Trump praises FEMA response in Texas after earlier threats to eliminate agency

President Donald Trump bristled at questions critical of the government’s response to deadly flooding during a visit to Texas Friday, and praised the Federal Emergency Management Agency that he had floated shutting down just last month. 

"FEMA has been really headed by some very good people,” Trump said during a roundtable with local officials, suggesting his administration turned the agency around after sharply criticizing the Biden administration-led FEMA response to flooding in North Carolina in late 2024. “We have some good people running FEMA. It's about time. They failed us in North Carolina but when we got in on January 20, they fixed it up in no time."

Trump was in Kerr County to thank first responders and console victims of the flooding that claimed more than 100 lives, including dozens of children. With a white USA hat pulled down low over his head, the president began the meeting visibly stirred after he and first lady Melania Trump spent time with the loved ones of some of those who died in what Trump called “an unthinkable tragedy.”

Deviating from his notes, Trump repeatedly remarked on the loss of life, declaring that “Americans’ hearts are shattered.” He lamented how many “beautiful souls” were killed when the Guadalupe River rose more than 20 feet in 95 minutes. “I’ve never seen anything like it…a little narrow river that becomes a monster.”

But the president became defensive when a reporter asked him to respond to criticism over officials failing to warn victims in time.

Trump said he had only “admiration” for the first responders. “Everyone did an incredible job under the circumstances,” said Trump, before criticizing the reporter.

“Only a bad person would ask a question like that,” he continued. “I think this has been heroism.”

Rep. Chip Roy, the Republican congressman who represents Kerrville, has called for improvements to disaster warning systems. But he took the opportunity to echo Trump, criticizing the reporter who’d asked about the scrutiny over the government’s response.

“When you see 26 feet of water rising a foot a minute, don’t go around pointing fingers,” Roy said.

Asserting that Democrats have had “an incredible run of bad talent,” Trump said he’d prefer to be bipartisan but “all [Democrats] want to do is criticize.” And he repeated a favorite talking point, that the U.S. had been “dead” under former President Joe Biden but was now “the hottest country.”

Trump also basked in praise from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott of what he called “the fastest [disaster response] that I’m aware of.”

As he wrapped the roundtable, Trump, who has politicized natural disasters as president and as a civilian, suggested that another president wouldn’t have come to Texas after the tragedy — a statement at odds with the record of his recent predecessors, all of whom made similar trips following disasters.

“Nobody else would do it, nobody else would even get back to you,” Trump said, alluding to his support in Texas. “I don’t want to say politics, but politically it’s been a very special place to me.”