Noem’s Tight Grip: FEMA, Floods, and the Trump Agenda

Summary

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Podcast Summary: Rick Wilson’s The Enemies List

Episode: Noem’s Tight Grip: FEMA, Floods, and the Trump Agenda
Host: Rick Wilson (Black Pearl Studios)
Date: July 14, 2025

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Episode Overview

This episode of "The Enemies List" zeroes in on the threats to American democracy posed by key figures in the Trump administration, with a particular focus on Kristi Noem’s mishandling of flood disaster relief and her role in amplifying the administration's deceptive agenda. Rick Wilson denounces Noem’s calculated public persona, relentless dishonesty, and willingness to serve as a conduit for Trumpism’s most corrosive policies. He also calls out lesser-known insider threats like Elbridge Colby in the Pentagon, warning listeners about the dangers their unchecked power poses to democratic principles.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Kristi Noem, the "Ice Barbie," and FEMA’s Botched Flood Response

• Slow FEMA Aid During Texas Floods
  Rick details how during severe Texas floods, Governor Kristi Noem delayed critical FEMA aid for 72 hours, prioritizing self-promotion and trivial activities over disaster relief.
  “During the devastating floods...Kristi Noem did not send appropriate FEMA aid for 72 hours. In that 72 hour window, she had plenty of time to play dress up...but not to actually help people in Texas.” — Rick Wilson [01:02]

• Noem’s Media Deceptions
  Noem appeared on national TV to deny any failures in FEMA response, painting her administration as blameless.

  NBC Interviewer: "Why did it take so long to extend those contracts?"
  Kristi Noem: "Those contracts were in place. Nobody...Every one of them was answering calls. So false reporting, fake news. And it’s discouraging." [02:17-02:35]

• Wilson’s Frustration with Media and Noem’s Lies
  Rick slams Noem’s repeated, blatant lying, criticizing both her and the press for enabling a pattern of obfuscation.
  “She lied with aplomb. She lied repeatedly. And as usual, the folks in the media still fall into the old trap.” — Rick Wilson [03:24]

• The Noem Persona: Manufactured to Please Trump
  Wilson emphasizes how Noem has intentionally rebranded herself physically, mentally, and morally to fit Trumpist expectations:
  “She has become this new character that pleases Trump, that pleases the MAGA folks...but she’s just kind of a basic bitch liar.” — Rick Wilson [04:20]

• The Real Threat: Narrative Control & Shamelessness
  Noem is not just a figurehead; she’s a key practitioner of right-wing narrative control, built on relentless messaging and lack of shame.
  “It is a prank, it's a stunt...Nome is a particularly vicious kind of liar.” — Rick Wilson [05:17]

Immigration, Militarization, and Trump’s “Brute Squad”

• Stephen Miller & Tom Homan’s Role
  Noem acts as the “mouthpiece” for hardliners like Miller and Homan, advancing anti-immigrant policies through media-friendly performances.
  “Stephen Miller is the dark, bleeding cancer cell deep inside this entire organization. The more we look at the way the administration's being run by Vought and Miller behind the scenes, the more contempt I have for people like Noem.” — Rick Wilson [06:30]

• Vicious Rhetoric from the Right
  Rick lampoons Tom Homan and others for their crude attacks, also noting Noem’s attempts to link immigrants to crime and scare the public.
  “You motherfucker. You look like a walking ad for erectile dysfunction.” — Rick Wilson on Tom Homan [07:46]
  “She is brazen. She is utterly without shame. That is a superpower that MAGA has built into a generation of its operators.” — Rick Wilson [08:22]

• Weaponizing the Federal Government
  Wilson warns that federal agencies now prioritize immigration crackdowns over disaster relief, costing American lives and undermining government legitimacy.
  “When vast chunks of the federal government right now are devoted to one thing, and that is finding brown people and deporting them, not…rescuing folks after a natural disaster, they…cause damage and lives lost in this country.” — Rick Wilson [09:25]

