We Must Destroy FEMA To Save It

November 11, 2024–“How will President Trump fix FEMA?” is the question people are asking right now.

It’s the wrong question.

The question they should be asking is “why not eliminate FEMA and be done?”

Why should we bother fixing something that’s so obviously corrupt, incompetent and contrary to its stated purpose? Why not add FEMA to the kill list with the Department of Education, and about a dozen others I can think of right off the top of my head. Yes, that list gets longer when my gout flares up. Sorry, not sorry.

In all seriousness, isn’t it time to ask just what FEMA has done for us lately—and by “us,” I mean ordinary Americans who happen to support President Trump?

If you asked thousands of Americans in North Carolina, eastern Tennessee and Florida whose lives have been devastated by hurricanes Helene and Milton, they’d say “not much.” Assuming, of course, they just didn’t start cussing.

There are dozens, if not hundreds, of videos from people in NC and TN reporting that, in those rare instances when FEMA bothered to show up, they were more hindrance than help. FEMA agents seizing donated supplies (in multiple instances) and delivering electric chainsaws to an area with no power are just some glaring examples of FEMA’s botched “assistance.” In contrast, there are innumerable videos from people saying that it’s been locals, churches, and other States that have been helpful—not FEMA.

The latest outrage out of Florida—that a FEMA Supervisor told workers to skip over damaged homes with Trump signs out front—may be the straw that breaks FEMA’s back.

The Daily Wire broke the story on Friday, 11/8, when a whistleblower provided them with a snapshot of a “best practices” directive sent to FEMA workers canvassing Lake Placid. The supervisor, Marn’i Washington, allegedly conveyed this message both verbally and via Microsoft Teams chat. Of the roughly 20 homes that were reportedly skipped, at least one had “Trump sign no entry per leadership” entered into FEMA’s tracking system. Busted!

Ms. Washington has since been fired, and the matter has been referred to the Office of Special Council. A FEMA spokesperson said the agency was “deeply disturbed by this employee’s actions” and “horrified that this took place.”

Uh huh. Suuuuure they were.

Bypassing those homes means they wouldn't be able to sign up for federal disaster relief. FEMA claims they’re taking steps to address the situation. You’ll pardon me if I’m reluctant to accept that without proof.

Needless to say, local officials are less than pleased. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has ordered his Division of Emergency Management to begin an investigation “into the federal government targeted discrimination of Floridians who support Donald Trump.” He went on to say “new leadership is on the way in DC, and I’m optimistic that these partisan bureaucrats will be fired.”

DeSantis may just get his wish. President Trump has promised to reinstate his Schedule F Executive Order on his first day in office, which would make some 40,000 bureaucrats “at will” employees (who can then be fired). He’s also promised to overhaul Federal agencies and bureaucracies, and move parts of the bureaucracy out of DC, as he did with the Bureau of Land Management in his first term.

It won’t be enough.

History has shown that the entire apparatus of the Swamp will Resist, Resist, Resist. The Uniparty RINOs will fight him as hard or harder than the Democrats will—witness what Glitch Mitch McConnell is doing right now to install an anti-Trump protege as Majority Leader.

No, the best way to deal with FEMA is to kill it. Offer every one of their 22,000+ employees the choice of early retirement or a pink slip, then savagely vet and screen those who want a new position in a new Emergency Response Agency (possibly under the Department of the Interior?) before rehiring them. Decline to rehire every person who isn’t absolutely essential to the agency’s mandated purpose of assisting States to respond to disasters. Period. Return more control and responsibility for disaster responses to the States, and make the new agency’s focus on coordination between State, federal and local governments.

And why not eliminate FEMA? Just in the last few months, FEMA has botched not one but two hurricane responses. It’s spent over $1.4 billion on migrants since Fall 2022. And “Installing equity as a foundation of emergency management is Goal 1 of the 20 22–20 26 FEMA strategic plan.” (page 11, Achieving Equitable Recovery Guide, link below).

Not getting help to Americans suffering after disasters as quickly as possible. Not getting communities and States the assistance they need to recover as fast as we can. Not prioritizing Americans over “newcomers,” Not serving the needs of our stricken people fairly, without regard to their political beliefs. No, FEMA’s current leadership has made it all about the EQUITY, and the diversity and inclusion that invariably goes with it.

Knowing that FEMA has given itself over to DEI, why would FEMAoids discriminating against Trump supporters surprise you? DEI is a spin-off of Critical Race Theory, which itself is Marxism rebranded. Marxists always attack their political opponents, preferably with weaponized government. It’s what they do.

Any agency that makes Equity (and DEI) Goal 1 is too far gone to be salvaged. The rot is too deep, the cancer too widespread. All of FEMA’s failings aren’t just missteps or oopsies—they’re symptoms of metastatic wokeness.

FEMA wants us to believe that their deliberate actions against Trump supporters in Florida is an isolated incident, but is it really? Is it a coincidence that most of the counties in NC and TN that were basically left on their own after Helene are strongly Red? And offering them only a $750 loan and crying “we’re out of money” after they blew $1.4 billion in migrants? Puh-leeze.

From Biden, Harris and Mayorkas on down, the Department of Homeland Security and FEMA have shown us repeatedly that Americans are NOT their priority. This regime has had four years to pack both DHS and FEMA with their DEI hires and True Believers in the progressive cause. Even with Trump’s Schedule F Executive Order, you’ll never clean out the rot, corruption and incompetence.

FEMA is too far gone to be saved. For all our sakes, it’s time to put it out of our misery. Only then can President Trump give us a lean, efficient Emergency Response Agency that will put American’s needs first.

Achieving Equitable Recovery: A Post-Disaster Guide for Local Officials and Leaders, November 2023 https://www.fema.gov/sites/default/files/documents/fema_equitable-recovery-post-disaster-guide-local-officials-leaders.pdf

Dr. Bill Chitwood is a retired Child, Adolescent and Family Psychiatrist who does political consulting and media relations. He is the author of Beyond Maga, available on Amazon under his pen name, Doc Contrarian. He can be found on Substack and social media as @DocContrarian.

Opinions expressed in the Alabama Gazette are the opinions and viewpoints of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the Alabama Gazette staff, advertisers, and/ publishers.