CNN Blames Trump While Ignoring FEMA’s Disastrous History

As Texans continue to mourn the loss of 121 lives following devastating flash floods, CNN has once again found a way to turn tragedy into political ammunition this time by blaming President Trump’s Homeland Security Secretary, Kristi Noem, for alleged delays in FEMA’s disaster response. What CNN won’t report? FEMA’s long, bipartisan track record of failure, fraud, and politicization that long predates the Trump administration.

CNN’s narrative hinges on anonymous sources inside FEMA who claim that Noem’s policy requiring her sign-off on contracts over $100,000 slowed their ability to act. But the facts and the agency’s history tell a very different story.

Here’s what CNN left out:

• FEMA has still not fulfilled claims from Hurricane Katrina, nearly two decades later.

• The agency was caught in 2024 discriminating against Trump supporters, telling staff to “avoid homes advertising Trump.”

• Under Biden, FEMA burned hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars housing illegal immigrants in luxury New York hotels money meant for Americans.

Secretary Noem fired back, calling CNN’s report “absolutely trash.” She reminded the public that Coast Guard and Border Patrol teams were on the ground immediately, and that the administration responded to every single request from Texas. That’s not political spin it’s leadership in action.

Meanwhile, Democrats like Rep. Jared Moskowitz are weaponizing the moment, calling for investigations and blaming “dramatic cuts” to FEMA and the National Weather Service. But even career meteorologists aren’t buying it. Alan Gerard, formerly with NOAA’s Severe Storms Lab, dismissed the claims outright: “There is little evidence that any of the recent cuts negatively impacted services.”

This is the same Jared Moskowitz who just last year said FEMA was too bloated to function, and even urged Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to cut it down. The same agency that, just months ago, was the subject of a major internal scandal over its refusal to aid Trump supporters after Hurricane Milton. That supervisor was fired but the rot went far deeper.

This isn’t a one-off scandal. From Hurricane Andrew in 1992, to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and through Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton in 2024 FEMA has failed consistently, under both Democrat and Republican leadership. Delays, discrimination, incompetence, and bloated bureaucracy have plagued the agency for decades.

President Trump understands this better than anyone. That’s why he signed an executive order in January creating a FEMA Review Council aimed at returning emergency response power to the states, where real accountability happens. “I think, frankly, FEMA is not good,” Trump said. “You want to use your state to fix it and not waste time.”

Secretary Noem echoed that sentiment: “The president has been clear that he wants to empower state FEMA has not been successful in being there in a time of crisis.”

CNN doesn’t want to talk about that. They’d rather sling mud than admit the truth: FEMA’s failures aren’t caused by Kristi Noem or Donald Trump they’re the result of a bloated federal bureaucracy that’s been broken for years and a media establishment desperate to protect it.

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