The Anatomy of the Modern MAGA Operator

• Noem’s Transformation and Loyalty to Trump
  Wilson underlines Noem’s evolution from standard conservative to shameless operator, driven by loyalty — and attractiveness — in Trump’s inner circle.
  “She’s transformed herself...into being the mouth of Sauron...She’s willing to say and do anything.” — Rick Wilson [10:57]

• Failure to Uphold the Constitution
  Wilson repeats that officials like Noem swear an oath to the Constitution, not to personal loyalty to the president:
  “You become a cabinet secretary...you do not swear an oath to obey every word of the president. You swear an oath to the Constitution.” — Rick Wilson [12:12]

• Media’s Complicity
  Rick insists that journalists are failing in their responsibility by allowing liars like Noem on air with little pushback.
  “It’s vital we remind our friends in the media...you have a duty to report the truth and not just to play the game.” — Rick Wilson [13:08]

Second Enemies List: Elbridge Colby and Unchecked Bureaucratic Sabotage

• Who is Elbridge Colby?
  Wilson introduces Colby as a powerful, little-known Undersecretary of Defense, likening him to infamous bureaucratic schemers of past administrations.
  “Elbridge Colby is a back of the room guy...the Doug Feith of Paul Wolfowitz’s.” — Rick Wilson [14:06]

• Colby’s Undermining of US Policy
  Colby is accused of unilaterally halting arms transfers to US allies, damaging trust and alliance structures, and pushing a pro-Russian, anti-Ukraine agenda.
  “He’s part of this group...that believes the world should be divided into three camps: Putin gets Europe, China gets Asia, Trump gets North America and South America.” — Rick Wilson [15:23]

• Broader Governmental Dysfunction
  Wilson ties Colby to a wider breed of unaccountable insiders corroding US governance and bending American power towards authoritarian ends.
  “They are exercising power...outside the bounds of even what the President knows...engaged in this sort of systemic fuckery around the entire government.” — Rick Wilson [14:49]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Noem’s Priorities:
  “In that 72 hour window, she had plenty of time to play dress up, plenty of time to ask people to rate AI generated paintings of her as to which one she should use as her portrait...not to actually help people in Texas.” — Rick Wilson [01:02]

• On Media Malpractice:
  “The folks in the media still fall into the old trap…They still fall into the ask a question you know they're going to be asked…that they then lie to the American people directly on, and you move on to the next question. That's not, as they say, how any of this works.” — Rick Wilson [03:32]

• On Shamelessness:
  “She is brazen. She is utterly without shame. That is a superpower that MAGA has built into a generation of its operators…” — Rick Wilson [08:22]

• On Immigration as Distraction:
  “Imagine what the government would be like if we weren't spending the vast majority of federal law enforcement resources on this imaginary problem.” — Rick Wilson [10:00]

• On Elbridge Colby’s Unaccountable Power:
  “Guys like Colby...are not accountable...They are exercising power...outside the bounds of even what the President knows...engaged in this sort of systemic fuckery around the entire government.” — Rick Wilson [14:49]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [00:43] Rick introduces the enemies list, focusing on Kristi Noem and Pam Bondi.
• [01:02] Details Kristi Noem’s failures during Texas floods and shift to self-promotion.
• [02:17] Excerpt of NBC interview where Noem denies FEMA failures.
• [03:24] Wilson’s critique of Noem’s consistent deceit and the media's gullibility.
• [06:30] Noem’s alignment with Trump, Miller, and Homan; the "superweapon" of narrative control.
• [07:46] Rick’s explicit attack on Tom Homan’s bullying, connecting Noem’s role as mouthpiece.
• [09:25] Warning about the realignment of federal priorities from disaster response to immigration enforcement.
• [10:57] Dissection of Noem’s transformation into a loyal Trump operative.
• [12:12] The constitutional oath and duty versus presidential loyalty.
• [13:08] Wilson’s call to journalists to stop the “kabuki dance.”
• [14:06] Introduction and background on Elbridge Colby.
• [15:23] Explanation of Colby’s geopolitical worldview and the dangers it poses.
• [16:51] (End of main content; advertisements follow)

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Tone and Style

Rick Wilson’s tone is biting, irreverent, and uncompromising. He blends sarcasm with informed outrage, interspersing pop culture references and explicit language with substantive political critique. The episode is both a call to action and a warning against complacency in the face of orchestrated government deception.

