Mddow Blog-As hurricane season nears, the Trump administration is struggling badly to prepare

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The acting FEMA chief reportedly admitted that the agency isn’t prepared for hurricane season. Making matters worse, the problem isn’t limited to FEMA.

Those of us living in hurricane prone areas need to prepare bc our FEMA is not! As hurricane season nears, the Trump administration is struggling badly to prepare www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...

— (@jessicamullen.bsky.social) 2025-05-16T19:06:23.791Z

Those of us living in hurricane prone areas need to prepare bc our FEMA is not! As hurricane season nears, the Trump administration is struggling badly to prepare

Link to tweet

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/hurricane-season-nears-trump-administration-struggling-badly-prepare-rcna207277

He was soon replaced by David Richardson who, on his first day, told FEMA’s staff that he would “run right over” anyone who gets in his way. And while that was an unfortunate start to Richardson’s tenure, as The Wall Street Journal reported, it was hardly his only controversial comment.

The newly appointed head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency acknowledged in private meetings that with two weeks to go until hurricane season, the agency doesn’t yet have a fully formed disaster-response plan. David Richardson, who previously served as a senior official at the Department of Homeland Security and doesn’t have a background in emergency management, told staff he would share a hurricane plan with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem after he completes it late next week.

The Journal’s report, which has not been independently verified by MSNBC or NBC News, went on to note that the disaster-response plan “is already months behind schedule in its preparations for the hurricane season starting June 1, which is expected to have above-normal activity, according to FEMA employees.”

Reading this, the obvious problem is that the Trump administration — which, again, believes that FEMA should no longer exist — is not at all prepared for hurricane season with two weeks remaining. Indeed, it’s now the responsibility of a FEMA rookie with no background in emergency management to come up with a plan that was due months ago......

What’s more, it’s not just FEMA. The Trump administration has also gutted the National Weather Service, which has already dramatically scaled back its work on behalf of the public, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

To be sure, maybe Americans will get lucky. It’s possible that the United States won’t have to deal with any deadly hurricanes this year — or for that matter, in the coming years — and there won’t be any real-world consequences tied to the administration’s latest moves at FEMA, NWS and NOAA.

But as the president and his team move further away from responsible governing and disaster preparedness, counting on good fortune hardly seems like a wise strategy.

I am nervous