#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Hurricane Trump | Title: Trump's Project 2025: Up Close and Personal-Chapter 11

Episode Date: November 8, 2024

In Chapter 11, set in November in Tallahassee, fictional Florida, Governor Buck Bryce confidently addresses the press regarding Hurricane Timothy, initially predicted to be a manageable Category 1 storm. However, the hurricane unexpectedly strengthens to a devastating Category 4 upon landfall, causing widespread destruction and significant loss of life. The governor, previously assured by Washington that all preparations were sufficient, is confronted with the reality of inadequate storm forecasting due to recent cuts to federal meteorological services as proposed by Project 2025. As emergency response efforts falter, Bryce grapples with the new federal policies under Trump that make it difficult to declare emergencies and provide immediate assistance to affected businesses and citizens. The narrative highlights the consequences of disregarding climate science and federal data, resulting in death and destruction As always, the series author, David Pepper ties the fiction to the facts in Project 2025 and Trump’s own words. We'd like to thank all the artists who volunteered their time to make this episode: Mark Ruffalo who read the chapter and others who contributed character voices.  Sound design by Jonathan Moser. Trump's Project 2025: Up Close and Personal is written by David Pepper and produced by Pepper, Melissa Jo Peltier and Jay Feldman and is a production of Ovington Avenue Productions and The Bill Press Pod. Suggested Podcaster Copy: To episode:  Once again, we are pleased to present this special bonus episode in (your podcast name).  In this last week before the election, it's even more important that we understand the dangers of Project 2025. And share those dangers with people we know and care about. Here is Chapter 11 of Trump's Project 2025: Up Close and Personal.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Hello again, I'm Bill Press, host of the Bill Press Pod, and this is part of our special podcast series, Trump's Project 2025 Up Close and Personal, Chapter 11, Hurricane Trump, How Project 2025 Guts Extreme Weather Prediction and Response. That's right. Project 2025 would break up and privatize those government agencies that track the climate and the weather. Yes, the agencies that provide the warnings on hurricanes, flooding, and tornadoes. These people want to do that because they hate the truth about the coming and possibly preventable disasters of climate change. And it's all driven by the Republican Party's embrace of the fossil fuel industry and their desire to place short-term profits of their industry allies over the danger to life on Earth. Today's episode mirrors the recent news about the hurricanes in Florida and North Carolina and imagines what might happen in a world where the science of weather prediction has been replaced by the politics of weather. We meet the fictional governor of Florida, Buck Bryce, as he confronts

Hurricane Timothy. The great actor and pro-democracy advocate Mark Ruffalo reads the chapter. Chapter 11, November, Capital Monthly, Buck Bryce, by Kelvin Stegman, Tallahassee, Florida. Hurricanes weren't supposed to hit Florida in November, but with the Atlantic and Gulf warmer than ever, that was changing. Still, versus the peak of the hurricane season, at least November hurricanes were smaller, inconveniences as opposed to emergencies. So with Hurricane Timothy churning northwest over the Straits of Florida, Governor Buck Rice stood confidently before the podium. One of the President's closest allies, the telegenic governor was bracketed by emergency

officials who appeared equally at ease. We've been in communication with the White House for the past week, he explained at the press briefing outside Florida's emergency ops center. I can't remember such a smooth preparation. As smooth as the preparation was, it was for a category one storm, even though some in the news media were warning the storm might strengthen and evolve. Several reporters asked him about the discrepancy. Bryce laughed it off. If I shut down Florida every time an old-time weatherman tries to boost his ratings, this state would be in permanent lockdown. It's almost Thanksgiving, fellas. Most forecasters are predicting at most a Cat 1 storm. So there's no need to panic.

Florida is ready. I also just got off the phone with the president, who assured me they have our back if we need them. With his 6'3 frame, rugged good looks and swagger, Buck Bryce lived up to the hype of a potential successor to the President. That is, until the most dire warnings proved accurate. Fueled by sky-high Gulf temperatures, Timothy came ashore two mornings later as a monster Category 4 hurricane. It crashed into Florida's west coast just north of Naples with winds

topping over 150 miles per hour. It then headed north and east bear-hugging the coastline. A wall of water surged into Sarasota and over the long heavily populated Keys to the north and south. As it followed its coastal path, the storm slowed, dumping feet of rain all the way past Tampa. Eyes red and cheeks waned, Governor Bryce looked ten years older than two days before as he sat behind his thick oak desk. His usually immaculate salt-and-pepper hair was a tousled mess.

