ASHEVILLE, North Carolina, Jan 24 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday said he would sign an executive order to begin the process of fundamentally overhauling or eliminating the Federal Emergency Management Agency. “FEMA has turned out to be a disaster … I think we recommend that FEMA go away,” he said during a tour of North Carolina to see damage done by Hurricane Helene last year.

    • thefartographer@lemm.ee
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      2 months ago

      I’ll miss me, but also not really. I’ve already accepted that I’m probably gonna die before Trump is out of office—I don’t know if it’s better to go out in a concentration camp or some unmanaged aftermath of a natural disaster.

  • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.worldOP
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    2 months ago

    All those hurricane victims that complained about “illegals” getting some FEMA (but it wasn’t FEMA money, not that they cared) money got their wish. They won’t get any more FEMA money. Maybe nobody else will, either.

    • Stovetop@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Florida’s about to be unaffordable for millions of Americans. FEMA’s NFIP program had been disproportionately keeping cost of flood insurance low for millions of people in hurricane/flood regions along the Gulf coast, but now the market alone will dictate rates if FEMA is taken out of the picture.

      • catloaf@lemm.ee
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        2 months ago

        now the market alone will dictate rates if FEMA is taken out of the picture

        Nah, Florida will just pass a law making it illegal for insurers to leave the state. Surely that will work!

        • sudo42@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          They’d save more effort by making it illegal for hurricanes to hit Florida. Borrow Trump’s marker and make them hit Alabama instead.

    • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.worldOP
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      2 months ago

      Yeah, they’re not cutting subsidies to businesses, rolling back tax breaks, or anything that affects the deep pockets. Nope. They’re cutting stuff that helps people at home and abroad. Cut FEMA here, cut foreign aid. Eliminating housing and food help.

    • lemmus@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      If you plan to drill baby, drill, natural disasters are only going to get worse, so they are mitigating against future emergency budgets they don’t want to pay by scrapping FEMA—leaving them free to destroy the environment and cut taxes with no future blowback, because states’ rights or some shit.

  • ikidd@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    I think if he denies a state assistance because they won’t play his games, other countries step in and send all the assistance that state could want. Imagine if China just threw billions of dollars at LA without conditions to make a point. I don’t expect Xi to be that smart, but it would be funny as hell watching Trump scramble.

    • finitebanjo@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Xi and Trump seem to coordinate pretty closely. If Trump weakened US cohesiveness and Xi stepped in, Trump would thank him and kiss his ass.

    • Ziro427@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      I remember a story about a remote town that needed a bridge replaced. And the federal government was dragging their feet about it until the town wrote to the Soviet Union about helping them build the bridge.

  • Brkdncr@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    How long until we start hearing about politicians having legitimate discussions about secession? The whole point of the Union is to help each other out.

  • finitebanjo@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    They say they have a plan to give money directly to the states instead. So far nobody has seen or heard this plan.

    Even if such a plan exists, that still sounds like they’re taking a stockpile of vehicles and personnel and getting rid of it all only to be unprepared for all future disasters.

  • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.worldOP
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    2 months ago

    California apparently is in the news regarding secession again. But we have to also consider that it’s BS designed to create more divisiveness.

    • chuckleslord@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      It’s established what happens should a state decide to secede. There was a war fought over it. It’s not worth speculating about unless it’s happening.

  • whotookkarl@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Goodbye New Orleans, Miami, Jacksonville, Virginia Beach, all those Florida cities that are underwater from hurricane surge every year now, etc

    Asheville North Carolina received 63 million in FEMA aid just a few months ago to help recover from hurricane season. He lied trying to say they didn’t have the money and now he’s making that the case.

    https://avlwatchdog.org/a-month-in-fema-has-paid-out-63-million-in-buncombe-more-than-any-other-county/