President Donald Trump is traveling to central Texas on Friday to survey the aftermath of a catastrophic flood that has killed more than 100 people and put his administration on the sudden defensive over its emergency response efforts.

The flooding, which overwhelmed whole neighborhoods in a matter of minutes, has sparked mounting scrutiny of the government’s warning systems and rescue operations – including a fresh set of bureaucratic obstacles that slowed work by the Federal Emergency Management Agency in the earliest phases of the response.

But Trump is expected to use the trip to tout the progress that search-and-rescue teams are making on the ground, in a show of solidarity aimed at quelling criticism and emphasizing the White House’s close coordination with Texas officials.

“It’s a no-brainer – you go out there and you let people know you care about them,” said one person close to the White House. “President Trump does not want to see things like this happen on his watch. And he views himself as a fixer.”

Trump, who will travel to Texas with first lady Melania Trump, is expected to meet with first responders in the area and receive a briefing from local elected officials, according to a White House official. The president is also planning to meet with some families who were affected by the flood, the official said.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Sen. Ted Cruz are among those expected to be on site with Trump as well. The trip has been designed, in part, to not interfere with ongoing search and rescue and recovery efforts.

The trip marks the White House’s latest show of support for Texas’ recovery effort, even as Trump officials continue to push for downsizing the government’s emergency preparedness operations – or even eliminating FEMA altogether.

And it represents a stark contrast with Trump’s attitude earlier this year toward California Gov. Gavin Newsom, whom he targeted with harsh criticism amid the blue state’s battle against devastating wildfires.

Trump ultimately visited California in his first domestic trip after taking office, greeting Newsom on the tarmac upon his arrival. But the two have since continued to tussle over a request for billions of dollars in recovery aid for California that remains in limbo.

“Would he do that with Texas? Probably not,” said one Republican operative close to the administration. “There is a difference in terms of how he approaches these things, depending on whether it’s a red state or a blue state.”

In a statement, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson rejected the suggestion that Trump has taken different approaches to certain states based on their politics.

“President Trump has led historic disaster recovery efforts in both California and North Carolina – he’s doing the same in Texas,” Jackson said, citing federal efforts to help quickly remove debris in southern California and support the cleanup process in western North Carolina. “Any claim that the President is giving certain states preferential treatment is not only wrong, it’s idiotic and misinformed.”

Trump has targeted political opponents for their handling of natural disasters in the past, criticizing then-President Joe Biden following deadly wildfires in Hawaii in 2023 and fanning conspiracy theories about the Biden administration’s response in North Carolina to Hurricane Helene last year.

Trump even briefly suggested Biden might be culpable in some way for the flooding in Texas, initially telling reporters that his predecessor was responsible for the water “setup.” It was unclear what he was referring to, and Trump quickly clarified he wasn’t blaming Biden. Since then, Trump and his top aides have avoided casting blame, while accusing critics of the administration’s response of trying to politicize a tragedy. The White House has maintained that the disaster was largely inescapable, while commending the efforts of Abbott – a close political ally – and other state and local officials.