His young chief of staff, Gabe Shields, faced him from the desk's other side. Both men stared as the speakers floored as emergency director, a retired general named Phil Unger, briefed them from an operations center in St. Pete. Sir, what we are seeing is devastating. Timothy's just raking the coast as bad as any storm we've ever seen. And so no one is ready for it. We've got people trapped in houses and high rises for miles, without power and without food.

There will be significant death toll here. Particularly seniors. Bryce already knew this, but his face twitched as he heard the words. How the fuck did they get it so wrong? The governor barked. He'd been assured by Washington that things would be okay. That the few meteorologists who raised alarms were fossils, not tapped into the latest data. When they gutted the National Weather Service, along with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,

they thought the private sector would pick up the slack. Unger explained in a hoarse voice, Looks like they got that wrong too, the governor said. They sure did. Turns out almost all those private companies were relying on NWS and NOAA data. So once you got the government data, the new for--profit system, they threw it together as rickety as hell. Rickety is an understatement. The governor snarled as he clenched his fist.

The whole thing just toppled over. But one factor made it worse. Unger said. New federal policy excludes data that takes sides in the climate debate. So they discounted all the models showing that warmer water temperatures might fuel a stronger November storm than is typical. Excluding data? The governor yelled out. A lot of Floridians are paying the price for that boneheaded decision. Of course, the governor had long played down the ways rising air and water temperatures were impacting Florida. They It even removed climate science from Florida universities and colleges. Unger's long silence suggested he recalled that as well.

Unger finally chimed back in. I'm afraid they are, sir. So what are we going to do about it? Are we still waiting for that declaration of emergency? We are, sir. Half our West coast is underwater. Some of the most valuable real estate in the country. What the hell are they waiting for? They raised the threshold for emergency, sir. Another new policy. Remember them complaining

that there have been too many emergencies declared in the recent years? That's costing us too much. Bryce remembered that well. It was written in the plan for 2025, plain as day. And even as the governor of Florida, he'd refuse to criticize it. Businesses are dying from Naples to Tampa Bay. They need relief now. There's another problem, sir. Even after we have an emergency declared, that loans that used to keep these businesses afloat are no longer available. Oh, where'd they go? Those were direct small business administration loans. They got rid of the whole program.

Even for emergencies? Yes. The direct loan program was for emergencies. Now they have to seek private loans. Who's the hell done a loan to them? He trailed off, shaking his head. Never mind. Forget about the small businesses for a second. What about the money to help homeowners and renters dig out from what's happening? Actually, sir, it's the same source. Those SBA loans went primarily to families to do just that. The governor let out a long breath, rubbing his hands through his hair. This is a fucking disaster.

Sir? Gabe Shields' head had been bobbing throughout the conversation, but this was the first time the chief of staff said anything. What now? The governor barked back. Gabe nodded towards a chair in the middle of the room where this reporter was sitting. Remember, we have media embedded with us. The White House had...

The governor's face turned beet red. Well, why didn't you remind me? I've been trying to. The governor looked over Shield's shoulder. Mr. Stegman, we're going to need some privacy. Shield stood up and escorted this reporter from the room. The governor's yells carried through the thick door, even after shields closed.

Of course, while the story in this episode is over, we're not done with Trump's Project 2025. Actually, now, as you know, we're less than a week away from the election. Early voting's already underway, and I hope you voted early if you can. Now's the time to reach out to friends you know who have, for one reason or another, not yet voted, were not planning to vote, or have not yet decided for whom to vote. Tell them how the stories you've heard in this podcast series have made you feel. How they've made you fear a second Trump term guided by Project 2025, how you understand your life and their life will be affected if Trump were ever to return to office. And please share the podcast with them, especially the episodes that you think might convince them to do the right thing and vote the right way. All 11 episodes are in your podcast app and available

for sharing, or you could just direct them to go to 2025pod.com. And next, after the break, the author of our series, David Pepper, will lay out the connections between our stories and Trump's own promises and the words of Project 2025. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution.

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Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way.

