Newsom Mocks ICE Barbie for Thanking Trump for the Weather

California Governor Gavin Newsom drew attention online after posting a sarcastic message suggesting that former President Donald Trump now controls the weather. His remark followed a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday in which Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem thanked Trump for what she called an unusually quiet hurricane season.

During the meeting, Noem joked that the nation had made it through hurricane season without a single storm making landfall, telling Trump, You kept the hurricanes away. We appreciate that. Laughter followed before she shifted to praising FEMA, claiming the agency had been distributing resources 150 percent faster than ever.

Newsom later shared a clip of the exchange on X, captioning it with a pointed ICYMI: Trump controls the weather.

The 2025 hurricane season, which ran from June 1 through November 30, ended without any hurricanes reaching U.S. shoresa first in a decade. The calm season proved fortunate amid significant turmoil inside FEMA throughout the year. Employees had repeatedly warned Trump that proposed cuts and restructuring efforts could leave the country vulnerable to a disaster on the scale of Hurricane Katrina.

Earlier in 2025, Trump had suggested dramatically reducing FEMAs role and shifting disaster responsibilities to individual states. His initial FEMA director, Cameron Hamilton, was dismissed in May after publicly opposing the plan. Staffing reductions and efficiency initiatives further hindered the agencys response capabilities, issues that became glaringly apparent after catastrophic July floods in Texas claimed more than 100 lives.

In the aftermath of those floods, FEMAs acting administrator, David Richardsonappointed despite lacking disaster management experiencewas unreachable for a full day due to being on vacation with his work phone silenced. Under cost-cutting rules implemented at the time, major spending required his direct approval, delaying immediate action. The agency also lacked functioning call centers after firing its contracted operators, leaving affected residents unable to reach FEMA for assistance.

The delayed response prompted the resignation of FEMAs search and rescue chief, Ken Pagurek. Richardson himself stepped down in mid-November after only six months in the role. On Monday, FEMA installed its third administrator of the year, Karen Evans.

While Noems comment about Trump preventing hurricanes was made in jest, the suggestion echoes a recurring conspiracy theory embraced by some political figures claiming the government can manipulate the weather.

Author: Grace Ellison