Top FEMA official resigns after staffers ousted for negative Charlie Kirk comments [View all]
Reposted by Kevin M. Kruse
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Marisa Kabas
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New from me Theres been a lot of ink spilled since Charlie Kirk's murder about the "right" way to honor his death. Getting liberals fired from their jobs and forcing devoted civil servants to resign in disgust couldnt be a more fitting tribute to his life.
Top FEMA official resigns after staffers ousted for negative Charlie Kirk comments
Employees have been warned their social media posts could impact employment.
www.thehandbasket.co
September 15, 2025 at 6:35 PM
New from me â Thereâs been a lot of ink spilled since Charlie Kirk's murder about the "right" way to honor his death. Getting liberals fired from their jobs and forcing devoted civil servants to resign in disgust couldnât be a more fitting tribute to his life.
— Marisa Kabas (@marisakabas.bsky.social) 2025-09-15T22:35:50.229Z
Top FEMA official resigns after staffers ousted for negative Charlie Kirk comments
Employees have been warned their social media posts could impact employment.
Marisa Kabas
September 15, 2025
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Staffers at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) received an email early Monday afternoon from Acting Chief Counsel Colt Hagmaier with the subject Pursuing A More Perfect Union. Hagmaier, a FEMA employee of more than a decade, announced his resignation in an emotional note to his colleagues. It is with tremendous respect and appreciation that I will disembark and enter this surreality, he wrote, grateful for what we have done together and for the trust you have placed in me.
In the days since Charlie Kirks murder, conservatives have gone to great lengths to destroy the livelihoods of those who had harsh words for the bigoted late pundit while doing nothing to address the actual root of the right-wing violence that ended his life. This crusade has now extended to federal government employees, ensnaring two people at FEMA over the weekend. The Handbasket was
first to report on Hagmaiers announcement of his departure, which came hours after the two employees were placed on administrative leave. The purge, it would seem, is on.
This nation was once no more than idea, Hagmaier wrote in his powerful exit missive. Courageous whispers of dangerous thinking; a wild experiment to organize and preserve government not by despotism or dynasty, but through the continued consent of the governed. Like a hardy willow, our Republic endures upon a trunk of federalism that is both fixed and flexible.
Hagmaier never explicitly calls out his reasons for leaving, but makes oblique statements like Unity, not unanimity, is our strength - we are not stymied by our differences, we are made resilient by channeling those differences into public good, and Our words matter. We ought to choose them carefully, stand behind them, and offer them with empathy and kindness. He acknowledges how the work of FEMA is rarely appreciated.
In an Office of the Chief Counsel all-hands meeting right after hitting send on the email, Hagmaier told colleagues that he was departing in part because we are changing as a nation. According to a person present, Hagmaier said he did his best to shield his deputies from certain information in order to protect them, but now hed have to get them up to speed. For that he apologized.
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https://www.linkedin.com/in/colthag