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This guy isn't just "haha" unsuitable... [1]

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Date: 2025-06-08

I’d previously seen one prominent diary here, and several smaller mentions, talking about how the acting head of FEMA David Richardson seems… ill-suited to the task, shall we say? Doesn’t know about hurricane season, what a yutz, right? LOL.

What now surprises me is how badly the bigger problem with the guy seems to have been overlooked. Came across a video clip and did some digging after, and found very little attention paid to the fact the guy seems to be a dyed-in-the-wool blunt authoritarian.

The embedded video below shows a speech / presentation / warning he gave to his new underlings on May 9th, and it really doesn’t bode well for the vital entity Americans have come to rely upon in a wide variety of disaster scenarios.

(The relevant bit starts at 11:12 in the Meidas Touch video, if the embed doesn’t automatically do that.)

x YouTube Video

Obfuscation, delay, undermining. If you're one of those 20% of people and you think those tactics and techniques are going to help you, they will not, because I will run right over you.

Inspiring stuff, Dave. Bringing some real “the beatings will continue until morale improves” energy there champ. I’m sure that’ll be helpful in an agency tasked with caring for those most in need, at the worst moments in their lives and the lives of those in their community.

Now, once again, I can't recall the full title, but essentially, I'm acting. I've seen people that are not acting, that have the full title or something, that don't get anything done. Okay, I don't need very much authority to get everything done I need to do. I don't need the full title. All I need is the authority from the President to put me in here as some degree of acting, and I will make sure that his intent gets completed. I don't stop at yield signs, in other words.

(10:1 dude blows through red lights regularly...)

Let’s review the timeline around FEMA leadership here, for those who haven’t managed to keep any sort of track (like me, until today):

5/7: FEMA’s acting chief [Cameron Hamilton] forced out in Trump’s latest attack on the agency (h/t Walter Einenkel). Pretty well-reported that Hamilton seemed to understand and appreciate the agency’s goal. He wanted to maintain the direction they’d been going, and continue working to help Americans recover after some of the various “worsts” life has on tap for us poor chumps.

5/8: David Richardson appointed, despite a clear lack of relevant credentials. He has experience related to policy around WMDs. He was a ground combat officer. He taught several topics (history, strategy). He has a bachelor’s degree in biology.

5/9: All-hands staff meeting, as featured in the video.

He clearly wanted to establish early on that everyone should expect some radical change, and that he’d better be given plenty of runway to facilitate that change.

My understanding based on various things I’ve read / seen / heard is that FEMA funding has slowed significantly, and there’s a lot more talk around the states playing a much larger role in things. This you’ll likely be unsurprised to hear is in line with what Project 2025 laid out.

These opportunities include privatizing TSA screening and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) National Flood Insurance Program, reforming FEMA emergency spending to shift the majority of preparedness and response costs to states and localities instead of the federal government, eliminating most of DHS's grant programs, and removing all unions in the department for national security purposes. (from Project 2025)

Transcription of the May 9th meeting (and a later one on 5/15) appears to have been broken by Drop Site on May 15th, based on leaked audio recordings of the meeting. I’m uncertain when the video was leaked which is featured in the embed, but it’s certainly from the same 5/9 meeting.

A lot of what he had to say is disturbing, but I find this the most chilling and the most telling portion:

When somebody comes to an organization, and there's going to be change, it's recognized that everybody's somewhat nervous or somewhat concerned. Understandable. What's not known is that between 10 and 20% of personnel will embrace change. They'll welcome it. And they understand that change handled right is progress and they understand that it's necessary and they see that needs to be made. That's somewhere between 10 and 20%. Something like 60%, they don't care, right, they go along, to get along and I completely understand that. I've been in a situation before where I went along to get along. However, there's somewhere south of 20% that decide that they are going to get in the way of change. You can ask anybody, that those 20% of the people are a problem. And they have to be sidelined. So, don't get in my way, if you're those 20% of the people. I know all the tricks, Okay? I know them from last corporals. I know them from staff sergeants, lieutenants, federal employees, my own employees, and indeed myself. Okay, I played the games too. Obfuscation, delay, undermining. If you're one of those 20% of the people and you think those tactics and techniques are going to help you, they will not because I will run right over you. I will achieve the president's intent. I am as bent on achieving the president's intent as I was on making sure that I did my duty.

Don’t sleep on that last line: I think he’s telling us his loyalty to Trump has supplanted his previous loyalty to America.

I’d wanted to include a few more relevant links and expand the timeline a bit, but I’m short on time myself at the moment. I’ve not actually looked into the staff meeting on the 15th or read through that portion of the transcript at Drop Site, so if anyone wants to dig into that part of things and post a comment (or a separate diary) with what they find most note-worthy, by all means do!

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