South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster declared a State of Emergency on Saturday as three wildfires spread and prompted evacuations in Polk County.
On Monday, McMaster announced on X: “We’ve secured a FEMA grant to help contain the Table Rock and Persimmon Ridge wildfires. This will help cover the costs for additional fire crews, air tankers, and more as our firefighters continue their work to contain these fires.”
The Republican governor was able to secure a FEMA grant swiftly despite frequent Trump administration accusations that the agency is inefficient, unfair and potentially unnecessary.
[Note: During a trip to North Carolina in January after Tropical Storm Helene, President Trump said he would “begin the process of fundamentally reforming and overhauling FEMA, or maybe getting rid of FEMA.” Last week the President signed an executive order that shifts more responsibility for disaster response and recovery from the federal government to the states. DOGE recently cut more than 200 employees at FEMA.]
Noting that the frequently maligned agency was able to quickly deliver for a red state with a MAGA-aligned governor, one objector to McMaster’s announcement replied on X: “Don’t you think it’s a bit crazy that South Carolina can get a FEMA grant without issue but other states cannot?” Another chimed in: “Weird how we don’t just leave things up to the states.”
We’ve secured a FEMA grant to help contain the Table Rock and Persimmon Ridge wildfires. This will help cover the costs for additional fire crews, air tankers, and more as our firefighters continue their work to contain these fires.https://t.co/uXANt084xI
— Gov. Henry McMaster (@henrymcmaster) March 24, 2025
Another responded with sarcasm to the Governor: “Weird. I was told FEMA’s only job was to put illegal immigrants up in fancy hotels in NYC. Is that not true, Henry?”
The comment references how MAGA operatives have continually hammered FEMA as yet another agent of the “deep state” — setting the table for Trump’s threats of dissolution — by focusing on the agency’s imperfections and extreme challenges rather than its successes. (NOTE: There were 90 declarations of “major disasters” in 2024, or approximately one over four days.)
[Elon Musk defended the DOGE cuts on Fox News and said: “FEMA is an agency that is meant to take care of Americans in distress, and a bunch of their money was being sent to pay for luxury hotels in New York for illegal immigrants.” Musk’s version of “illegal” FEMA funding for migrant shelter is debunked here by Poynter, which points out that the process — funded by Congress — operated the same way during Trump’s first term.]
But defunding FEMA has MAGA objectors too, beyond presumably Gov. McMaster. As the Missouri Independent reported in February: “FEMA does have some support from Trump’s Republican allies, especially given that red states have needed more aid in recent years. Since 2015, residents in Florida, Louisiana and Texas have received the highest amounts of individual assistance payments from FEMA, exceeding $2 billion in each state.”
States alone would have major trouble meeting this demand, especially in cases when disaster strikes in consecutive years or even consecutive weeks, without a pause in need to allow for the replenishing of reserves.