Donald Trump’s man-made disaster
The president's unprecedented blitzkrieg inside and outside of government has threatened the foundation of our democracy.
One of the most fundamental responsibilities of our national government is to assist states when disaster strikes, a heart-wrenching lesson that was driven home following the bungled response to Hurricane Katrina 20 years ago.
President Trump’s recent unilateral decision to dismantle the Federal Emergency Management Agency that provides coordinated disaster relief to the states and to declare that any future emergency funding will have to come directly from his office is a shocking destruction of a core public capability and an unwarranted power grab that would impose a partisan test on life and death assistance for American communities.
No individual state alone can handle the enormity of the destruction or afford the cost of rebuilding following many of the hurricanes, floods, and wildfires now occurring with increased frequency and severity throughout the country. We are the United States of America for a reason, and the need for a collective, coordinated response along with critical federal expertise and resources to help Americans survive and recover is growing, not diminishing.
Trump’s misguided move to decimate FEMA is part of a wide-ranging usurpation of our democratic system that is being wielded at a nonstop pace both inside and outside of our nation’s most important public institution.
Trump began this quest for unrestrained power by choosing political appointees based on loyalty, not experience, competence or character—individuals willing to follow his dictates rather than their oath of office to uphold the rule of law and the Constitution.
A prime example is Attorney General Pam Bondi, who fired Justice Department immigration lawyer Erez Reuveni in April for fulfilling his legal duty by admitting government errors in deporting immigrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia to El Salvador. In his first term, Trump appointed a number of individuals who respected their oath of office over loyalty to him. This time around, he has made sure this will not happen again.
The president also has seized the power of the purse from Congress, refusing to spend appropriated money and now, in a belated and unacknowledged concession, has asked the House and Senate to rescind some of those appropriations. In addition, his acolytes have arbitrarily fired thousands of federal employees and sought to shut down most of the work of agencies created by Congress, including the Department of Education, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Outside of government, the president has waged an unprecedented assault against American higher education, with the administration threatening academic freedom and American scientific preeminence by launching investigations into universities and withdrawing millions of dollars in assistance. Several universities have capitulated, only to find the aggression has continued unabated. Trump, like Audrey II from Little Shop of Horrors, only wants more when appeasement is attempted.
Trump’s outside war has extended to the legal community, with the issuance of executive orders designed to intimidate and punish major law firms that have represented or employed those he considers his enemies by stripping them of security clearances, government contracts and access to federal buildings. Some law firms have taken the administration to court and won, but a number have caved in to Trump’s demands by agreeing to provide pro bono legal services to causes that the president supports.
Lawyers might not draw public sympathy, but they play a critical role defending the rule of law in our society.
The president also has sought to punish news organizations he considers unfriendly and to impose economic penalties against their corporate owners. His administration has blocked reporters from covering news events in the Oval Office, ousted journalists from their Pentagon work spaces, is seeking to cut federal funding from National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service and launched Federal Communications Commission investigations into media companies.
Trump also sued CBS in his personal capacity, claiming an interview of former Vice President Kamala Harris during the presidential campaign was deceptively edited, and he obtained a $15 million legal settlement from ABC that involved reporting he claimed had defamed him.
Taken together, Trump’s unprecedented blitzkrieg inside and outside of government has threatened the foundation of our democracy and the fundamental notion that presidential authority should only be wielded with restraint and for the public good, not for personal power or retribution against perceived opponents.
After the Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4, 1776, Benjamin Franklin reportedly told his compatriots, “We must, indeed, hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately.”
Franklin was referring to the threat our fledgling democracy faced from King George III. Now 249 years later, the United States is at another dangerous turning point, a time when the president is systematically wreaking havoc inside and outside the government while undermining the core principles on which our country was founded. This is occurring as many of those with influence in our society have remained silent or capitulated, fearing retribution or perhaps oblivious to the seriousness of the threat.
Trump’s move to dismantle FEMA and place life-saving decisions stemming from natural disasters in his hands is a man-made disaster and will likely have deadly consequences for many.
Elected leaders from both political parties, those heading major institutions and the public must raise their collective voices against Trump’s blatant attack on our democratic values and the disassembling of the government. We are at a perilous moment, one in which silence, indifference, and inaction will be a recipe for tragedy.
Max Stier is the president and CEO of the nonpartisan, nonprofit Partnership for Public Service, an organization dedicated to building a better government and a stronger democracy.
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I was forced to evacuate due to wildfires encroaching a mile from my home during the early pandemic. It was terrifying, but our area escaped catastrophe. The fire threatened to burn an entire town, just as did happen in California, and I can still see where the treeline burned at the electrical generation plant right next to the river. It was nearly obliterated.
If we had lost our home and local infrastructure, I would not want to be beholden to Donald Trump to get subsistence funds. We don't have any major savings. We work hard and, like most Americans, spend most of our income on the costs of living. Because I live in a blue state and because I have loudly criticized the Loser's corrupt regimes, he would undoubtedly deny me, personally, and those in my state, generally, any assistance at all.
The thirteen colonies joined together to provide mutual aid and comfort. That is the base rationale for any government, America included. If Donald Trump does not wish to provide that, and since he hates the federal government so very much, he may as well disband it, disperse Congress, and go play fucking golf somewhere else.
Red states have always gone very heavily for Trump. Most of them in the South. Yet, many southern states border the gulf coast Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida or the east coast that includes Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia. These states nearly always get pummeled by a hurricane and even New Jersey and New York are not necessarily immune. Think Hurricane Sandy in 2012. That’s a huge chunk of real estate in the United States that is vulnerable to hurricanes. The southern states being most vulnerable. We have already gone through a pretty active tornado season in the south already this season.
To dismantle FEMA only slows the process down even more getting help to the location that needs it most. If anything, the southern states should be lashing out and Trump and his fascist minions. Those folks in North Carolina are still reeling after Hurricane Helene from last year. There’s a time when everyone may need help from the federal government for loss of property after major storms. Sometimes homeowners insurance is not always enough. We need FEMA and now more than ever.