Donald Trump’s Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem drops a nuclear bomb on Americans in disaster-prone areas by announcing plans to “eliminate” FEMA.

This could cost us countless innocent American lives.

While discussing border security Noem — whose primary “accomplishment” to date has been posing in bullet proof vests during ICE raids — stated that “we’re going to eliminate FEMA.”

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is the agency responsible for responding to disasters that have overwhelmed state and local authorities. With climate change exacerbating deadly disasters like the hurricanes in Florida and Texas, FEMA is needed now more than ever.

“That’s great. Great job,” replied Trump to Noem’s stunning report. The president himself has stated in the past that he intends to dismantle FEMA.

“I’ll also be signing an executive order to begin the process of fundamentally reforming and overhauling FEMA, or maybe getting rid of FEMA. I think, frankly, FEMA’s not good,” he said back in January.

This self-evidently destructive move is part of the broader MAGA agenda to strip our government down to the bone — paving the way for more billionaire tax cuts.

It’s unclear what, if anything, will replace FEMA but the smart money would be on some sort of privatization of disaster response. Trump’s cronies will end up providing inferior services at inflated costs.

“The Trump Administration’s grand plan for victims of natural disasters is to abandon them—and it’s a complete non-starter,” stated Senator Peter Welch.

“This rash decision will harm ongoing disaster recovery efforts, and make it impossible to respond after the next natural disaster,” he added.