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the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. Again, while this story is fiction, it is based on actual policies contained in Project 2025 and in Trump's own words and promises. Here now is author David Pepper with the specific links to both. Chapter 11, Author's Note by David Pepper. Making dramatic changes across multiple agencies, Project 2025 would decimate the federal government's capacity to both anticipate and respond to climate emergencies and extreme weather events. As background, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, quote, predicts changes in climate, weather, oceans, and coastlines, and provides data that informs life-saving forecasts, such as hurricane tracking, end quote. It includes the National Weather Service, National OceanAA, quote, has become one of the main drivers of the climate change alarm

industry and as such is harmful to future U.S. prosperity, end quote. That's on page 675 of Project 2025. Its focus, Project 2025 alleges, quote, seems designed around the fatal conceit of planning for the unplannable, end quote. That's right, Project 2025 is against trying to plan for future weather events. As a result, it proposes that NOAA, quote, should be broken up and downsized, end quote. The plan to do this goes on to propose on page 675, fully commercializing the National Weather Service's forecasting operations, reviewing the data of the National Hurricane Center and other agencies to ensure that that data is, quote, presented neutrally without adjustments intended to support any one side of the climate debate, end quote. That's on page 676. Next, disbanding the preponderance of the

climate change research of the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research because, quote, it is a source of much of NOAA's climate alarmism, end quote. Finally, Project 2025 says that it must ensure appointees agree with administration aims. page 677, scientific agencies like NOAA are vulnerable to obstructionism of an administration's aims if political appointees are not wholly in sync with administration policy. Particular attention must be paid to appointments in this area, end quote. These proposals greatly risk the nation's ability to track and predict major weather events. As the LA Times summed up, Project 2025, quote, urges the demolition of some of the nation's most dependable resources for tracking weather, combating climate change, and protecting the public from environmental hazards, end quote. As the USA Today analysis stated, quote, NOAA's

satellites, aircraft, weather stations, and meteorologists constantly collect weather data and expertly offer detailed weather forecasts and predictions to residents, researchers, and nearly every third party weather program, forecasting service, or app. National Weather Service weather alerts notify us of hurricanes, tornadoes, and flooding. The NWS forecasts weather and issues watches, warnings, and advisories for high winds, life-threatening rip currents, and other hazards, end quote. More broadly, the proposals, quote, block and make less available information about climate change in order to serve an agenda of climate change denial, end quote. As for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA, Project 2025 proposes raising the threshold for emergencies before assistance can be granted

to victims. On page 153, it explains, quote, alternatively, applying a deductible could accomplish a similar outcome while also incentivizing states to take a more proactive role in their own preparedness and response capabilities, end quote. As one analysis explained, quote, in other words, states and localities should bear the greatest financial burden for disaster preparation, response, recovery, and resilience, and that's where Project 2025 would put it. For Southwest Florida, one newspaper said this would be, well, in a word, a disaster, end quote. Finally, as you just heard in the chapter, Project 2025 proposes to, quote, end the SBA's direct lending program. And that program is the program that provides disaster loans in case of hurricanes or other extreme events.

These loans are critical for businesses and families in recovering from extreme weather events. In fact, quote, 90% of this disaster aid serves individuals such as homeowners as opposed to small businesses. So while the program is a crucial resource for helping local economies bounce back, the loans play an even more critical role in helping individuals and families begin the long road to recovery, end quote. In sum, just as our governor from the episode you just heard discovers, whether it's predicting, tracking, responding to, or providing relief from hurricanes or other weather emergencies, Project 2025 guts all of it. Trump's Project 2025 Up Close and Personal is available on all the podcast apps and at 2025pod.com. Of course, we'd like to thank all the artists who volunteered their time to make this episode.

Mark Ruffalo, who read the chapter, and others who contributed character voices. Sound design by Jonathan Mosier. Trump's Project 2025 Up Close and Personal is written by David Pepper and produced by Pepper, Melissa Jo Peltier, and Jay Feldman, and is a production of Ovington Avenue Productions and the Bill Press Pod. Thanks for listening. I know a lot of cops. They get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes.

But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. This is Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. Listen to Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott.

And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Last year, a lot of the problems of the drug war. This year, a lot of the biggest names in music and sports. This kind of starts that in a little bit, man. We met them at their homes. We met them at the recording studios. Stories matter.

And it brings a face to it. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the war on drugs podcast season two on the I heart radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey. Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. worth it. I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit AdoptUSKids.org to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUSKids, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. This is an iHeart Podcast.