A damaged house is seen near the Guadalupe River in Hunt, Texas, on Tuesday, July 8. Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP/Getty Images Texas Gov. Greg Abbott speaks at a news conference in Hunt on Tuesday. “We’re going to address every aspect of this storm to make sure that we’re going to have in place the systems that are needed to prevent deadly flooding events like this in the future,” he said. Brandon Bell/Getty Images A baby shoe is seen in Ingram, Texas, on Tuesday. Jim Vondruska/Getty Images People mourn together during a vigil in San Antonio on Monday, July 7. Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP/Getty Images Mounted volunteers perform a search near Camp Mystic on Monday. The all-girls summer camp, which sits along the Guadalupe River, was ravaged by the flooding. Brandon Bell/Getty Images Firefighters from Ciudad Acuña, Mexico, gather for a briefing as they aid in search-and-rescue efforts in Ingram on Monday. Eli Hartman/AP Mud left by floodwaters partially covers a wall at Camp Mystic on Monday. Sergio Flores/Reuters Sen. Ted Cruz speaks at a news conference in Kerrville, Texas, on Monday. “If we could go back and do it again, we would evacuate,” the Texas Republican said. “Particularly those in the most vulnerable areas — the young children in the cabins closest to the water — we would remove them and get them to higher ground, if we could go back and do it again.” Jorge Salgado/Anadolu/Getty Images Authorities search for flood victims near the Blue Oak RV park in Kerrville on Sunday, July 6. Jordan Vonderhaar/The New York Times/Redux Community members pray for those impacted by the floods at the Notre Dame Catholic Church in Kerrville on Sunday. Desiree Rios/The Washington Post/Getty Images The sun sets over the Guadalupe River in Kerrville on Sunday. Brandon Bell/Getty Images Food and other supplies for flood victims are collected at the Hunt Baptist Church on Sunday. Jim Vondruska/Getty Images Volunteers prepare horses to join search-and-rescue crews near Ingram on Sunday. Carter Johnston/The New York Times/Redux A search-and-rescue worker looks through debris in Hunt on Sunday. Jim Vondruska/Getty Images A volunteer holds a Camp Mystic T-shirt and backpack in Comfort, Texas, on Sunday. Danielle Villasana/The Washington Post/Getty Images People react as they inspect an area outside Camp Mystic’s sleeping quarters on Sunday. Julio Cortez/AP Avi Santos, a civilian volunteer from San Antonio, wades in the Guadalupe River. Jim Vondruska/Getty Images Salvaged photographs of the Rich family are displayed on a table in their home in Center Point, Texas, on Sunday. Brandon Bell/Getty Images A volunteer displays a “free food” sign for people in Center Point. Brandon Bell/Getty Images Search-and-rescue workers dig through debris in Hunt on Sunday. Jim Vondruska/Getty Images A helicopter flies overhead as volunteers search for flood victims in Kerr County. Sergio Flores/Reuters A woman reacts as churchgoers sing at a service in Kerrville on Sunday. Sergio Flores/Reuters An American flag and a shirt lie on the ground in Hunt on Sunday. Marco Bello/Reuters The daughter of the owner of Vintage Hair Co. looks at water lines on the wall of the destroyed salon in Ingram on Saturday, July 5. Carter Johnston/The New York Times/Redux A truck is impaled by a tree on the banks of the Guadalupe River on Saturday. Jim Vondruska/Getty Images People watch law enforcement officers and volunteers search for missing people near Camp Mystic. Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP/Getty Images A K-9 unit searches along the Guadalupe River near Camp Mystic on Saturday. Desiree Rios/The Washington Post/Getty Images Campers from Camp Waldemar, near the north fork of the Guadalupe River, embrace as they are reconnected with their families on Saturday. Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle/AP Items lie scattered inside a cabin at Camp Mystic on Saturday. Sergio Flores/Reuters Ruby Zhu looks at her mother, Zhou, as she inspects damage in Kerrville on Saturday. Sergio Flores/Reuters A toy sits on the ground outside of a cabin at Camp Mystic on Saturday. Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP/Getty Images A man vacuums water inside VFW Post 1480 in Kerrville on Saturday. Sergio Flores/Reuters A Texas flag is seen through the remnants of a destroyed vehicle near Hunt on Saturday. Eric Vryn/Getty Images A building is damaged at Camp Mystic on Saturday. Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP/Getty Images A sheriff’s deputy pauses while combing through the banks of the Guadalupe River near Camp Mystic on Saturday. Julio Cortez/AP A person looks out at flooding in Kerrville on Saturday. Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP/Getty Images A sign is downed in Ingram on Saturday. Julio Cortez/AP People climb over debris on a bridge atop the Guadalupe River in Ingram on Saturday. Julio Cortez/AP A family portrait lies among flood debris in Kerrville on Friday, July 4. Eric Gay/AP A flooded Guadalupe River leaves fallen trees and debris in its wake in Kerrville on Friday. Carter Johnston/The New York Times/Redux Families hug at a reunification center in Ingram on Friday. Eric Gay/AP Thomas Rux, a resident of the Riverside RV Park in Ingram, looks through the wreckage of his RV after it was swept away by floodwaters on Friday. Christopher Lee/The San Antonio Express-News/AP A vehicle is overturned in Kerrville on Friday. Eric Gay/AP Houses and streets are flooded in San Angelo, Texas, on Friday. Patrick Keely/Reuters First responders deliver people to a reunification center in Ingram on Friday. Eric Gay/AP A woman watches floodwaters in Kerrville on Friday. Eric Vryn/Getty Images In pictures: Deadly flooding in Texas Prev Next

“There’s never been a wave like this, outside of the breaking of a dam,” Trump said during a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday. “And this is the kind of thing that built up so fast, and it’s happened two or three times over the years, but not to this extent.”

The White House has pushed back hard on suggestions that its policies weakened the government’s defenses against such disaster threats. Some Democrats had publicly fretted that deep cuts to the federal bureaucracy would end up restricting the staffing and resources available in emergency situations.

After Democratic lawmakers, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, raised questions over whether efforts to reduce staff at the National Weather Service hampered forecasting of the heavy rains that caused the flash floods, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called it a “depraved lie.”

“Many Democrat elected officials are trying to turn this into a political game, and it is not,” she said earlier this week. “This is a national tragedy.”

Trump officials, in meantime, have doubled down on their vows to shrink FEMA and shift more responsibility for disaster management to individual states – even as advocates for the agency pointed to the Texas flooding as a timely example of why vast federal resources are necessary.

FEMA officials trying to pre-position search-and-rescue crews following the disaster ran into new spending approval requirements imposed by the Trump administration that slowed its work, CNN first reported on Wednesday. Those teams weren’t authorized for deployment until more than 72 hours after the flooding began.

“This would be an unmitigated, unforced disaster, and it would certainly exacerbate the toll of extreme weather events,” a group of House Democrats wrote in a letter Wednesday to FEMA and the agency in charge of the National Weather Service. The letter decried the planned dismantling of FEMA and called for congressional hearings on the flood response.

The Homeland Security Department, which oversees FEMA, has defended the federal response and insisted it will forge ahead on plans to overhaul the agency. The federal response, one Texas official said, has been “as good as anyone could ask for,” given the circumstances, describing Noem as responsive.

On Wednesday, Noem argued that FEMA needs to be “eliminated as it exists today and remade into a responsive agency.”

“Federal emergency management should be state and locally led, rather than how it has operated for decades,” she said.

One state official viewed Texas’ response to the flooding as “a model for what other states could do to start building out a framework for how to be better in control of their own disaster response.”

For Trump, though, allies said the visit represents a more immediate calculation ingrained in him during his first term and on the campaign trail: It pays to show up for those who he believes showed up for him at the ballot box, especially in deep-red states like Texas.

“This is totally on brand,” the person close to the White House said. “He wants to be on the ground.”

Betsy Klein contributed to this report.