Black on White - How a President Without Conscience Slammed the Door in the Faces of the Victims

There are official letters that offer comfort. Others show resolve, responsibility, compassion. And then there is that one document from the White House dated July 6, 2025 - signed by Donald J. Trump, supplemented by a handwritten note that borders on unmatchable cynicism. A letter that shows neither humanity nor leadership, but wraps coldness in legal clauses - and reduces the pain of entire communities to percentages. Dozens of children are dead. Drowned in the floods of the Guadalupe River after the waters crashed through the Christian summer camp Mystic - unstoppable, unforeseen, deadly. The weather warnings came too late because the responsible office in Austin/San Antonio had been understaffed for months. And it was understaffed because Donald Trump’s administration had cut exactly there. Personnel. Equipment. Protection. When the water came, no compassion came from Washington. Just a letter.

Donald Trump declared the state of emergency - formal, dry, bureaucratic. He approved aid - but limited it. Texas, or rather the affected, must bear 25% of the costs themselves. For many local governments, church communities, camps, or families, this may be unbearable. Normally, the president can, under § 502(f) of the Stafford Act, approve 100% federal funding upon request from a state - especially in disasters with many fatalities or massive destruction. Trump explicitly chose not to do so. And that’s not all: The letter contains no promise of expedited payouts, mobile shelters, emergency medical aid, psychological care, or special funds for children and families. Not a word about immediate emergency relief, psychological support for traumatized survivors, or concrete measures to prevent further danger. That is, at the very least, inappropriate in a disaster that claimed the lives of dozens of children.

What is mentioned instead stands in bold black letters under Trump’s signature: “Our wonderful Sec. Kristi Noem is available at all times.” It is a sentence that reads like it came from a campaign flyer - not a crisis response. No measure, no plan, no offer of help - just the empty claim that a secretary is “available.” Instead of concrete aid, a secretary is marketed as “available” - one could easily see this as a cynical attempt at self-promotion. This letter is not an administrative act. It is a document of political cruelty. It proves that Donald Trump was not unable to help - but that he chose not to. That his government made billions available for border walls and military parades, but left families in Texas standing in the mud with a 25 percent copayment. And that he did not meet the death of children with dignity, but with protocols and PR. The words are there, black on white. And they will remain. As proof of how a president, in an hour of greatest need, did not offer comfort - but celebrated himself. And how a system fails when its top has no conscience.