Democrats Should​ Say Who's Really to Blame for the ​Flooding in Texas

[Celerity]

Republican lawmakers have Texan children’s blood on their hands. Democrats shouldn’t let anyone forget it.

https://newrepublic.com/article/197662/democrats-should-say-who-really-blame-flooding-texas

https://archive.ph/FaK81


On July 6, a search-and-rescue worker looked through debris for any survivors of the Guadalupe River flooding in Hunt, Texas. - Jim Vondruska/Getty Images

In just 45 minutes, early Friday morning, intense rain caused sections of the Guadalupe River in Central Texas to rise by nearly 26 feet. Four months’ worth of rain dropped within hours. More than 100 people had been confirmed dead as of late Monday afternoon, including more than two dozen campers and counselors at a riverside Christian summer camp. As the search for victims and survivors continues, more heavy rain is expected this week.

When a tragedy of such proportions occurs, the temptation to point fingers is strong. Some Republican officials in Texas have found their scapegoat in the National Weather Service, which they’ve accused of failing to predict the storm’s full intensity. They’ve got the wrong guys; despite grappling with deep cuts imposed by the Trump administration, the NWS put out early and increasingly urgent warnings about the coming deluge. There’s plenty of blame to go around, though. Democrats, accordingly, should do a lot more than call for investigations into how White House attacks on the NWS might have hampered preparedness efforts. They should connect the dots, again and again, between Republican policy and its lethal consequences. Democrats should hammer Republicans not just for undermining Texas’s and America’s disaster preparedness and response infrastructure but for having spent decades blocking efforts to mitigate and adapt to the climate crisis. GOP lawmakers have Texan children’s blood on their hands. The more say the Republican Party has over governing a climate-changed world, the more people will die.

The NWS is a part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, where the Trump administration has aimed to reduce personnel by 20 percent and ax climate-related work, in particular. The White House’s 2026 budget proposal aspires to eliminate all of NOAA’s weather and climate research labs and shut down research and development of new forecasting technologies. The two Texas NWS offices most directly responsible for forecasting and warning about extreme weather along the Guadalupe River now lack key staff, including a warning coordination meteorologist tasked with facilitating communication between forecasters and emergency managers. Despite these challenges, the NWS issued a series of dire warnings about “life-threatening flooding” beginning on Thursday morning and in the hours leading up to the deluge. Its ability to do that, meanwhile, is being actively threatened by Republicans’ efforts to defund the agency.

The Texas Tribune further reports that the state’s Republican-controlled legislature rejected a bill that would have established a statewide plan to improve Texas’s disaster response infrastructure, upgrading alert systems and providing grants for counties to buy new emergency communication equipment, including “outdoor warning sirens” that could have saved lives lost over the weekend. State Representative Wes Virdill—whose district includes the worst-hit areas, in Kerr County—voted against the bill. He told the Tribune that he couldn’t recall the specifics of the bill or why he opposed it, guessing that it “had to do with how much funding” was tied to the measure.

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[Doodley]

1. Yes, Democratic lawmakers should shout it out loud and clear.

[wcmagumba]

2. It has been reported that another 170 and possibly more people are still missing from all along this river of 60 miles..

So there may be more fatalities not yet reported by the MSM or Texas state and county governments...WTF?

[RockRaven]

3. People who vote for Republicans are really the ones with blood on their hands

but even TNR is unwilling to say it out loud, apparently.

[RedWhiteBlueIsRacist]

4. Trump, Abbott & the GOP killed those kids and others. Essentially, waterboarded them all to death.

[betsuni]

5. Another "Why don't/didn't Democrats stop Republicans" "Democrats should ...." Blame Democrats!

Republican voters would more likely invite Satan in for a glass of lemonade to hear his opinions on current events than they would listen to a Democrat say anything, let alone believe it.

[BaronChocula]

8. Hear hear right here

We ARE the party of climate change mitigation, but unless the fires of hell or biblical floods are upon your ass on Election Day, your run-of-the-mill white American voter will vote on the price of eggs or whichever candidate looks like an old-school Hollywood idol. The task of the Democratic Party is synonymous with the job of Ginger Rogers, for anyone old enough to get that reference.

It's not that the Democratic Party doesn't do what the article suggests. You can't change how simpleton voters prioritize their concerns.

[Keepthesoulalive]

6. They have been shouting

No one is listening. We went through this 4 or 5 years ago and they voted for him again. Put the blame where it belongs, the voters with amnesia.

[BaronChocula]

9. Kudos

And bingo.

[Karasu]

7. "The more say the Republican Party has over governing a climate-changed world, the more people will die."

There it is. We can't afford to be governed by people who reject the existence of facts. We literally don't have the fucking time for their shit anymore.

[swong19104]

10. Why are the search and rescue workers

wearing camouflage? If they get lost or stuck somewhere, their partners might not be able to find them? Shouldn’t they be wearing bright orange safety vests?

[Passages]

11. June 27-30, 2025 Economist/YouGov Poll

This week’s Economist/YouGov poll covers…

Widespread dislike of congressional Democrats
Americans' perception of others' patriotism and their own
What people plan to do on July 4
Views of the last two presidential elections and Jan. 6

Democrats turn on their congressional caucuses
Americans view congressional Democrats as unfavorably as they ever have in any polls in the past four years. 30% of Americans have a very or somewhat favorable view of Democrats in Congress, while 62% have a very or somewhat unfavorable view
https://today.yougov.com/politics/articles/52474-unpopular-congressional-democrats-patriotism-july-4-democracy-political-violence-june-27-30-2025-economist-yougov-poll

And time keeps marching on.

[Torchlight]

12. As long as the GOP continues to defund infrastructure,

these consequences will inevitably continue. GOP has a choice-- be better people... or find more ways to blame more people for more of their own cock ups.

[Kaleva]

13. Those who allowed camps, homes and parks to be built there are also to blame