On the Media

Episode 4 of American Emergency; The Movement to Kill FEMA

The president has proposed a new leader for the Federal Emergency Management Agency. On this week’s On the Media, a reckoning with the future of FEMA, and an interview with Trump’s nominee to lead the agency. Plus, a FEMA worker starts an anonymous newsletter to share how cuts are hurting the agency. [00:00]  Micah Loewinger brings us the final installment of OTM’s miniseries American Emergency: The Movement to Kill FEMA. Micah interviews Cameron Hamilton, an unqualified MAGA warrior brought in to take the agency down last year. When he refused to kill FEMA point blank, he was fired. Hamilton shares what it was like to work at FEMA under Kristi Noem. Earlier this month, Hamilton was nominated by the president to lead the agency – despite his lack of experience.  [00:00] Micah interviews an anonymous FEMA worker who started a newsletter amid the chaos of Kristi Noem’s leadership at DHS. The goal of the online publication, called Alt-FEMA [https://altfemanewsletter.substack.com/], was to get the truth out about the agency’s capacity — at a time when it was bleeding staff and experience. Its stated mission is to record “what is being dismantled: institutional knowledge, coordination capacity, and the ability to serve communities in crisis.” [00:00] Micah explores the future of FEMA, and the administration's plans to reduce the role of the agency in responding to disasters. We hear from a veteran FEMA staffer, MaryAnn Tierney, and a climate beat reporter at Grist, Jake Bittle [https://grist.org/author/jake-bittle/], who wrestled with the proposed reforms. Micah also speaks to the Director of Emergency Management in Vermont, Eric Forand, and an emergency manager of a tribal nation on the West Coast about how diminished federal disaster funding could hurt their communities. On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm [https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm]). Follow our show on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/onthemedia/?hl=en], Bluesky [https://bsky.app/profile/onthemedia.bsky.social], TikTok [https://www.tiktok.com/@onthemedia] and Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/OnTheMedia] @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com [https://pcm.adswizz.com] for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Trump's Refugee Program Is Reserved for Whites Only

This week, the President announced a proposed expansion of the America's refugee program - from 7,500 admissions to 17,500. But there's a caveat: those extra 10,000 spots are reserved for white South Africans. Last May, when the first round of Afrikaners arrived in the States, OTM host Micah Loewinger spoke to Carolyn Holmes [https://bsky.app/profile/carolyneholmes.bsky.social], professor of political science at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, about why Afrikaner white rights groups objected to the refugee policy, and the long-standing exchange of ideas between white nationalist elites in the US and South Africa. On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm [https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm]). Follow our show on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/onthemedia/?hl=en], Bluesky [https://bsky.app/profile/onthemedia.bsky.social], TikTok [https://www.tiktok.com/@onthemedia] and Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/OnTheMedia] @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com [https://pcm.adswizz.com] for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Trump's Justices Changed the Way We Vote Forever. Plus, Ep.3 of American Emergency

Louisiana’s state senate has passed a new congressional map, eliminating one of two majority-Black districts in the state. On this week’s On the Media, hear why the Supreme Court’s blessing of that move rests on a basic statistical error. Plus, how an unprecedented storm of conspiracy theories beset FEMA during Hurricane Helene. [01:00] Host Brooke Gladstone sits down with G. Elliott Morris, journalist, statistician, and author of the data-driven news website Strength in Numbers, to talk about the statistical error he found in the Supreme Court’s Louisiana v. Callais ruling, and the widespread consequences for our democracy.  [15:38]  Host Micah Loewinger presents the third part of our investigation American Emergency: The Movement to Kill FEMA. This week, Micah takes a deep dive into the aftermath of Hurricane Helene in 2024, when conspiracy theories surged online, including the old rumors about FEMA camps. And we hear from a library worker who was rescued by raft during the storm, about the greatest obstacle she faced after the storm: bureaucracy.  Further reading / watching: * “The simple statistical error Republican Supreme Court justices used to gut the VRA [https://www.gelliottmorris.com/p/2026-05-08-simple-math-error-scotus-callais-vra],” by G. Elliot Morris * “This year’s U.S. House elections will be least competitive on record [https://www.gelliottmorris.com/p/2026-05-12-uncompetitive-seats],” by G. Elliot Morris * “Some N.C. residents distrust FEMA so much they’re hesitant to apply for hurricane aid,” [https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2024/12/15/some-nc-residents-distrust-fema-so-much-theyre-hesitant-apply-hurricane-aid/]by Brianna Sacks * “How a conspiracy-fueled group got a foothold in this hurricane-battered town,” [https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2024/10/23/how-conspiracy-fueled-militia-got-foothold-this-hurricane-battered-town/] by Brianna Sacks On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm [https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm]). Follow our show on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/onthemedia/?hl=en], Bluesky [https://bsky.app/profile/onthemedia.bsky.social], TikTok [https://www.tiktok.com/@onthemedia] and Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/OnTheMedia] @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com [https://pcm.adswizz.com] for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

