KERRVILLE, Texas (AP) — President Donald Trump on Friday toured the devastation from catastrophic flooding in Texas and lauded state and native officers, even amid mounting criticism that they might have didn’t warn residents rapidly sufficient {that a} lethal wall of water was coming their approach.
Trump has repeatedly promised to eliminate the Federal Emergency Administration Company as a part of his bigger pledges to dramatically shrink the dimensions of presidency, and he’s keen on decrying officers in Democrat-run states hit by previous pure disasters and tragedy.
However the president struck a much more somber and sympathetic tone whereas visiting America’s most populous Republican state — highlighting the heartbreak of what occurred whereas effusively praising elected officers and first responders alike.
“The search for the missing continues. The people that are doing it are unbelievable,” Trump, seated with officers round a desk with emblazoned with a black-and-white “Texas Strong” banner, mentioned at a makeshift emergency operations middle inside an expo corridor in Kerrville.
He later added, “You couldn’t get better people, and they’re doing the job like I don’t think anybody else could, frankly.”
Because the July 4 catastrophe, which killed not less than 129 individuals and left greater than 170 lacking, the president has been conspicuously silent on his previous guarantees to shutter FEMA and return catastrophe response to the states. As an alternative, he’s targeted on the once-in-a-lifetime nature of what occurred in central Texas’ Hill Nation and its human toll.
“We just visited with incredible families. They’ve been devastated,” the president mentioned of a closed-door assembly he and first girl Melania Trump had with the kin of a few of these killed or lacking.
Trump’s shift in focus underscores how tragedy can complicate political calculations, though he has made slashing the federal workforce a centerpiece of his administration’s opening months. He spent a number of time Friday discussing the victims from Camp Mystic, the century-old all-girls Christian summer season camp the place not less than 27 individuals had been killed.
“They were there because they loved God. And, as we grieve this unthinkable tragedy, we take comfort in the knowledge that God has welcomed those little beautiful girls into his comforting arms in heaven,” Trump mentioned.
The primary girl described assembly “beautiful young ladies” from the world who she mentioned gave her a “special bracelet from the camp in honor of all the little girls that lost their lives.” She promised to return to help the camp sooner or later.
Trump authorised Texas’ request to increase the most important catastrophe declaration past Kerr County to eight extra counties, making them eligible for direct monetary help to recuperate and rebuild.
“All across the country Americans’ hearts are shattered,” he mentioned. “I had to be here as president.”
Regardless of saying that he didn’t wish to discuss politics, Trump couldn’t assist himself. In the course of the roundtable, he bragged briefly about his administration lowering the price of eggs across the nation and, in a response to a query about Democratic criticisms of the flood response, mentioned, “All they want to do is criticize.”
“They’re getting just absolutely clobbered ’cause everyone sees what an incredible job the governor did,” Trump mentioned of Democrats. “Everybody in this room, everybody at this table in particular.”
In reward of FEMA
He additionally nonetheless insisted “we’ve got some good people” working FEMA. That’s nonetheless a far cry from his name mere weeks in the past to start “phasing out” FEMA.
On the White Home, Russell Vought, director of the Workplace of Administration and Funds, equally dodged questions Friday about FEMA’s future. He mentioned that the company has billions of {dollars} in reserves “to continue to pay for necessary expenses.”
“We also want FEMA to be reformed,” Vought mentioned. “The president is going to continue to be asking tough questions of all of us agencies, no different than any other opportunity to have better government.”
On the bottom in devastated communities, in the meantime, some state and native officers have confronted questions about how nicely they had been ready and the way rapidly they acted — together with if warning methods may need given extra individuals time to evacuate.
Requested about such issues throughout his look on the operations middle in Kerrville, Trump known as a reporter “evil” and mentioned he thought “everyone did an incredible job under the circumstances.”
“I admire you, and I consider you heroes,” Trump mentioned of the officers round him.
He additionally praised a protracted listing of Texas Republicans and had particularly type phrases for Rep. Chip Roy, who represents among the hardest-hit areas. A staunch conservative, Roy initially opposed Trump’s sweeping tax-cut and spending bundle however in the end supported it.
“He’s not easy, but he’s good,” Trump mentioned of Roy. The congressman, for his half, bristled at questions on authorities’ flood response, calling the queries about insufficient flood warnings “ridiculous.”
Seeing the injury close-up
Previous to the roundtable, Air Drive One landed in San Antonio and Trump deplaned in a go well with whereas the primary girl wore extra informal clothes — although each wore ball caps in opposition to the warmth. The Trumps then boarded a helicopter to Kerrville and noticed the flooding aftermath from the air. They later walked near the Guadalupe River to obtain a briefing from officers close to an overturned tractor trailer, quite a few downed bushes and different particles.
Roads within the middle of city had been shut down, and folks lined the streets, some carrying Trump hats and T-shirts and waving American flags. Inexperienced ribbons recognizing the lives misplaced at Camp Mystic had been tied round bushes, poles and alongside bridges, and marquees featured slogans equivalent to “Hill Country Strong” and “Thank you first responders.”
Harris Currie, a rancher from Utopia, Texas, close to Kerrville, mentioned the flood devastation might be totally understood solely by seeing it firsthand.
“Pictures do not do it justice,” Currie mentioned.
Requested what officers on the bottom wanted most urgently from federal sources, Kerr County Commissioner Jeff Holt, who is also a volunteer firefighter, careworn the necessity for repairs to nonworking telephone towers and “maybe a little better early warning system.”
Trump himself has recommended {that a} main warning system needs to be established, although few particulars have been provided on what which may finally entail.
Friday’s go to was far totally different from the opposite instances the primary couple visited pure catastrophe websites, throughout Trump’s first weekend again within the White Home in January. They toured North Carolina to scope out injury from Hurricane Helene and noticed the aftermath of wildfires in Los Angeles, and the president sharply criticized the administration of his predecessor, President Joe Biden, and officers from deep-blue California.
“The state of Texas, No. 1 they do it right and they’ve done it right for a long time,” Trump mentioned. “And it’s a very special place to me.”
Weissert reported from Washington.