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Summary Takeaway

Rick Wilson’s latest "Enemies List" is a scorching indictment of Kristi Noem’s performative, misleading leadership in times of crisis, as well as a broader critique of the way modern right-wing operators subvert democratic norms through shameless dishonesty, media manipulation, and bureaucratic subterfuge. Wilson urges listeners—and especially the media—to recognize, confront, and expose these threats before they reshape the American system beyond repair.

Transcript

[Rick Wilson]

Only Murders in The Building Season 5.

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The Hit Hulu Original is back.

[Rick Wilson]

The night Buster died, he was talking with his mobster.

[Kristi Noem]

Was he killed in a hit?

[Commercial Narrator]

We need to go face to face with the mob. Get ready for a season.

[Rick Wilson]

Buongiorno, signore.

[Kristi Noem]

This is how I die.

[Commercial Narrator]

You can't refuse.

[Kristi Noem]

You're gonna save the day like you always do by being smart, sharp, and almost always by mistake.

[Commercial Narrator]

The Hulu Original series Only Murders in The Building premieres September 9th. Streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney for bundle subscribers. Terms apply. New episodes Tuesdays, Foreign.

[Rick Wilson]

Hey folks, welcome back to the Enemies List podcast. I'm your host, as always, Rick Wilson. And oh, by the way, see that? That's Winston. Deserve victory, everybody. You should deserve victory. Work at it. At the top of the Enemies List today should come as no surprise to anyone if Christine Elton now look, I am tempted to make Pam Bondi the head of the enemies list, but frankly, she's doing more to shatter the MAGA movement and to disrupt Trumpism and to and to break Trump's political power than anybody. Even though she is an entirely corrupt figure in every possible way, Pam Bondi is corrupt from tip to tip to toe. There's nothing about her that's not completely corrupt and egregious. But the more she tries to cover up what happened with the Epstein materials, the more she tries to shred her way out of this crisis. The more she tries to lead the COVID up, the better off we all are. Frankly, I think it has really been a disaster for Trump. So let's but let's leave that aside. She's actually doing the work that we need her to do. Maybe we should start calling her Deep State Pam. Kristi Noem Ice Barbie, Donald Trump's favorite little plaything. During the devastating floods this last week in Texas, Kristi Noem did not send appropriate FEMA aid for 72 hours. In that 72 hour window, she had plenty of time to play dress up, plenty of time to ask people to rate AI generated paintings of her as to which one she should use as her portrait. Plenty of time to Mac around on ice raids and all this other crap. Kristi Noem. And I'm inspired to do this today as I record this, because Kristi Noem went on the Sunday shows today and she said, oh no, we gave them everything they wanted. Nothing's been, this is a perfect administration. Nothing was denied them. Nothing happened. It's all just a big lie.

[NBC Interviewer (likely Chuck Todd)]

The New York Times is reporting that thousands of calls from flood victims to FEMA centers went unanswered in the middle of this ongoing disaster because you didn't renew contracts to keep call center staff in place until nearly one week after the floods. Why did it take so long to extend those contracts?

[Kristi Noem]

Those contracts were in place. Nobody. Five days. No employees were off of work. Every one of them was answering calls. So false reporting, fake news. And it's discouraging.

