\n Some liberals whipped up viral social media posts claiming that Elon Musk\u2019s DOGE budget cuts were directly to blame for extreme weather alerts not reaching those in the torrent\u2019s way.\n <\/p>\n
\n President Donald Trump on Sunday seemed about to pin the disaster<\/a> on President Joe Biden before backing away. But his Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who is dismembering the Federal Emergency Management Agency<\/a>, went on Fox to criticize the last administration. And her department, now an arm of the MAGA movement, accused the media of lying about what really happened.\n <\/p>\n \n The ugly partisan wars that broke out as parents face unfathomable loss are typical of a political culture that has severed itself from basic humanity. And they underscore that social media remains a Wild West of misinformation and spite that worsens malign political instincts.\n <\/p>\n \n Natural disasters are always perilous for those in power. But recriminations intensified after Hurricane Katrina. The 2005 monster storm hit New Orleans and the Gulf Coast and, along with Iraq, destroyed President George W. Bush\u2019s second term. Beltway pundits now react to every act of God by predicting the current president\u2019s \u201cKatrina\u201d is nigh.\n <\/p>\n \n Questioning what happened in the wake of a natural disaster and whether political failings at the local, state or national levels contributed to deaths and devastation is perfectly appropriate. Victims deserve accountability untainted by politics. It\u2019s important to understand what went wrong in order to save lives in the future. But it\u2019s increasingly rare in an age of partisan media on the right and left for activists to wait for the facts, or to accept outcomes that don\u2019t fit their political goals.\n <\/p>\n \n It\u2019s too early to say for sure whether Trump\u2019s budget cuts to agencies like FEMA<\/a> and the National Weather Service made the Texas disaster worse. Investigations will probe communications of the federal government and Texas authorities and the actions of local officials. There will be a focus on whether weather warnings were sufficiently specific or clear and whether infrastructure in Kerr County is up to the job of extreme weather situations. Kerrville Mayor Joe Herring Jr., for instance, told CNN\u2019s Pamela Brown that he didn\u2019t receive an emergency alert in the predawn hours of Friday when floodwaters arrived. There will also surely be questions over why children\u2019s summer camps were sited in such a vulnerable area.\n <\/p>\n \n Sometimes political choices do end up leading to disastrous outcomes. But not always.\n <\/p>\n \n White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt insisted Monday that NWS offices in Texas made \u201ctimely and accurate forecasts and warnings.\u201d She said that the relevant NWS offices in New Braunfels had extra staff on duty for the storms despite claims to the contrary.\n <\/p>\n \n Leavitt slammed what she said were \u201cdepraved and despicable\u201d efforts by some on the left to exploit the disaster politically \u201cespecially when so many Americans are mourning the loss of their children.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n It\u2019s hard to disagree.\n <\/p>\n \n But there\u2019s a difference between social media users jumping to premature or outright false conclusions and politicians questioning whether Trump\u2019s efforts to stifle government research and to gut the federal government will make it harder to forecast disasters like the one in Texas in the future.\n <\/p>\n \n Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer demanded an immediate investigation by the Commerce Department\u2019s inspector general into whether administration staff cuts made the tragic loss of life worth. He focused on vacancies at the San Angelo and San Antonio NWS offices.\n <\/p>\n \n Leavitt accused Schumer of pushing \u201cfalsehoods.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n There\u2019s a whiff of hypocrisy in the White House\u2019s outrage, considering that Trump has politicized natural disasters for his own gain more than any modern president.\n <\/p>\n \n Trump slammed Democrats including Biden and local leaders over fatal wildfires that charred swaths of residential areas in Los Angeles just before he took office in January; he made false claims about water supplies and FEMA aid.\n <\/p>\n \n Trump also misrepresented federal relief efforts after storms hit North Carolina and Georgia last year. And he claimed that a collision between a civilian jetliner and military helicopter close to Washington\u2019s National Airport that killed everyone on both aircraft was due to diversity and inclusion policies at the Federal Aviation Administration.\n <\/p>\n \n His track record raises the question of whether the White House would have been as keen to rush aid and to praise local officials if the holiday weekend\u2019s flooding had occurred in a Democratic-run state rather than Republican Texas under Gov. Greg Abbott, an outspoken Trump supporter.\n <\/p>\n In pictures: Deadly flooding in Texas<\/p>\n \n There are lessons and warnings that the Trump White House might heed in the aftermath of the Texas floods \u2013 even if its statements about appropriate pre-disaster staffing and funding are ultimately validated.\n <\/p>\n \n The disaster is a reminder that jobs like those of forecasters at agencies like NWS and experts contracted by FEMA may seem superfluous 364 days a year \u2013 but on one crucial day, they can save scores of people. Putting money into basic infrastructure like early flood warning signs might annoy taxpayers and be targeted by conservatives as examples of bloated public spending, but it can be critical.\n <\/p>\n \n Benjamin Franklin is often quoted as having said that those who fail to prepare are preparing to fail. If the Trump administration continues to slash expertise, institutional experience and what it sees as redundancies in vital government agencies, it will lay the groundwork for botched disaster responses in future. CNN reported earlier this year that the administration had failed to staff a White House Office for Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy \u2013 an odd decision considering Trump\u2019s mismanagement of the Covid-19 emergency in his first term.\n <\/p>\n \n The White House on Monday refused to say whether the president would push ahead with a plan to eliminate FEMA entirely by the end of the year.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThe president wants to ensure American citizens always have what they need during times of need,\u201d Leavitt said. The White House is pushing to put far more of a burden on states<\/a> to respond to disasters rather than relying on the federal government to step in. Relief and rebuilding after storms, wildfires and other natural disasters are likely to still require billion-dollar emergency appropriations from Congress. But wiping out FEMA\u2019s standing reserve of relief funds and its capacity, expertise and personnel could weaken rescue workers\u2019 capacity to prepare and position before forecastable natural disasters. And it could drain the store of accumulated knowledge that states can\u2019t match.\n <\/p>\n![\"Members](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/2025-07-07t175416z-636760544-rc2thfahaoo4-rtrmadp-3-usa-trump.jpg\")
<\/p>\n