“I like bats better than bureaucrats.” - C.S. Lewis

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EAST TENNESSEE — As I look out my porch window, the remnants of Hurricane Helene across the river serve as a constant reminder of the loss so many families experienced throughout the Appalachian region a little more than four months ago.

The small community where I live saw the destructive power of water firsthand and is still dealing with the aftermath today. Many homes that were flooded are still in desperate need of repair. Our main street bridge that crosses the river is still out of commission, causing heavy traffic on the narrow back roads that twist around the mountains.

We were the lucky ones.

A little further south, the people in the rugged mountains of Western North Carolina lost everything. Earth flowed like water, ripping entire neighborhoods down the mountainside. Families huddled together on their roofs to pray and write their information down so rescuers could identify their bodies as the water continued to rise. Interstate bridges collapsed, and roads melted away, cutting entire communities off from the rest of the world.

The days and weeks that followed were nothing short of heroic. Private helicopter pilots flew rescue missions to find people stranded in their homes. Farm equipment was brought in to create makeshift roads and clear debris. Starlinks were set up by private citizens to restore network communications for police and fire departments. Churches gathered water, supplies, and generators for civilian rescue crews to deliver to those in need.

The response from everyday Americans was overwhelming, and countless lives were saved as a result — a sharp contrast to the response from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, known as FEMA.

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A BUREAUCRATIC DISASTER

FEMA is everything you’d expect from a bureaucratic organization. While they did bring some help, many in these communities found their response slow and poorly operated, tangled by a web of red tape. Many residents were met with a lack of funds from FEMA to provide temporary housing. Others were told to fill out “simple” online forms to request FEMA’s services even though they had no access to power or the internet.

As the people of North Carolina approached winter, reports came that those in FEMA’s temporary housing had to find new places for shelter, pushing many residents out into the cold. Although it’s been over four months, there are still entire neighborhoods without power, where people are sleeping in tents and RVs, afraid to lose the land they’ve lived on for generations.

The problems with FEMA are nothing new. Regulatory red tape and the plague of federal spending habits have caused the department to run out of disaster relief funds ten times since 2001. Problems continued to rise as a result of the Biden Administration’s heavy emphasis on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) in the federal government.

In 2022, the agency launched its strategic plan for the next four years, deciding to prioritize DEI over disaster relief. This led to a shocking discovery by the Daily Wire that exposed how FEMA workers in Florida were instructed to avoid homes that had Trump signs in front of them.

This bureaucratic disaster was not limited to the people of Western North Carolina. It has continued across the country, most recently with residents in Southern California who experienced devastating wildfires and are now being denied aid from FEMA.

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TRUMP’S DISASTER RESPONSE

January 24, 2025 — In his first week back in office, President Donald J. Trump wasted no time traveling to North Carolina and California to tour the areas affected by hurricanes and wildfires, listening to stories from families who lost everything, and addressing FEMA’s disastrous response.

After allowing the residents of North Carolina to share their heartbreaking stories from the presidential podium, the President announced an Executive Order to cut regulations on road construction and promised to tackle FEMA housing and relief issues as well as potable water infrastructure. Later that same day, he announced that he would re-deploy the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to help rebuild the region's roads, bridges, and infrastructure.

That same day, President Trump and the First Lady walked the burned neighborhoods of Southern California, talking with residents desperately waiting for permission from their local government to clean their property. They were told the approval for a permit would take up to 18 months.

That evening, the President hosted a heated press conference with state and local leaders to address the issues residents faced. He confronted Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and her slow-moving relief efforts. Trump was met with applause from residents as he demanded Californians be allowed to clean up their properties immediately, and again when he condemned the failed Democrat policies that led to a lack of water and a mass exodus of insurance companies.

According to the President, “FEMA has turned out to be a disaster. And you could go back a long way. You could go back to Louisiana. You could go back to some of the things that took place in Texas. It turns out to be the state that ends up doing the work. FEMA just complicates it. I think we’re going to recommend that FEMA go away and we pay directly — we pay a percentage to the state. But the state should fix this. If the state did this from the beginning, it would have been a lot better situation.” [emphasis mine]

SEND IT TO THE STATES

FEMA has turned out to be a bureaucratic disaster. In an interview with Fox News, investor Kevin O’Leary broke down President Trump’s disaster solution. Trump’s plan would redirect funds away from FEMA and put it under the management of state governors who proved to be far more effective at handling disasters in their state than federal organizations like FEMA. This would allow the president to create milestones and measure how effectively the funds are being used by the state government, creating much-needed financial accountability.

In addition to this plan for funding, the president is also committed to radical deregulation so roads, infrastructure, and homes can be rebuilt quickly. A plan like this would have quickened the response to disasters like Hurricane Helene and the Palisade Fires.

American citizens are strong, independent people, and the best thing FEMA can do is get out of the way.

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REFERENCES

• Lewis, C.S. (1942). The Screwtape Letters. The Guardian.
• Beck, G [@glennbeck]. (2024, October 4). @CoryMillsFL and I spoke with the ONLY FEMA crew we could find in Asheville, North Carolina. [Video attached] [Post]. X. https://x.com/glennbeck/status/1842293685834416174?s=46
• Mahieu, L.L. (2025, January 15). Dozens Of North Carolina Hurricane Victims Lose FEMA-Sponsored Housing, Senators Say. The Daily Wire. https://www.dailywire.com/news/dozens-of-north-carolina-hurricane-victims-lose-fema-sponsored-housing-senators-say
• Harper, C (2024, October 20). ‘Disaster Equity:’ FEMA shifted focus to migrants, climate and DEI. Washington Examiner. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/3196242/disaster-equity-fema-shifted-focus-to-migrants-climate-and-dei/
• Mahieu, L.L. (2024, December 30). FEMA Official Ordered Relief Workers To Skip Houses With Trump Signs. The Daily Wire. https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-fema-official-ordered-relief-workers-to-skip-houses-with-trump-signs-2
• Rugg, C [@CollinRugg]. (2025, January 24). JUST IN: President Trump and LA mayor Karen Bass spar on live TV, Trump tells her to stop taking so long, [Video attached] [Post]. X. https://x.com/collinrugg/status/1882967988158202216?s=46
• O’Leary, K [@kevinolearytv]. (2025, January 25). Here’s the deal: Trump wants to cut out the FEMA bureaucracy and hand disaster funding directly to state governors. [Video attached] [Post]. X. https://x.com/kevinolearytv/status/1883270303952077040?s=46

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Written by Nic Dykstra