[Rick Wilson]

Noam has become a character where the purpose of her Ice Barbie act, the constant military outfits, the cosplay, the jumping out of helicopters, the riding around in boats, the pretense and pretend that she does is to distract from the fact that Tom Homan's brute squads and Stephen Miller's fantasy about the. The brown pogrom in this country will go on while we make fun of Christine. Oh, but she has become the face of this, and she has become a key speaker for this administration. And so she deserves to be where she is today, on the enemy's list. She deserves to be here for a very, very specific reason. It's because Kristi Noem is a raging liar. And look, I know we've lowered the bar so far that we're like, oh, well, a public figure who's not telling the exact truth. That's not surprising in the age of Trump. What? But Noem has been displaying a consistent pattern of deception to the press, to Congress, to the American people ever since she got this job. And again, that performance today, I'll Meet the Press, a perfect exemplar of this. She lied with aplomb. She lied repeatedly. And as usual, the folks in the media still fall into the old trap. They still fall into the old frame of how these things work in a narrative sense. They still fall into the ask a question that they know they're going to be asked. Ask a question. You know, they've prepped for a question that they then lie to the American people directly on, and you move on to the next question. That's not, as they say, how any of this works. But Noem is a very facile and, and, and quick liar. She's remade herself in this new image. I mean, she's physically and mentally and morally remade herself completely. She has become this new character that pleases Trump, that pleases the MAGA folks. They have this belief that Gnome is somehow this avatar combination of hotness and media savvy and all these things, but she's just kind of a basic bitch liar. I mean, this is the thing. Her lies aren't even that good. They're brazen. But they're not that good. All of this is easily disputable and dismantled by a few minutes of Google, by a few minutes of looking at the outcomes. Now, look, Welker did her best, God bless her. But this is a broad problem with the media. You cannot engage with these conversations with these people without preparing yourself to be lied to at every moment. And the problem with this is Christine Noem knew she won that interview. I would bet you money, I would bet you a dollar it was her team that reached out to NBC and said, we're. We'll make her available. I bet you a dollar they know how to play this game. They know how to play this game better than the news media. They know how to play this game better than most people. They're going to play this game better than most political operators. But it is a game for them. It is a. It is a prank, It's a stunt. It's something they do because they know how to do it. And Nome is a particularly vicious kind of liar. This storm story is part of it, but it also has to do with everything she's doing in the Ice Barbie immigration. You know, I stoppo role her ability to go out there and, you know, consistently claim that every one of these people they're rounding up are trend or MS.13 or some sort of, you know, terrorist or some sort of drug mule or some sort of drug dealer or some sort of child trafficker or some sort of sex trafficker. That's not what we're seeing, folks. It's not what we're seeing. It's not just spin. It's an essential part of the narrative control mechanism that, that the right understands better than the left, that the right embraces better than the left. And the reason I keep pointing noam out today, we've put her on the enemy's list today is because she's a practitioner of this at a level and a scale that I don't think that the pro democracy side appreciates. She is very attractive in a sort of maga conventional way. If you like that thing, you like that thing, and a lot of people like that thing. Don't fool yourself. That that look that she adopts is not appealing to a certain fraction of the American political world. She looks like the aspirational image that a lot of these guys want their women to look like. And all, again, we could dispute beauty standards another time because I'm certainly not a guy to lecture you. I'm beautiful. Her attractiveness, her brazenness and her mendacity come Together as a sort of superweapon for Trump. Come together also as a sort of superweapon for Stephen Miller. Believe me, folks, Stephen Miller is the dark, bleeding cancer cell deep inside this entire organization. The more we look at the way the administration's being run by Vought and Miller behind the scenes, the more contempt I have for the people like Noem and for the people like Homan, who. Who this weekend at the Turning Points conference was like, I'm surprised those protesters don't have purple hair and a nose ring.

[Rick Wilson (continuation or emphasis)]

They got morons like this all over the country. This guy. This guy wouldn't know. It's like the surface nation. This guy ain't got the balls to be an ICE officer. He hasn't got the balls to be a bomb patrol agent. This guy lives in his mother's basement. The only thing that surprised me. You don't have purple hair and a nose ring. Get out of here, you loser.

