Donald Trump has suggested paring back or even dismantling the federal response to major disasters, a move that would cut off aid that has largely helped support Republican-leaning states that voted for him in last year’s US presidential election.
Trump said that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) had “not done their job for the last four years” and that there would be “a whole big discussion very shortly, because I’d rather see the states take care of their own problems”.
In an interview with Fox News, the US president said of Fema that “all it does is complicate everything” and that even states who resoundingly backed him, such as Oklahoma, should be primarily left to deal with the aftermath of major storms, floods and fires.
“I love Oklahoma, but you know what? If they get hit with a tornado or something, let Oklahoma fix it,” Trump said. “And then the federal government can help them out with the money. Fema is getting in the way of everything.”
Shifting the burden of disaster aid to the states, an idea outlined by the rightwing Project 2025 manifesto before the election, would hit Republican-leaning states hardest, federal spending figures suggest.
Since 2015, states that voted for Trump last year have received $31bn in assistance from Fema, with storm-prone Florida, Texas and Louisiana leading the way, compared with just $7bn for states that voted Democratic. US territories have been able to get $27bn in Fema funding, a figure boosted by the disastrous Hurricane Maria, which hit Puerto Rico in 2017.
Fema – which now has Cameron Hamilton, a former Navy Seal with no experience in coordinating major disaster response, as its temporary head – was set up in 1979 because states were unable to fully respond to extreme weather impacts without federal help. As calamities have started to worsen due to the climate crisis, the demands upon Fema have become even more intense.
“This would have tremendous implications for many red states; it’s hard to find the words for how bad it would be,” Samantha Montano, a disaster response expert at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy, said of Trump’s comments.
“Florida and Texas have a high risk but poorer red states like Mississippi and Alabama would be even worse off because they have less money to pull from to make up for a loss in federal funding.
“What [Trump] is saying is completely disjointed and illogical. He says that North Carolina needs more help but this would work towards bankrupting North Carolina.
“The Trump administration is in a difficult spot because their ideology is to spend less money but disasters cost a lot of money. A lot of his supporters, and Americans more broadly, expect the federal government to write a check after a disaster happens so they can rebuild their lives.”
Trump is visiting North Carolina and then California on Friday and has been sharply critical of the response to disasters in both states. In September, Hurricane Helene became the deadliest storm to hit the mainland US since Katrina in 2005, an event that was followed by a swirl of baseless conspiracy theories fueled by Trump, who accused Joe Biden of failing to respond despite state governors, including Republicans, praising the federal aid effort.
More recently, wildfires have scorched parts of Los Angeles in what may be the costliest fire outbreak in California history. Trump has attacked the state’s Democratic leadership for failing to contain the fires, with his Republican allies in Congress suggesting that aid for California be tied to other conditions.
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“I think he’s ill informed as far as how emergency management works, because American states do have emergency management programs, as do territories like Puerto Rico,” Michael Coen, who served as Fema’s chief of staff under Biden, said of Trump. Fema steps in when those programs’ capacities are exceeded, he said.
Trump said California should not get access to resources until local officials “let water flow” from the northern part of the state, echoing a claim he made on the campaign trail. But Los Angeles does not in fact rely on water from northern California, Coen noted. “It just shows his ignorance as to what the challenges are with the fires in California,” he said.
While Trump has falsely blamed immigrants and even the protection of a small fish for worsening these disasters, scientists have pointed to a climate crisis that is amplifying fires, storms and other extreme weather events.
Last year, there were 27 disasters that cost $1bn in damages or more, with the mounting toll upon lives and property causing several insurers to flee states such as Florida.
Trump, however, has called climate change “a giant hoax” and in his first week back in the White House has launched a barrage of executive orders to throw open more American land and waters for oil and gas drilling, block new wind turbines, stymie electric cars and withdraw the US, again, from the Paris climate agreement.
As well as floating the idea of scaling back Fema, Trump has also rescinded requirements, first put in place by Barack Obama, to set tough new standards for federally funded projects such as hospitals, housing and highways to ensure they better cope with extreme floods and sea level rise.
“While red states benefit most from Fema, I’d say we all benefit from Fema wherever we are,” said Montano. “In the past 72 hours America has become much more precarious in terms of the risk we are facing. Promising to worsen the climate crisis, paired with dismantling Fema, is setting us up for catastrophe.”
