Trump said he didn't want to "get in the way" of rescue efforts, which is why he is only now traveling to Texas

"A catastrophe without blame, or the appearance of rock bottom in peak form" It was a landing with a message – and a visit that leaves many questions unanswered. On Friday, July 11, 2025, President Donald Trump landed at Kelly Field air base in San Antonio alongside First Lady Melania. Destination: the heavily affected town of Kerrville, located about 100 kilometers northwest, where torrential rains last week destroyed entire regions, claimed more than 120 lives, and left over 170 people still missing. Particularly devastating: the girls’ summer camp “Camp Mystic,” where at least 27 children and counselors died – caught in their sleep as floodwaters burst through the windows. Trump arrived, as so often, in presidential style: by helicopter, with a police escort and a press entourage that accompanied him through the wreckage left behind by nature. The president appeared both moved and detached. “It’s a terrible thing, a really terrible thing,” he said on the tarmac in San Antonio. And later, in front of reporters in Kerrville: “Nobody could’ve seen something like this coming. That much water, that fast – this is a once-in-every-200-years event.” The sentence was dropped casually, but it fit the pattern. Because Trump pointedly avoids assigning responsibility. For him, the disaster is above all a natural event – not the result of decades of failure in disaster preparedness, early warning systems, or the federal-state coordination between Washington and the states. Most of the still-thinking journalists would have preferred to leave, but that too is part of the job; listening to a guy like that without throwing tomatoes.

And the agency that was actually created to deal with such disasters is now at the center of it all: FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Trump has repeatedly called it into question during the campaign – his Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, has been calling for the agency’s complete elimination for months, wanting to replace it with “state-level emergency structures.” A “rebranding,” as it’s whispered behind closed doors in the White House, is the more likely scenario. But after the Texas flood disaster, that course has become a political boomerang. The deployment of Urban Search and Rescue Teams was delayed by more than 72 hours after the initial emergency calls on July 4 – because according to a new order, Noem must personally approve every contract over $100,000. She didn’t sign off until the following Monday. For many victims, it was too late. Once again, we are left speechless. Still, Trump praised the collaboration with rescue teams, demonstratively standing beside Governor Greg Abbott, who lauded the president for his swift disaster response. Yes, we are still talking about Texas in July 2025. Senators like Ted Cruz and John Cornyn also showed solidarity. Kerr County Commissioner Jeff Holt called Trump’s visit “an important sign of leadership,” although a week later, the word cowardice might be more appropriate. In fact, Trump spoke in Kerrville with responders and families, posed for photos next to a fire truck and uprooted trees, promised federal aid – and flew on three hours later to Bedminster, New Jersey. Along the roadside, Trump supporters waved their little flags – a result that shows they still haven’t understood a thing.

And yet, the media spectacle couldn’t hide how deep the political divide has become. While the president publicly expressed sympathy, Melania Trump posted on X, saying she was “keeping the parents in Texas in my thoughts.” The message was emotional – but many are asking why the White House didn’t act earlier. Why were the warning systems so poor? Why didn’t the alert chain function? And why does no one explain how a children’s camp located in a river basin was allowed to operate without a functioning early warning system? Jeff Holt, himself a volunteer firefighter in Center Point, put it plainly: “If Trump asks me what we need, I’ll say cellphone towers – and a better early warning system.” The latter is now set to be the topic of a special session of the Texas Legislature on July 23. We’ll report on that as well. But whether any consequences will come of it is unclear. The political wind is currently blowing hard toward decentralization – especially when it comes to disaster response. Before his departure, Trump had emphasized that he didn’t want to “get in the way” of rescue efforts, which is why he only now traveled to Texas. Many people went pale when he said that – an outrage of the highest order. But many see this timing more as calculation than consideration. Texas is a deep-red state – a safe haven for Republican pageantry, a place where even crises become a stage for presidential posturing. The question of whether Trump’s slash-and-burn policies toward weather services, FEMA, and infrastructure ultimately contributed to turning a flood into a tragedy remains open. It certainly wasn’t answered on Friday – and along the roadside, people kept waving at him; because they don’t know better, or don’t want to. The truth may be too devastating. So a bitter aftertaste remains. Not because of the visit itself, but because of its staging – and the questions no one is asking. A flood cannot be prevented. But how a society responds – and whether it protects its most vulnerable – says more about its leadership than any group photo in front of a fire truck.