As climate hazards worsen, Trump moves to weaken FEMA and shift disaster response onto states

At a press conference in L.A. following the fires, Trump described FEMA as a “very expensive and mostly failed situation.”“You don’t need FEMA — you need a good state government,” Trump said. “States — whether it’s California or any state — need the federal government as these disasters get more and more intense,” Maysmith said. “Disasters are best when they’re managed at the state and local level,” agency officials wrote in an email. It was more concerned with political agendas than helping Americans affected by natural disasters,” FEMA officials wrote in the release. “We can’t fix it all, but the thing that they need is for the government to step up and help.”