As the horror of the Texas floods continues to reverberate around the state, a major newspaper’s editorial board aimed a brutal attack on the Donald Trump government’s response.
And it saved a particularly vicious putdown for Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
Starting with praise for the way Texas’ community has pulled together to support itself, the Houston Chronicle quickly showed its admiration did not extend to the nation’s leaders.
“Judging by recent reporting on the Hill Country floods, however, some officials in Washington are more focused on saving cash than helping Texans recover,” the board wrote.
It listed what it saw as failures in the days after a girls' summer camp was deluged, more than 130 people were declared dead and many more missing.
Among them was the Federal Emergency Management Agency “bizarrely” laying off workers at its disaster call center days after the flood — leaving thousands of affected community members unable to get help.
“Internal emails even show that officials knew they were failing at their task and needed the secretary to extend the call center contracts,” the Chronicle wrote. “We still do not have a decision, waiver or signature from the DHS Secretary,” one FEMA employee wrote in a July 8 email to colleagues.”
The editorial board declared, “Leaving disaster victims on hold isn’t governmental efficiency. It’s heartless.”
But it went on, hitting Noem for reportedly waiting 72 hours to send help because of “self-imposed red tape."
“Noem has mandated that she personally review and approve expenses over $100,000 — including, say, deploying search-and-rescue teams after a flood that left more than 100 dead,” the board wrote.
‘It’s true Texas has done an admirable job bolstering our own disaster response,” the board continued.
But, it concluded, “Given the compounding scandals, Texans can be forgiven for any flashbacks to FEMA’s disastrous response to Hurricane Katrina.
“ … Even the president’s typically sharp tongue seems to have been replaced by embarrassing Bushisms. Trump's claim that Noem was “right on the ball” is just his version of “Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job.”