President Donald Trump dismantled Democrat Representative Brad Sherman’s defense of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), arguing that state governments, not federal bureaucracy, should take matters into their own hands rather than waiting for federal incompetence.
President Trump did not mince words about FEMA’s shortcomings during a press conference on Friday with Los Angeles officials after touring the damage caused by the wildfires.
Pres. Trump:
I do have to say FEMA is a big disappointment. We had it working well. We had great people, but FEMA is not good anymore. What FEMA did in North Carolina. They still haven’t even gone to certain areas. They don’t know what they’re doing. I say, You don’t need FEMA. You need a good state government.When you have a problem in Los Angeles or when you have a problem even in the state California, you have your own, essentially, FEMA. You fix it yourself. You don’t have somebody coming in from a state where they have no idea.
Like Florida, they come in from hurricanes, they have people staying in Alaska, and now they see, Oh, this is very nice. But by the time they get familiar with it, they don’t know anything. The FEMA is a very expensive, in my opinion, mostly failed situation. We had great people. We did some great jobs.
But each state should take care of their problem and get money from the federal government. It would be so much better, so much more efficient. We’re looking at that because we have had, and you’re going to have problems with FEMA, too.
You’ve already had problems with FEMA. FEMA doesn’t even show up. It takes weeks before they even show up. What happens is the state then relies on FEMA, and nobody does anything because FEMA doesn’t show up.
It’s not a good situation, so we’ll make some recommendations on that. But you have to push like hell to get the permits because I’m just hearing things that I don’t like to hear. I think you’re not going to get your permits as fast as people are saying. We have to get them in mayor.
If I can help you at all in that regard, you’ll let me know. But you’re going to have all your federal permits. That’s going to be the easy part, which, by the way, is by far the hardest part.
You know who controls your water is Department of Commerce, and I already have that approval. That’s usually a very long process. The hard part was the federal, but we already have that done.
Sherman attempted to defend FEMA’s efforts, suggesting that the agency had been effective in his state by employing thousands of people through a disaster relief center.
Sherman argued against Trump’s proposal for a state-centric approach, warning that such a model could overwhelm smaller states.
However, Trump quickly dismantled the far-left congressman, pointing out the stark contrast in FEMA’s performance across different states and its excessive costs.
Sherman:
President, if I can just defend FEMA a little bit.Pres. Trump:
Yeah.Sherman:
They brought thousands of people in. I don’t know how they’re doing in other states. They’re doing a good job for us here.They’ve got a huge center that’s open from 9: 00 in the morning till 8: 00 at night. But also, when you have a disaster this size, you need to be able to employ thousands of people, which they’ve been able to do.
Now, California, if we did it on our own, maybe we’d have thousands of people. You do. But if Rhode Island has a Palisades disaster, are they then supposed to keep thousands?
Pres. Trump:
How many people do you have in California? Thirty-six? How many million people do you have? You have 40 million people. You’re not going to get a few thousand people?The problem with FEMA is they come from all over the country. They end up in arguments with your people from California because they want to do it a totally different way. I can live either way, but you haven’t gotten very much done with FEMA. All you have to do is look at North Carolina. It’s one of the great disasters of all time.
Sherman:
Mr. President, you can’t have Rhode Island maintain a staff of thousands and thousands of people waiting to see if they have a disaster.Pres. Trump:
You know who came in and fixed North Carolina or the process? Other states, people from all over the country came, and you have the same thing.You have a lot of people from all over the country. Getting the people is not a problem. Getting the organization is a big problem.
FEMA is incompetently run, and it costs about three times more than it should cost. I’m hoping that you can get it better run. We can spend money schools instead of giving money to bureaucracy. It takes you so much longer.
Sherman:
Mr. President, I just want to thank FEMA for helping our people.Pres. Trump:
FEMA has a standard, Brad, and I’m a builder. I was a very good builder. FEMA has a standard that’s so slow. They want permit on permit on permit, and then they want permits on top of that. If you use FEMA, you’ll be here for a long time. What I’m saying is, get the city, get the state to give you immediate 24-hour permits.These people are going to build their own homes. They’re going to get them built fast. Could I ask you one question? What are people going to do for financing? What are people going to do? How many people can build a percentage-wise, where they don’t have to go out and get funds?
Some people are just not going to be able to rebuild their home because they have a beautiful home, but they don’t have cash, right? So what What are people looking to do in that case? You’re going to have a big percentage, I would assume, Brad, like that. What are they going to do?
The discussion also touched on broader issues of state preparedness and insurance industry failings, with Trump criticizing California’s regulatory environment for driving insurance companies away.
Trump took a swipe at Sherman’s handling of the state’s insurance crisis, pointing out that Sherman’s policies had driven insurance companies out of California, exacerbating the state’s vulnerability in times of disaster.
Pres. Trump:
You did something, Brad, where every insurance company in the country left California. That’s why you have no insurance, because you made it so impossible. People that think like you made it so impossible. Brad, me, Mr. I don’t know what you know about my thinking. I’ve never seen a state where almost nobody has insurance.And I said, What happened? And they said, like six months ago, they all left. And two years ago, they had different quadrants, but they left. And you have very little insurance here. I mean, I’ve never seen anything like it.
Sherman:
We had a lot of insurance companies pull out, but I have no idea.Pres. Trump:
And the insurance companies actually have been warning you. Now, I’m not a big fan of insurance companies. Okay, they have their big drawbacks, too. But the insurance company I’ve been reading, I read the papers very well, and they’ve been warning California for a long time.They’ve also been saying, We want water. You don’t have water? You’re supposed to get fire insurance. And the insurance company goes, You don’t have any water it’s a tough situation. I’m not a big fan of insurance companies. I get that.
Sherman:
They’re pulling out of Florida as well.Pres. Trump:
But, Brad, you lost your insurance company six months ago because the state wouldn’t give them what they had to have.
Trump concluded the argument by destroying Sherman, urging the far-left congressman to focus on streamlining processes rather than defending flawed systems.
“Brad, as soon as you can get those permits, whatever you can do, if you can put that genius of yours to work on getting a permit, you’ll be doing much better than some of the other things you’ve said, ok?”
WATCH:
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