President Donald Trump sparked controversy during a Friday appearance in Kerrville, Texas, by insulting a local reporter who questioned the effectiveness of emergency warnings during the recent deadly floods. Despite the Texas area being recognized as the most flash flood-prone region in the country, Trump described the disaster as a “once in a thousand years” occurrence.
Confrontation Over Warning Failures
During a news conference, a reporter inquired about the delayed alerts that families who lost loved ones were upset about. “Several families we’ve reported on are obviously upset because they say that those warnings, those alerts, didn’t go out in time,” the reporter stated. “They also say that people could have been saved. What do you say to those families?”
In response, Trump declined to address the grieving families directly. Instead, he commended first responders for their “incredible job” before sharply turning his attention to the reporter, labeling them “evil” for raising concerns about the warnings. “Only a bad person would ask a question like that, to be honest with you,” Trump asserted. “I don’t know who you are but only an evil person would ask a question like that.“
The Deadly Kerrville Floods
Kerrville was the epicenter of the devastating flash flooding on July 4, which tragically claimed the lives of more than 120 people and left 160 missing well into the following week.
Trump reiterated his praise for the response, stating, “I think everyone did an incredible job under the circumstances. I think this has been heroism. This has been incredible, really, the job you’ve all done.“
Contradictory Claims on Flood Rarity
Trump further described the flooding as supposedly rare, quoting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem as calling it a “once in a thousand years” occurrence. He later claimed the event was something “that’s never happened before.“
These assertions contradict the well-known history of flooding in Kerr County, which the National Weather Service (NWS) identifies as “the most flash flood prone area in the United States.” It is commonly referred to as “Flash Flood Alley” due to its shallow soil and steep terrain. An online video published in 2017 by the Upper Guadalupe River Authority, in conjunction with Kerrville and Kerr County, highlighted the area’s historical flash flooding, including events in August 1978 that killed at least nine people and July 1987 that killed 10.
Echoing the “Losers” Narrative
Mocking the reporter, Trump remarked, “It’s easy to sit back and say, ‘oh, what could have happened here or there? Maybe we could have done something different.’” His language mirrored sentiments expressed by other members of his coalition, including Noem and Texas Governor Greg Abbott, throughout the week.
On Tuesday, Governor Greg Abbott dismissed attempts to assign blame for failures leading to the deaths as the talk of “losers.” He then launched into an extended analogy involving football, likening critics of the emergency response to a team on a losing streak.
“You asked ‘Who’s to blame?’ Know this: That’s the word choice of losers,” Abbott stated. “Let me explain one thing about Texas. Texas, every square inch of our state, cares about football… And know this, every football team makes mistakes.” He concluded, “The losing teams are the ones that try to point out who’s to blame. The championship teams are the ones that say, ‘Don’t worry about it, man. We got this. We’re gonna make sure that we go score again, that we’re going to win this game.’ The way winners talk is not to point fingers, they talk about solutions.”
