Inaugurated on Monday, President Donald Trump spent Friday on a coast-to-coast tour of disaster zones, musing about abolishing the Federal Emergency Management Agency and conditioning California fire recovery aid on voting law changes.
Trump traveled from Washington D.C. to Asheville, N.C., and visited communities in the western part of the state impacted by severe flooding from Hurricane Helene last year. He then flew to Los Angeles and toured damage from devastating wildfires in the region, which are ongoing.
Trump met with governors in both states, local officials, emergency responders and property owners in his first official trip as president.
Here are some takeaways.
Trump makes nice with Newsom
The relationship between the GOP president and California’s Democratic governor has often been contentious.
Trump likes to refer to Newsom as “Newscum.”
They set those animosities aside Friday as both men grapple with one of the nation’s worst natural disasters in memory.
Newsom waited for Trump at the bottom of the stairs as he departed from Air Force One in Los Angeles. They embraced and spoke to the media together.
“We’re gonna need your support, we’re gonna need your help,” Newsom said. “You were there for us during COVID, I don’t forget that, and I have all the expectations that we’ll be able to work together.”
“We’re gonna get it done,” Trump responded, adding: “We’ll get it worked out, ok?”
Trump noted that California will need a lot of federal help. Newsom agreed.
“We’re gonna take care of things,” Trump responded.
Trump suggest abolishing FEMA
Trump ratcheted up his criticism of the Federal Emergency Management Agency with a suggestion to possibly abolish the agency because of its response to Hurricane Helene in September.
“I’ll also be signing an executive order to begin the process of fundamentally reforming and overhauling FEMA or maybe even getting rid of FEMA,” Trump said after a briefing in Fletcher, North Carolina. “Frankly, FEMA’s not good.”
Trump accused FEMA crews of being unfamiliar with areas when responding to disasters. FEMA also imposes rules and requirements on crews that aren’t as good as what local officials provide, Trump said. The federal government should instead send funding to governors to manage their own response to disasters, he said.
“FEMA has turned out to be a disaster,” Trump said. “I think we’re going to recommend that FEMA go away and we pay directly – we pay a percentage to the state.”
After speaking with flood victims in Swannanoa, North Carolina, Trump later added, “If it was up to me right now, I’d end it right now.”
‘Horrific’ tales escaping North Carolina floods from Hurricane Helene
Survivors of Hurricane Helene in western North Carolina described their harrowing escapes from rising floodwaters to Trump on Friday and pleaded for help four months after the disaster.
Thomas Bright spent four hours of the roof of his home in east Asheville that had been in his family for 80 years and four generations. He wrote farewell notes on his cellphone to his two children and his two grandchildren as his garage and other debris floated past.
“We didn’t think we were going to make it at all,” Bright said. “We were watching houses, trailers, bodies coming by us.”
Mona Nix-Roper, who lives in the Fairview area, said her home became like an island as floodwaters rose around it. As she hiked out with her son, they saw a neighbor’s body that had turned blue in the water.
“Horrific is just all I can say,” Nix-Roper said. “There were people out everywhere looking for their loved ones. And there were dead bodies. My son’s like, ‘Mom, you’re going to see things you don’t want to see.’”
Trump gave her a hug when she finished speaking.
“I’ve seen a lot of bad things, but I’ve never seen anything like it,” Trump said.
Politics shadowed Trump’s visits to disaster areas
Politics shadowed Trump’s visits to disaster zones in North Carolina and California.
Trump recalled a whistleblower reported that Federal Emergency Management Agency crews refused to help people with Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign signs in their yards. Trump noted that North Carolina and adjoining Tennessee each supported him in the last election – the Volunteer State slightly more.
“It doesn’t matter at this point: Biden did a bad job,” Trump said.
The president also called for California to adopt voter ID, to ensure the citizenship of voters, to receive disaster aid for its wildfires around Los Angeles. He also repeated his complaint that the state should divert funding from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to fight fires.
“I want two things,” Trump told reporters upon his arrival in Asheville, North Carolina. “After that, I will be the greatest president California has ever seen.”
Trump didn’t invite Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., a frequent critic of Trump, to join his trip. Schiff said changes to the Environmental Protection Agency and FEMA could result from bipartisan cooperation. But he urged Trump not to attach strings to disaster aid.
“We’ve never done that when it comes to our fellow citizens who are hurting,” Schiff told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
Trump wants fast track permitting to rebuild after fires
Trump met with local officials in California after touring fire damage in Pacific Palisades Friday and asked them to speed up permitting for people who want to rebuild.
The meeting lasted for more than an hour, with the real estate developer turned president often returning to the permitting issue.
Trump said he plans to waive or drastically speed up federal permitting in the wake of the fires that have devastated areas around Los Angeles, adding “the local, I hope, is going to do the same exact thing.”
Members of the California congressional delegation, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and other local leaders joined Trump at the meeting, sharing their thoughts on fire recovery efforts. Trump listened and sometimes raised concerns.
The president said he heard from homeowners worried about how long it could take to rebuild.
“We are 100% committed to getting this neighborhood rebuilt again,” Bass said.
Trump said permitting should take days, not months or years.
“A federal permit can take 10 years, we’re not going to do that,” Trump said. “We don’t want to take 10 days.”
Officials need to be mindful of “hazardous waste,” Bass said, but added that if people are rebuilding “essentially the same… they really shouldn’t have to go through much of a process.”
“What’s hazardous waste? You’re gonna have to define that,” Trump responded, adding: “I just think you have to allow the people to go on their site and start the process tonight.”
“And we will,” Bass responded.
Other people brought up insurance issues that homeowners are facing. Trump also repeatedly raised questions about water management policies in California.
Trump told the group that “the federal government’s standing behind you 100%” but has talked about putting conditions on federal fire recovery aid.
