Readers respond to Question of the Week:

Should FEMA fade, as Trump has said?

This is just more Trump control

Getting rid of FEMA as proposed by the Trump administration is just another veiled attempt to centralize control of funds given to states.

When you have a government entity that controls the funds there are rules and protocols under which funds are provided, which gets in the way of partisan politics.

It’s no wonder he wants to get rid of FEMA so he can dole out monies to his loyal states and restrict those that he sees as disloyal.

Just another example of Trump saying “King me!”

— Kent Romero, Eastvale

FEMA is definitely necessary

FEMA does serve a purpose. It allows lessons learned from one disaster to be applied to others.

If the states are left to their own that sharing won’t happen, at least not as effectively.

Yes, FEMA could be more effective. But so could the states in having building codes that minimize the risk of catastrophic destruction when a natural disaster hits.

California needs to improve its building codes to reduce the risks of homes catching fire. States threatened by hurricanes and tornadoes need to build to reduce the potential for damage from those events.

— Jim Winterroth, Torrance

FEMA’s bureaucracy

Donald Trump justifies his threat to completely abolish the Federal Emergency Management Agency with the vague non-criticism that it is “bureaucratic.”

If he considers it “too slow,” it is within his power to speed it up.

This threat is as transparently cynical as his threat to condition disaster relief on California altering its election laws to prevent non-existent voter fraud.

Such modifications as “voter ID” function as voter suppression, not election integrity protection. With no FEMA, federal disaster assistance would become a tool of executive branch political control, strong-arming California to adhere to an ultra-conservative agenda.

All California elected officials must stand firm on a nonpartisan basis to serve the interests of all Californians, and resist this illegitimate authority.

— Gary Stewart, Laguna Beach