If Trump does move to install a permanent leader, that person will have a lot of work to do to prepare the agency for hurricane season, according to Fugate.

“[Noem] has already broken them,” he said of the agency’s leadership, adding that the loss of many senior officials could leave it vulnerable during a big disaster. “There’s still good people at FEMA, but I just don’t know if there are enough of them, and if DHS has the sense to get out of the way.”

The collapse of disaster response, of the basic social contract that when things get bad we help one another…