The Houston Chronicle ripped apart Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem for her handling of the catastrophic Texas flooding.
The editorial board piece was sarcastically searing, “Heck of a job, Secretary Noem.”
“Judging by recent reporting on the Hill Country floods, however, some officials in Washington are more focused on saving cash than helping Texans recover,” the editorial board wrote.
The major Texas newspaper singled out Noem for blame, pointing to reports that her department’s budget cuts caused flooding victims’ calls to FEMA to go unanswered.
“Leaving disaster victims on hold isn’t governmental efficiency,” the board wrote. “It’s heartless.”
The editorial also ripped Noem over reports that she waited 72 hours after the flooding hit to authorize FEMA to send in resources.
“Why the delay? Self-imposed government red tape,” the piece reads. “Noem has mandated that she personally review and approve expenses over $100,000—including, say, deploying search-and-rescue teams after a flood that left more than 100 dead.”
Noem, who earned the nickname ICE Barbie for her garish cosplaying of law enforcement officers, has denied both of these stories.
The editorial took a final jab at Noem, comparing President Donald Trump’s praise for her work to that President George W. Bush gave to controversial FEMA director Michael D. Brown for his handling of Hurricane Katrina.
“Even the president’s typically sharp tongue seems to have been replaced by embarrassing Bushisms,” the piece reads. “Trump’s claim that Noem was ‘right on the ball’ is just his version of ‘Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job.’”
The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately return a Daily Beast request for comment on the editorial.
The flooding in Texas, which hit on the July 4th weekend, has killed at least 134, including 27 campers and counselors from the Christian Camp Mystic.
Amid criticism over the federal government’s handling of the crisis, Trump gave a bizarre response this week when asked if he had a message for Camp Mystic parents who lost a child.
The president said, “There can be nothing worse than losing a child, and the way this happened… there was very early warning, they warned the day before, they warned even two days before, they warned four hours before…”
