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Reporter Matt Taibbi has done yeoman’s work for years, especially the last five years. Elon Musk brought him into clean up Twitter, now X, and Taibbi’s investigative work on FEMA is yielding results. We knew or suspected that that Federal Agency was a flustercuck for years. Now, we know for sure.
The opening two paragraphs of Taibbi’s post in his Racket News Substack bring the article to life, “Exclusive: FEMA Workers Improperly Collected Data About Politics of Disaster Victims”:
Last November 8th, on the Saturday after Election Day, one of the more bizarre post-scripts to Donald Trump’s re-election emerged in the form of a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) decision to sideline one official accused of telling FEMA workers to “avoid homes advertising Trump” while canvassing for victims of Hurricane Milton in Florida. The Daily Wire spoke to multiple FEMA officials who produced screenshots of entries like “Trump sign, no contact per leadership”:
The most painful confirmation, however, came from then-FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell, who testified after the election that the episode was an “isolated incident,” as well as “unacceptable” and “heartbreaking,” suggesting the problem was limited to one eventually-terminated Disaster Survivor Assistance crew leader named Marn’i Washington, adding: “I do not believe that this employee’s actions are indicative of any widespread cultural problems at FEMA.”
Our own Deanna picked up on this Swampdweller’s CYA move and wrote: “FEMA Admin Denies Culture Problem, Fired Employee Disagrees”. Deanna indicates that Marn’i Washington was fired last November, but was she?
272 days! Marn'i Washington, FEMA supervisor instructed officials to "AVOID HOMES ADVERTISING TRUMP" aiding hurricane-hit areas? has been relived of duties. She has also been determined to have engaged in "ILLEGAL ACTIVITIES," per a federal watchdog.https://t.co/Fmrh7vKdxX
X— SeawolfEmeralds (@SeawolfEmeralds) October 20, 2025
We have all heard it’s darn near impossible to fire Federal employees and we believe it. Maybe this government shutdown will provide Department heads with the opportunity they need.
More from Taibbi:
A year later, the Privacy Office of the Department of Homeland Security is releasing a review of that episode, the broader issue of using disaster relief work to collect political intelligence on voters, and the potentially withholding of benefits from some with the wrong beliefs. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the new administration found more than just one “isolated incident,” describing violations of the Privacy Act of 1974, which with a few exceptions bars collection of information about First Amendment-protected speech, like political signage. Most tellingly, though, DHS investigators found — in a near-exact parallel to trends in pro-censorship programs — that a lot of the political controversy surrounding FEMA aid grew out of the vague way in which the agency’s Disaster Survivor Assistance Field Operations Guide was written.
Collecting political intelligence? Part of me thinks “Who can blame them?” and part of me thinks “Bastards!”. Clearly, the Disaster Survivor Assistance Field Operations Guide needs to be rewritten and tightened up. Like to define the term “hostile” more clearly.
The Field Operations Guide instructed FEMA workers to “Remove yourself from the situation if you feel threatened” when dealing with “hostile” individuals, the only problem being, as the new report notes: “The Disaster Survivor Assistance Field Operations Guide does not define the term ‘hostile.’”
“The way the guide was written, FEMA employees had leeway to skip outreach to a house if its signs made them feel uncomfortable,” one Washington-based First Amendment lawyer put it last week. “So it’s basically the same concept of a harm or distress standard we’re seeing in Europe with speech issues, where the emotional response of the observer is what matters legally, as opposed to a concrete rule.”
Speaking of hostile, this is from last month. It seems like Democrats are really into hostile. From The Hill:
Former acting FEMA Administrator Cameron Hamilton said he had “a very hostile relationship” with Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials during an interview last week.
“When my character started being attacked, and then I was polygraphed, and then I passed, and there was no apology … it became a very hostile relationship” Hamilton told former FEMA official John Scardena on the Disaster Tough podcast on Wednesday.
He wanted an apology? Waaaah! Back to Taibbi:
The DHS report doesn’t describe a huge number of instances, but does list examples of FEMA workers from various relief efforts taking down political information well before the incident that actually made the news. FEMA’s actions were “not limited to the Hurricane Milton disaster relief efforts in 2024,” and in fact, “FEMA impermissibly collected prohibited information at least dating back to the Hurricane Ida disaster in September 2021.”
Some examples cited: October, 2021: “Homeowner had sign stated… this is Trump country.” September, 2021: “A lot of political flags, posters, etc. ‘Fuck Joe Biden,’ ‘MAGA 2024,’ ‘Joe Biden Sucks’ ‘Trump 2024’ We do not recommend anyone visiting this location.” November 2024: ‘There was a political flyer so I didn’t leave a FEMA brochure.” Neither Criswell nor Washington responded to requests for comment.
A lot of folks are hostile to anyone ringing their doorbell. No matter the reason. If they want help they will come to you and ask. That’s their attitude.
FEMA is another one of Jimmy Carter’s bad ideas, like the Department of Education. Some things are better left to local authorities who knows local culture and needs.
Featured Image: G. Edward Johnson/Wikimedia Commons.org/cropped/Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
SkillyBoo says: …..”She has also been determined to have engaged in “ILLEGAL ACTIVITIES,” per a federal watchdog.” Always the same, but be warned, don’t hold your breath waiting for indictments.
Scott says: Tony,
While the above individuals definitely need to be fired/ prosecuted, I’m gonna have to disagree with you on the need for FEMA. Having been in emergency services for nearly 4 decades, I have had plenty of first hand experience with FEMA and other federal agencies. There is no question that efficiency could / should be improved, and political insects like these need to be rooted out, on a truly huge incident, like a hurricane that impacts multiple states CANNOT be handled by local agencies, partially just due to economy of scale.
As an example. During the flooding in Ashville NC, over 4 million bottles of water were distributed. I’d venture to say that with very few exceptions, no cities, or even counties could have such stocks on hand. But due to the economy of scale, the Fed can.
The agency, like most others, needs to have all political animals removed, then be rebuilt, with input frommlocal responders, and national responder groups like the IAFF, IAFC, and other similar groups so that it functions in a way that best supports those local responders
As part of that revamp, the National Fire Academy needs to have dedicated funding, under FEMA, or as it’s own cabinet level position, so that is can carry on the related and critical work of training responders from across the nation, especially from smaller / poorer jurisdictions that can’t do it themselves.
Sorry for the long rant, but this issue is near and dear ro my heart.. and NO, I am NOT employed by any federal agency, no have I been.
Toni Williams says: I appreciate your pov and you are right about economies of scale. I think though that that is part of the lack of creativity of enormous organizations. I think that having a network of sister towns or states would give you the same coverage…same with food and housing.
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