Trump Endangers Lives and National Security with Weather Service Cuts

When weatherman John Morales warned that he could no longer predict hurricanes, he exposed the fact that Donald Trump's cuts have endangered our personal and national security.

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When NBC6 weatherman John Morales in Florida went live to warn people that he could no longer predict hurricanes for them as the dangerous season hits, he exposed Trump cuts to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) as dangers to our personal safety. But they are also threats to our national security and economic security, and do not save money in the long run.

So once again, the question is, WHY. Why is Trump endangering the United States?

The Trump administration slashed NOAA, which oversees the National Hurricane Center and the National Weather Service, with reckless disregard for its purpose and the impact on the security of the United States, which Trump took an oath to protect.

Democrats like to focus on the cuts to science because they understand the importance of research whereas Republicans worship at the altar of the Heritage Foundation whose Project 2025 “called for the “break up” of the entire NOAA, labeling it ‘one of the main drivers of the climate change alarm industry.’” But they should also be messaging this as Trump’s DELIBERATE decision to impose an ongoing public safety threat, national security threat, and economic threat onto the American public for no good reason.

Because no, Trump’s cuts to NOAA that endanger each American are not saving money.

“It’s frustrating because it’s a completely self-inflicted sort of thing where you’re making these products worse and you’re making people less safe,” a now fired climate scientist and public affairs specialist for NOAA Tom Di Liberto told PBS. “You’re not saving any money either because a dollar into NOAA or a dollar into the weather service gives you a lot more money back out because the preparation that it provides for people to deal with disasters.”

Our enemies would love for us to thrown into supply chain chaos and economic despair over severe weather. A 2024 DHS Office of Intelligence and Analysis Homeland Threat Assessment determined that "...natural disasters pose acute and systemic threats to the United States, often converging with more traditional national security threats."

Not only does severe weather impact our national security and personal safety, but also our economic safety. The report continued:

“Wildfires, drought, heavy precipitation and other extreme weather events increase risks to our supply chains and have the potential to impact the availability of goods and services, generating cascading economic effects.”

On an individual level, Trump’s cuts endanger every American who lives in an area impacted by weather, from tornado alley to hurricane-vulnerable areas, which is why Morales ended his segment on the cuts by telling people to call their representatives to make sure these cuts are stopped in order to protect critical weather monitoring capabilities.

Morales began with an old clip wherein he was able to comfort people using science and data provided by NOAA, to contrast that with where we are today — as in, he can no longer predict what the hurricane will do because of Trump’s cuts.

He told people the quality of the forecasts is becoming degraded due to Trump’s cuts.