The Fools at DHS

June 1, 2026 (Vol. 20 No. 20) - CNN ran an excellent report last weekend about how the Trump administration is trying to undo the incalculable damage it has done to the nation's ability to respond to emergencies, focusing specifically on the disaster that FEMA has become. I highly recommend it. The report speaks to not only the callous disregard for public safety that this administration has shown. It is also emblematic of this administration's total incompetence and corruption.

Because of my background in crisis communications and emergency management, this is not the first time I have taken this administration to task for its public safety failures. Most recently, I wrote about this administration's total disregard for communities in need. Almost a year ago, I excoriated Trump and his cronies for their inept response to flooding in Texas (pictured above). And that rebuke came on the heels of a condemnation in the form of a scathing letter to the editor of the local newspaper complaining about Trump's reckless cuts in both FEMA and the National Weather Service. And these are just a small sampling of my concerns I've expressed in this blog over the years about the government's flagging emergency response capabilities under the Trump regime.

If you have not read the CNN report, it is a doozy. It details that at the end of last year, FEMA was sitting on $15 billion of unspent disaster relief waiting for DHS Secretary Kristi Noem's signature. In fact, FEMA's electricity, phones, internet and email services were almost cut off because of unpaid bills. Corey Lewandowski, Noem's adulterous lover and chief-of-staff, blocked so-called blue states from getting much-needed (and rightfully deserved) funding while expediting payments to his cronies and allies. This haphazard funding slowed the response to the aforementioned Texas floods as well as severely restricted communications between FEMA and its state and local partners. As I noted in one of my recent posts, reckless DOGE cuts to the National Weather Service have resulted in communities receiving little or no warning of severe weather such as tornadoes. The CNN report (linked in the first paragraph) is not comfortable reading or viewing, especially when you remember that today is the first day of hurricane season.

Of course, Noem and Lewandowski are gone and have been replaced with a man whose chief qualification was that he was once a plumbing contractor. This kind of creative stafing is not limited to Homeland Security. Just look at the secretaries of Defense and Health & Human Services. And Education. And Treasury. And Vice President. And, of course, the fat, incompetent and incontinent fool in the Oval Office. Trump is more interested in naming things after himself and building his billion-dollar ballroom than he is in bringing down gas prices and ending a war he started without cause. And let us not forget that the Trump crime family is robbing the American people blind through a systematic pattern of blackmailing, grifting and outright theft. And oh, yes, there are strong indications that Trump is a rapist and a pedophile.

America, we are in for a bumpy - maybe I should say bumpier - ride. All indications are that the Republican Party will take a well-earned drubbing in the midterm elections. We also know that Trump and his syncophantic legions will do anything - re: January 6 - to maintain power. We must remain vigilant. Most of all, we must vote. Let 2026, the 250th anniversary of our nation, be the time we successfully shed the shackles of yet another tyrant. That's it for now. Fear the Turtle.