Finger-pointing by Trump overlooks the real calamity of the Texas floods | Editorial
There is plenty of blame to go around, but one thing appears clear: Donald Trump’s continued denial of climate change helps to fuel death and destruction across the country.
The blame game began before the water receded from the horrific flood in Texas that killed at least 119 people and left at least another 173 still unaccounted for, including many children.
While there appears to be plenty of fault to go around, the finger-pointing misses the bigger tragedy: Donald Trump’s continued denial of climate change helps to fuel death and destruction across the country.
The deluge of up to 15 inches of rain that caused the flood in Texas occurred the same day Trump signed his so-called Big Beautiful Bill, which gutted the federal government’s main effort to combat climate change.
Trump’s bill quickly ends tax credits for wind, solar power, and electric vehicles implemented by the Biden administration. Other tax credits to help homeowners perform energy audits, upgrade insulation, and buy electric pumps and more efficient water heaters were also terminated.
Meanwhile, Trump’s bill includes incentives to expand production and use of coal, gas, and oil — all of which heat the planet and lead to more intense storms like the one that battered Texas.
Not to mention some of the other severe weather in recent days, including flash floods in New Mexico, a tropical depression in North Carolina, the month’s worth of rain that fell in 90 minutes in Chicago, or the storms that grounded flights in Philadelphia, New Jersey, and New York.
Beyond the loss of life, the storms have a financial cost. There were 27 weather and climate disasters last year that each caused more than $1 billion in damage. The total bill was nearly $200 billion, making it one of the most costly years ever for weather damage. The cost is expected to grow.
While Earth burns, Trump undermines American safety and preparedness.
Last month, Trump announced plans to phase out the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which for nearly 50 years has supported the nation’s disaster response and helped fund public infrastructure repairs.
The Trump administration dismissed hundreds of scientists who were working on a report about how climate change is affecting the country, and hired three climate deniers — despite the overwhelming consensus that burning fossil fuels contributes to a warming planet and poses an existential threat to civilization.
While Earth burns, Trump undermines American safety and preparedness.
Trump’s actions on climate and other issues follow the same Project 2025 playbook he tried to distance himself from during last year’s election.
“I have nothing to do with Project 2025,” Trump said during a debate in September.
The majority of the public opposed Project 2025, yet many still voted for Trump. Now, Project 2025 coauthor Russell Vought is Trump’s budget director and helped steer the Big Beautiful Bill through Congress.
Project 2025’s fingerprints are all over the bill — and Trump’s actions in his first six months in office. Gutting the federal workforce. Check. Tax cuts for the rich and exploding the deficit. Check. Mass deportations. Check.
Trump has followed through on other plans in Project 2025, including abolishing the U.S. Department of Education, ending diversity, equity, and inclusion policies, slashing funding for public broadcasting, withdrawing from the World Health Organization, and sending troops to the southern border.
Trump has also begun dismantling the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, the agency that houses the National Weather Service, which alerts the public to hurricanes and other severe storms.
Despite staffing cuts to the weather service, the agency did issue flood warnings in Texas. But the warnings came when many people were asleep.
State and local decisions surrounding a lack of other warning systems may have contributed to the death toll. As did the reckless decision to build cabins in the flood zone, where many young campers perished.
What went wrong will likely get sorted out. But don’t look to Trump to take the lead to prevent future calamities or combat climate change.
That’s because Trump never takes responsibility when things go wrong on his watch. If anything, he points the finger at others, regardless of the facts.
Trump blamed Gov. Gavin Newsom for deadly wildfires in California. He absurdly blamed diversity policies for a midair collision that killed 67 people over the Potomac River, and blamed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for the war started by Russia.
So it was no surprise when the floods hit Texas, Trump initially attempted to blame former President Joe Biden.
But lost in the blame game is the lasting damage caused by Trump’s tenure in the White House. Like the Texas flood, people will die, and the cleanup could take decades.