The Trump administration is dismantling the agency responsible for helping Americans survive and recover from climate disasters. He’s already slashed a third of FEMA’s workforce, forced out experienced leadership, and appointed officials who don’t even know the basics – like when hurricane season starts. Now he says states should “stand on their own two feet” and handle disasters without reliable federal support.
Messaging
This is climate abandonment. Trump is dismantling the agencies meant to help us survive and recover—while siding with the corporations that made the crisis worse.
The agency has lost nearly 2,000 full-time staff, including top disaster experts, and is now led by a political appointee who admitted he wasn’t aware the U.S. has a hurricane season.
Trump says governors should help each other instead of relying on FEMA—leaving poorer states, small towns, and frontline communities with little to no backup in a crisis.
NOAA predicts an above-average Atlantic hurricane season. There have already been over 1,100 tornadoes this year, with hundreds more expected. Communities are bracing for disaster just as Trump is pulling away federal support.
Trump refused disaster assistance to victims of Hurricane Helene in North Carolina and tornado survivors in Arkansas, signaling that help may be tied to political loyalty.
Trump is cutting NOAA’s ability to track billion-dollar disasters and floated axing the Weather Channel, making it harder for people to get accurate storm warnings.
Messaging, II
The public deserves to know what’s happening, and we need to fight back now. Climate Superfunds are part of the solution, and gaining momentum fast. These laws make the worst polluters pay their fair share and ensure that funds are available to rebuild homes, protect communities, and reduce future risk.
By defunding FEMA and pushing disaster response onto states, Trump can hold relief funds hostage, using them to reward allies and punish critics.
Trump is attacking climate Superfund laws in states like New York and Vermont and trying to block lawsuits that would make fossil fuel companies pay for the damages they helped cause.
Trump is shifting the cost of climate disasters off oil companies and onto taxpayers, especially the people hit hardest by fires, floods, and storms.
In a world of back-to-back disasters, even a strong FEMA can’t keep up. That’s why we need state and federal Climate Superfund laws to make the fossil fuel industry pay into recovery and resilience.
Trump is cutting NOAA’s ability to track billion-dollar disasters and floated axing the Weather Channel, making it harder for people to get accurate storm warnings.