Kristi Noem Accidentally Low-Key Suggested That Trump Might Be to Blame for Deadly Texas Flooding

While insisting this wasn't Trump’s fault, Noem blamed previous administrations for failing to update NOAA’s “ancient” systems—which would include Trump’s first term, no?

By Lauren Tousignant | July 7, 2025 | 6:52pm

Photo: Getty Images Politics

Kristi Noem Accidentally Low-Key Suggested That Trump Might Be to Blame for Deadly Texas Flooding

As of Monday evening, at least 100 people in Texas have been confirmed dead following the early-morning flash flooding on July 4—including 27 children and counselors from Camp Mystic, an all-girls summer camp in Kerr County along the Guadalupe River. More than 850 people have been rescued, but the rain in Texas continues as rescue workers scramble to find the dozens who remain missing.

The region is known as one of the most dangerous in the country for flash flooding, and the river surged to over 26 feet in just 45 minutes, beginning at around 4 a.m. on Friday morning. In the increasingly deadly aftermath, politicians, weather experts, and local officials have been arguing over whether residents were given enough warning–and if not, whether that was President Donald Trump’s fault, specifically his administration’s cuts to the National Weather Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Homeland Security Secretary and confessed dog murderer Kristi Noem even inadvertently suggested that maybe this was partially Trump’s fault.

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The general consensus seems to be that the cuts and staffing shortages, at the very least, didn’t help. Former and current NWS employees have defended the agency’s response, as have meteorologists across the country. NWS’s Austin/San Antonio office—which covers the region— issued a flood watch on Thursday afternoon, followed by flash flood alerts that night into Friday morning.

However, the office’s warning coordination meteorologist took an early retirement offer in April as part of NOAA’s personnel and budget cuts, which were part of DOGE’s efforts to slash government “waste.” The position still hasn’t been filled, and according to the department’s website, the office currently has six additional vacancies. That vacancy may have delayed urgent communication with local officials.

At a press conference with Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Saturday, a reporter asked Noem if the fact that some people didn’t receive a warning until 7 a.m. was proof of a “fundamental failure of the federal government’s responsibility to keep people safe.” Noem defended Trump (obviously), while also kind of low-key blaming him for not fixing things during his first term.

“When President Trump took office… he said he wanted to fix [that], and is currently upgrading the technology,” Noem said. “And the National Weather Service has indicated that with that and NOAA, that we needed to renew this ancient system that has been left in place with the federal government for many, many years, and that is the reforms that are ongoing.”

I would assume that “many, many years” would absolutely include 2017 to 2021, when Trump first served as president. Sooooo, this is partially Trump’s fault, right?

Trump, for his part, pretended he couldn’t hear when a reporter on Sunday asked if his administration had made the situation worse. Later on Sunday, during a press conference with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, he said the cuts weren’t to blame; the water was! “I’ll tell you: You look at that water situation, that was really the Biden setup,” he said, making perfect sense. “That was not our setup. But I wouldn’t blame Biden for it either.” Damn, Trump is getting soft in his old (-est president ever) age.

Unfortunately, NOAA’s recently released 2026 budget plan would shut down multiple NOAA labs, including the decades-old National Severe Storms Laboratory, which is crucial in researching and developing storm prediction technology, including hurricane forecasts. These cuts were outlined in Project 2025, with Russell Vought—Trump’s OMB Director—writing that he wanted to gut NOAA because the agency is responsible for “climate alarmism.”

“We know that everybody wants more warning time, and that’s why we’re working to upgrade the technologies that have been neglected [for] far too long,” Noem concluded on Saturday. I’m sure NOAA’s budget will be adjusted accordingly and the next time a natural disaster strikes, there’ll be no one to blame but Mother Nature herself. (Hah.)

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