[Rick Wilson]

You motherfucker. You look like a walking ad for erectile dysfunction. I mean, Tom Homan. Tom Homan is a bully and a thug. We've seen his. His like many times before through history. But the idea that. That. That gnome is the. Is the mouthpiece for Miller and Homan and these others is increasingly obvious. We'll be right back. And now back to the show. But don't mistake. She's a good mouthpiece for them. She is brazen. She is utterly without shame. That is a superpower that MAGA has built into a generation of its operators and its candidates and its elected officials being utterly shameless. Not giving a shit about the truth, just rolling out there with whatever they want to say. And she's relentlessly on message. She's on the enemy's list, but she's not on the enemy's list because she's bad at what she does. She's good at what she does. What she does is bad. What she does is deceive. The press has no excuse at this point, in my view, for bringing her back on the air. She sat there today and lied and lied and lied and lied. She lied about Texas in ways that make a horrible mockery of the deaths of about 150 people. Now, she lied in ways that made a horrible mockery of the bravery of some of the government folks that came in there. The Coast Guard is technically a part of dhs, but so is a separate operational capacity. She did not order the Coast Guard in there. They went because that's what they do. But the FEMA aid and the alerting systems and the cuts to the weather services, all these things will continue to iterate up. They will continue to cause more damage as natural disasters affect this country. They will continue to cost lives in blue states. When Nome and Trump deny FEMA aid or deny assistance, they will cause damage and lives lost in this country. When vast chunks of the federal government right now are devoted to one thing, and that is finding brown people and deporting them, not protecting Americans, not making anybody's life better, not. Not securing folks and rescuing folks after a natural disaster, they would like to just create as many alligator Alcatrazes and other iterations with state branding on them as you, as you can imagine, and shove these people back into, into, into airplanes and boats and send them home. Imagine what the government would be like if we weren't spending the vast majority of federal law enforcement resources on this imaginary problem. There is no one in this country who believes that a criminal who is here illegally should not be sent home. No one. There's no constituency for that anywhere at all. But I put Noem on this list again for another reason. She didn't start out this way. Conservative, to be sure. Right winger. The Dakotas. You're not, you're not going to find a lot of Pragues in the Dakotas these days. But what she has transformed herself into is being the mouth of Sauron. She's transformed herself into being someone who will say and do anything to stay in Trump's good graces. And so far she has, because she's hot. And if you dispute me on that, you do not know Donald Trump. Now, she's also been involved multiple reports in this long affair with Corey Lee Windowski, which is somehow. He's like a Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security or some garbage like that. Nice. If you can hire your, hire your, your, your side piece, I guess, if that's what they're doing. I don't know. There are a lot of stories about that. But it's her transformation. As to being utterly shameless in the lies again, you know, you, you, you become a cabinet secretary and you do not. Again, tiresomely, I will say this. You do not swear an oath to obey every word of the president. You swear an oath to the Constitution. I know that's boring. I know that's become tiresome for many of the folks in the modern world where that's just, that's just dull. Why would we bother with that? Why would we worry about that? The reason she's on the top of the enemy's list this week is that she's willing to say and do anything. And as we've stretched and broken and mangled the truth in this country beyond words and reason, when we spot the people that are at the head of the Trump crowd doing that, it's vital we call them out. It's vital we say who they are. And it's vital we remind our friends in the media that when they come on your show, when you interview them, you have a duty to report the truth and not just to play the game. The kabuki dance of we'll pose here on this side of the stage, then we'll pose here on that side of the stage and, and to, and to let it go like that. Because Christine Ohm is on the enemy's list. Because she's cruel, because she's callous, because she's a raging liar of the highest magnitude, and because she's good at it. We'll be right back. And now back to the show. Second Enemies List block today. It's a guy you haven't really heard of named Eldridge Colby. It's at the Pentagon, grandson of the famous CIA director Bill