Are they joking or just ignorant? With Trump’s appointees, it’s hard to tell | Opinion
So, the new chief of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, David Richardson, said he was not aware that the United States has a hurricane season — and craziness ensued.
The remark was reported by Reuters, which heard about it from “baffled” staffers who attended the meeting with Richardson.
“It was not clear to staff whether he meant it literally, as a joke, or in some other context,” Reuters reported.
Democrats in Congress quickly pounced.
“I’m unaware of why he hasn’t been fired yet,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer posted on X.
The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees FEMA, reacted indignantly, insisting it was a joke.
“Despite meanspirited attempts to falsely frame a joke as policy, there is no uncertainty about what FEMA will be doing this Hurricane Season. FEMA is laser focused on disaster response, and protecting the American people,” a DHS spokesperson responded.
This raises a few questions:
1. Can PR people please stop using the term “laser focused”?
2. If FEMA were truly “laser focused” on protecting the American people, why did it cancel a grant program that would have provided millions of dollars to help communities prepare for hurricane season? It also would have provided funding for earthquake readiness, flood control and fire prevention.
3. Speaking of fires, does Richardson know about fire season?
A ‘guy with zero experience’
On a serious note, I am going to give the FEMA chief the benefit of the doubt and assume he was joking about hurricane season, though it’s easy to see why staff members may have been perplexed.
We’re talking, after all, about a guy with zero experience in disaster response. Also, he was just appointed to his position in early May to replace Cameron Hamilton, who got on Trump’s bad side after testifying that FEMA should not be eliminated.
The new chief, on the other hand, is all in on carrying out the president’s wishes.
“All I need is the authority from the president to put me in here ... and I will make sure that his intent gets completed. I don’t stop at yield signs,” Richardson said following his appointment.
That’s another red flag, considering that the Trump administration has never inspired much confidence — or compassion — when it comes to responding to disasters.
Remember when Trump suggesting “raking” the forest floor to prevent fires?
Or when he tossed paper towels to hurricane victims in Puerto Rico?
Or, more recently, when he ordered the Army Corps of engineers to release water from the Central Valley under the mistaken belief that would help fight wildfires in Southern California?
The jaw-dropping obliviousness of Trump appointees
It’s not a huge stretch, then, to believe that Trump might appoint someone who is totally clueless about hurricanes, especially since plenty of his other appointees have made equally suspect statements that point to their jaw-dropping obliviousness to what it is they are supposed to be managing.
A few examples:
- Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said tariffs are a “tax hike on foreign countries that have been ripping us off.”
- Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins looked for the silver lining in the bird flu epidemic: “People are sort of looking around and thinking, ‘Wow, maybe I could get a chicken in my backyard and it’s awesome.’”
- Elon Musk — repeating information that originated with Leavitt — claimed there was a plan to spend $50 million on condoms for Gaza. There was not.
- Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told a Senate hearing that “habeas corpus” means the president has a constitutional right “to be able to remove people from this country.”
- Secretary of State Marco Rubio said reports of deaths linked to cuts in foreign aid were “a lie” — even as photos of victims were displayed.
- Speaking before a Senate committee, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum claimed: “We got several thousand people working in IT and I don’t know what they do.” There are fewer than 450 IT and HR positions in the entire agency.
For the record, none of these top-ranking officials was joking.
Just in case the FEMA guy wasn’t joking either, I’ll leave him with a friendly reminder: According to the National Hurricane Center, the Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 to Nov. 30 — meaning it really is time to get laser-focused.
This story was originally published June 4, 2025 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Are they joking or just ignorant? With Trump’s appointees, it’s hard to tell | Opinion."
