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The early days of Donald Trump‘s second presidency will be remembered for its chaotic spate of dangerous executive orders, many of which fulfilled dire threats promised by Trump on the campaign trail.
Near the top of the list is Trump’s threats to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which is currently on the front lines of a devastating disaster in California. As wildfires continue to rage across the state, decimating homes and threatening lives, Trump is preparing to reshape the vital government agency — or perhaps nix it altogether.
FEMA was formed in the late ’70s, and in the decades since has worked tirelessly to improve its response and organization in the wake of various disasters. While its by no means perfect, and it’s failed to live up to its monumental task plenty of times, it is an absolutely necessary agency, and the work that it does saves lives. It also helps those affected by disasters to recover from their losses and return to lives torn asunder by devastation outside of their control.
So Trump’s admission that he plans to “recommend that FEMA go away” is hugely concerning, but not for the people who will be most affected. As it turns out, the very same people who voted Trump into office are also the most likely to be negatively impacted by the proposed dissolution of FEMA, based on which states currently rely on the agency most.
The states that historically receive the most funding from FEMA are Florida, Texas, and Louisiana, all right-leaning states that voted for Trump in 2024. Florida receives a whopping $2.5 billion all on its own, and that could vanish overnight if Trump goes through with his threats. Meanwhile, blue states are far less likely to be impacted, in part due to where natural disasters typically hit, and in part due to preparedness.
In 2024, California Governer Gavin Newsom advised that the state put aside the same amount of cash Florida receives — $2.5 billion — as prep for future natural disasters. That kind of forethought could be the difference between mass devastation and a streamlined response, but many of the red states that rely on FEMA are not nearly so prepared.
Which will leave them out in the cold when the next disaster hits and there’s no FEMA to swoop in with aid. Even before FEMA, some kind of governmental disaster management has existed for a very, very long time. I’m talking hundreds of years. But since Trump hasn’t indicated that he plans to replace the agency, that 200 year tradition could be coming to an end, and soon.
The president is set to head to California today, where he’ll visit American citizens who are still suffering, locked in the midst of a devastating disaster. Even as he prepares to visit fire sites and connect with impacted Americans, he seems set on the extremely Project 2025-coded plan to end the disaster aid many of them are currently receiving, or hoping to receive soon.
The reality of how Trump’s threats may play out, and who they’ll affect the most, has yet to set in, but it will. If he truly abolishes FEMA, its only a matter of time before we all learn how big of a mistake it was — but the people likely to learn first aren’t Democrats. They’re regular citizens, living their lives in a range of southern states, completely unaware that the president they voted for is more than willing to pay for his policies with their lives.