Colby. Eldridge Colby is a back of the room guy. He's a undersecretary of Defense for policy. He is the Doug Feith of Paul Wolfowitz's. And if you get that joke, you are one of a very small number of people in this country. Colby has been freelancing, and not just a little. He's the guy who personally ordered the shutoff of American arms transfers, which had already been congressionally approved and authorized. Those two words mean a lot in this context. Approved and authorized in Congress. That means they said to do it and they wired the Pentagon the money to do it. Shut him off unilaterally because he wanted to, because he is a one of these multiple Putin simps that are throughout the government now, especially in the Defense and State Department area. And Eldridge Colby decided he was just going to do this. Now, Pete Hegseth, I think, you know, rolled out of bed that morning nursing the classic, you know, hangover. And, and, you know, aside from being not too bright, these guys roll him over. They're doing stuff behind the scenes. It's not the deep state, it's the derp state. Guys like this making unilateral decisions. He's. There's multiple reporting out this week about how he's absolutely pissed off American allies around the world lectured the Brits on where they should deploy their submarines, lectured the Australians tried to shut off a major deal where the US and Australia would work together, where the US would provide Australia with submarines. Major, major deal. This guy Colby is representative of a lot of folks in this administration below the waterline, like the Doge people, who are still engaged, by the way. There's still a lot of them out there engaged in this sort of systemic fuckery around the entire government, engaged in this sort of systemic corrosion of how the government is meant to operate. We have a cabinet where people are appointed and confirmed by the Senate, where they ostensibly are accountable, not just to the President, but to Congress. Guys like Colby, guys like the Doge people, guys like Russell Vaughn are not accountable. Guys like Stephen Miller are not accountable. Now, Miller's not in the Cabinet, but they're not accountable. They are exercising power. And by the way, this Colby guy ended up embarrassing Donald Trump, ended up embarrassing the President. He had no freaking clue what was happening. Because Pete Hexith didn't have a clue what was happening. Shouldn't surprise you that Pete Hexit didn't have a clue. I mean, he woke up in a stinking of old ocelot every morning and wondering who the dead hooker is in the bed. But all these folks that are acting outside the bounds of the law, outside the bounds of congressionally authorized spending, outside the bounds of even what the President knows, it's. If you, if you have the unified executive theory up in your head and you believe the Executive is all powerful, well, first off, I would commend Federalists 10 and 51 to your attention, but that's okay. But if you believe the Executive is all powerful, you still have a chain of command that goes up to the executive. So guys like Colby, again, they're making decisions. He has a strong animus towards Ukraine and a strong pro Russian bias. It's obvious. It's not. It's not subtle, it's not a secret. He's part of this group, and I've been talking about this for months now, and they're now becoming more overt about talking about it. He's part of this group that believes the world should be divided into three camps. You've heard me say it before. Putin gets Europe, China gets Asia, Trump gets North America and South America. Africa is a jump ball. This whole fantasy among the hyper nationalists, among the US Government reflects in my mind a terrible betrayal of American values, a terrible betrayal of the sacrifices Americans have made in the world, and a belief that dictatorship and authoritarianism are the way forward. Nothing about this guy. And again, you've never heard of Elbridge Colby until now. He would be a non entity in other worlds. He's a very good bureaucratic infighter, very good bureaucratic player. He runs the Pentagon instead of Pete Hexith at the moment. And he's on the Enemies List because you should know who he is because the things he's doing are damaging our country. Thanks again folks for listening to the Enemies List podcast. We will be back again with Q and A later in the week. We've also got some amazing stuff coming up for you on the Lincoln Project podcast in the next week. Every Friday, tune into the Elephant in the Room podcast where we peel back the curtain on something going on in politics and explain what's really happening, not just what you think is happening. Also, check me out on Substack and at Lincoln Square. Hope that you guys are having a great day and we will talk to you again next time.

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[Rick Wilson]

Oh come on.

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