEMA.”
• Trump on FEMA problems: “And then FEMA gets here and they don’t know the area. They’ve never been to the area and they want to give you rules that you’ve never heard about. They want to bring people that aren’t as good as the people you already have.”
• Trump on NC slow response: “This has been very slow. I don’t know why it’s been so bad. This has been one of the worst I’ve seen … I don’t know if that was for political reasons because they lost the state. Biden lost the state. Maybe he felt he doesn’t care.”
• Trump on CA conditions: “In California, we want them to have voter ID so the people have a voice. Because right now, the people don’t have a voice because you don’t know who’s voting. It’s very corrupt. And we also want them to release the water.”