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The Press Rush to Blame Trump for the Texas River Flood Disaster

Brad Slager
Brad Slager  |  Jul 07, 2025
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Matching Media Memorandum – VARIOUS OUTLETS

  • The problem with “it just has to be” reporting is that it requires facts.

As soon as the news came out Saturday of the flooding along the Guadalupe River in Central Texas, numerous journalists rushed out their versions of reporting to highlight and blame the fact that President Trump had cut jobs and services within the National Weather Service.

It was a non-stop torrent of journos who were positively convinced that devastation was caused and lives lost due to the cuts.

Among the worst was Juliette Kayyem of CNN, who has been on a steady stream of claims blaming Trump, all while lacking anything approaching tangible evidence that there were staffing problems causing carnage.

Then the facts came flooding in.

The actual weather experts in that area say there was no hindrance to the forecasting and warning systems.

A number of meteorologists attested that everything was operational as expected.

In fact, the local weather service was overstaffed for this storm, in anticipation of its arrival. Notices were put out 12 hours before any flooding, and a flash flood warning was made three hours before the onrush.

This meteorologist explains at length that what took place was an unprecedented weather event.

Pathological Media Amnesia – CNN

  • That was both one year ago and one president ago.

Among those who have been extremely vocal about blaming the president has been CNN's Dana Bash. For the two days since the flooding, she has not held back from laying the blame on the president’s lap as she politicizes this storm damage.

This comes in direct opposition to the same Dana Bash who, two weeks after the Carolinas were still dealing with the effects of the hurricane flooding, said on the air that the last thing people should do is politicize the government response.'

Stealth Story Evolution – THE NEW YORK TIMES

  • The biggest danger is in our noticing the change.

In a completely oblivious dose of pulling a journalistic 180, behold the way The New York Times has taken both sides of the issue regarding immigrant gangs in the city of Boulder, Colorado.

Reporting on the Mirror – THE NEW YORK TIMES

  • This almost sounds like an apology for committing journalism.

Over the weekend, the readers of The New York Times had a staggeringly hard time grappling with the fact that the outlet reported on Zohran Mamdani having claimed to be a black man on a college admission form. This was not an empty claim, but an exhaustive research made by its reporter, and it led to speaking directly with Mamdani, who attested that he did, in fact, fill out the form in that fashion.

For that brand of solid journalism, the paper had to have an executive editor come out and explain itself to its readers.

Anti-Social Media – THE NEW YORK TIMES

  • This level of insult for being…accurate is sure a strange look.

The tensions over that NY Times report were not reserved only for the readers. There was also internal barking taking place for daring to report, again, accurately, about a political candidate running for an important office.

Jamelle Bouie went on an angry rant on Bluesky, delivering insulting barbs toward reporter Benjamin Ryan for daring to report on Mamdani.