President Donald Trump toured the devastation left by flash flooding in central Texas amid growing questions about how local officials responded to the crisis as well as questions about the federal response — including the fate of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Trump’s visit on Friday came a week after heavy rainfall caused the Guadalupe River in Kerr County to rise 26 feet in less than an hour, killing at least 121, including dozens of children at the nearby Christian summer camp, Camp Mystic.
“The first lady and I are here in Texas to express the love and support and the anguish of our entire nation in the aftermath of this really horrific and deadly flood,” Trump said as he spoke at a roundtable event with first responders and local officials.
“We mourn for every single life that was swept away in the flood, and we pray for the families that are left behind,” the president added. “It’s amazing, the incredible spirit from those families.”
The search for more than 170 people still missing continues with more than 2,100 responders on the ground in Texas from local, state and federal agencies.
Meanwhile, local officials are under scrutiny about what steps were taken to adequately warn people and how long it took for authorities to take action based on escalating weather and other alerts.
Trump, notably, hasn’t engaged in similar criticism about how the crisis was handled — as he has done in the case of other disasters.
“Nobody has any idea how and why a thing like this could happen,” Trump said on Friday.
Trump was asked for his response to those who say the warning alerts didn’t go out in time and that more people could have been saved.
“Well, I think everyone did an incredible job under the circumstances,” Trump said. “I just have admiration for the job that everybody did. There’s just admiration.”
Trump went on to criticize the reporter for asking the question: “Only an evil person would ask a question like that,” he pushed back.
“I think this has been heroism. This has been incredible. Really, the job you’ve all done,” Trump added. “It’s easy to sit back and say, ‘Oh, what could have happened here or there, maybe we could have done something differently.’ This was a thing … that’s never happened before.”
Republican Rep. Chip Roy also jumped to the president’s defense, calling the question “ridiculous.” “Don’t go around pointing fingers,” Roy said.
Trump later added, “Two words: Unity and competence. If you were to ask me two words that I’ve seen here.”
It’s a marked contrast to how Trump has reacted to natural disasters the past, including to the California wildfires earlier this year, where he blasted California’s Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom and other local Democratic officials.
Instead, Trump instead has largely focused on his relationship with Republican Gov. Gregg Abbott. “He’s an amazing guy, we’ve become very, very close politically and personally,” the president said.
Some of the hardest-hit areas of central Texas, including Kerr County, are areas of strong Republican support that voted for Trump in the 2024 election.
“I would say they were fully funded within minutes of hearing about this,” Trump said at Friday’s roundtable. “And you know, the state of Texas, No. 1, they do it right, and they’ve done it right for a long time.”
“I will tell you that politically, I don’t want to say politics, but politically, it’s been a very special place to me,” the president continued.
Trump and Abbott met with first responders on the scene on Friday. Trump approved a major disaster declaration for Texas earlier this week. On Friday, it was expanded to include more areas affected by the floods.
“There has been extraordinary collaboration with the state and the federal government to make sure that we address Texans’ needs as quickly as possible through disaster assistance programs,” Abbott said in a press release on the disaster declaration update. “The State of Texas will continue to work with our federal and local partners to provide impacted Texans with the support they need to heal and recover.”
Trump has also avoided answering questions on whether he is still aiming to phase out FEMA.
“FEMA has deployed multiple emergency response units, and FEMA has been really headed by some very good people,” Trump said on Friday. “We have some good people running FEMA. It’s about time, right? We get some good ones. They failed us in North Carolina. But when we got in on Jan. 20, they fixed it up in no time.”
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem also weighed in on the response, after earlier this week telling a task force designed to recommend reforms to FEMA (including possible dismantlement of the agency as it exists today) that it had suffered from “gross mismanagement and negligence” under previous administrations.
“Emergencies and disasters are always locally executed,” Noem said. “The state manages them. And then the federal government comes in and supports. What we are doing here, sir, is empowering the state and the local officials to make the best decisions for their people because they know their people, they know their community. Thank you for being a president who trusts people.”
