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Episode 45: FEMA Under Trump: How America's Disaster Response System Is Being Dismantled
Episode 45
When catastrophic floods hit Texas in July 2025, FEMA should have been the nation’s lifeline. Instead, survivors were met with unanswered calls, delayed rescues, and a gutted response system. In this episode, Bella Goode uncovers how Trump’s FEMA failed during one of the deadliest floods in state history and why the crisis revealed something far bigger: a federal disaster system being hollowed out, politicized, and possibly dismantled altogether. What happens when the agency Americans depend on is no longer built to function?
Key Takeaways To Listen For
- The 2025 Texas Hill Country flood: over 100 dead, thousands stranded, and FEMA missing in action
- Why FEMA’s call center collapsed—40,000 survivor calls went unanswered due to DHS red tape
- How Trump’s FEMA slashed staffing by 30% and reassigned disaster workers to ICE
- Dismantling of resilience programs like BRIC and Risk MAP—and what that means for communities
- Evidence of aid politicization: which states get help fast, and which are left waiting
- Trump’s stated plan to “wean off FEMA” and revert disaster response to the states
- Why a fractured, state-by-state disaster system leaves millions of Americans more vulnerable
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Host: Bella Goode
Bella is a former Republican turned democracy advocate raised by middle class parents in Pennsylvania. She is a graduate of Syracuse University and the University of Pennsylvania with a masters of business administration from Wharton and a Masters Degree in Positive Psychology.
Career wise, Bella spent 20 years with American Express in New York and 20 years as an entrepreneur. She started and sold a fitness business that grew to 180 locations worldwide.
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Published on 2 weeks, 1 day ago