How "Economic Blindness" Is Obscuring Our Financial Reality

On Sunday, President Trump rejected Iran’s latest response to his administration’s ceasefire proposal by taking to Truth Social, calling it "totally unacceptable." In the meantime, the Strait of Hormuz, a critical oil chokepoint through which a fifth of the world’s oil travels, remains effectively blocked. And people everywhere are beginning to feel the squeeze. The national average cost of gas is now $4.55 per gallon, and diesel is inching closer to $6 a gallon. The Philippines has long declared a national energy emergency, government workers moving to a four-day work week. Lufthansa has canceled 20,000 flights through October of this year. But curiously, you wouldn’t know it if you wandered down Wall Street. Last week, the S&P 500 Index and Nasdaq Composite hit an all-time high, and both have continued to climb this week. This week, host Brooke Gladstone sits down with Bryan Walsh [https://www.vox.com/authors/bryan-walsh], editor of Vox’s Future Perfect section, to discuss the phenomenon of “economic blindness,” or the jarring mismatch between economic reality and the markets. Plus, how human evolution may play a role in this cognitive dissonance.   On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm [https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm]). Follow our show on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/onthemedia/?hl=en], Bluesky [https://bsky.app/profile/onthemedia.bsky.social], TikTok [https://www.tiktok.com/@onthemedia] and Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/OnTheMedia] @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com [https://pcm.adswizz.com] for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Psychology of Sticking Your Head in the Sand. Plus, Ep. 2 of American Emergency.

This week, the S&P 500 hit an all-time high, despite a deepening global energy crisis. On this week’s On the Media, the mismatch between the stock market and reality. Plus, to understand how FEMA became so distrusted, we look at its response to Hurricane Katrina – and how it stained the agency’s reputation forever.  [01:00]  Host Brooke Gladstone sits down with Bryan Walsh [https://www.vox.com/authors/bryan-walsh], senior editorial director at Vox overseeing the Future Perfect and climate teams, about the phenomenon of “economic blindness,” which explains why the stock market hit an all-time high this week despite the oil crisis unspooling across the globe due to Iran’s effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Plus, how human evolution may play a role in this cognitive dissonance. [13:38]  Host Micah Loewinger presents the second part of our investigation American Emergency: The Movement to Kill FEMA. This week, we look at the event that shaped FEMA’s reputation perhaps more than any other: Hurricane Katrina, one of the costliest disasters in U.S. history. Experts had warned about this kind of storm for years, but when it hit the agency only had one staffer on the ground–a PR guy named Marty Bahamonde. We also hear from Superdome survivor Chavon Allen, who was celebrating her 19th birthday when the hurricane made landfall.  Further reading / watching: * “We’re missing the economic fallout of the Iran war — just like we did with Covid [https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/487190/iran-strait-of-hormuz-energy-oil-covid-coronavirus-stock-market],” by Bryan Walsh * Disaster: Hurricane Katrina and the Failure of Homeland Security [https://www.powells.com/book/disaster-hurricane-katrina-and-the-failure-of-homeland-security-9780805086508], by Christopher Cooper and Robert Block * Hurricane Katrina: Race Against Time [https://www.hulu.com/series/hurricane-katrina-race-against-time-7bd9aa12-33e1-42e5-bc01-3e9d88cd659f] on Hulu On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm [https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm]). Follow our show on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/onthemedia/?hl=en], Bluesky [https://bsky.app/profile/onthemedia.bsky.social], TikTok [https://www.tiktok.com/@onthemedia] and Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/OnTheMedia] @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.