Fact Check: Did Kristi Noem Thank Trump for Preventing Hurricanes? Here’s the Context

In an unusual moment during a White House Cabinet meeting on December 2, 2025, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem made headlines with a comment thanking President Donald Trump for “keeping hurricanes away” during the 2025 season.

The exchange occurred approximately 84 minutes into the publicly broadcast meeting when Noem addressed Trump, saying: “Sir, you made it through hurricane season without a hurricane. And so, FEMA, FEMA… you, even you kept the hurricanes away, so we appreciate that.”

Video recordings of the meeting, available through both the official White House YouTube channel and CNBC, captured the moment, which prompted audible laughter from others in the room. Noem immediately continued with substantive comments about the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s improved response times, suggesting the hurricane remark was intended as lighthearted humor rather than a serious attribution of weather control to the president.

“FEMA is deploying resources and dollars 150% faster than ever before. So somebody does have something bad that happens to them, you are immediately there helping them and telling them they have the resources to get back up on their feet,” Noem continued after the brief moment of levity.

The comment quickly circulated across social media platforms, with many accounts sharing the quote without mentioning the surrounding context or the room’s reaction. Progressive social media accounts, including Occupy Democrats, highlighted the remark with captions comparing it to North Korean-style praise of leadership, asking if Noem was going “full North Korea” in thanking “Dear Leader” for controlling weather patterns.

Weather data confirms that 2025 was indeed unusual, with USA Today reporting that no hurricanes made landfall in the United States during the hurricane season. However, the country was not spared from tropical weather impacts entirely.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) documented that remnants of Tropical Storm Barry contributed to catastrophic flash flooding in Texas that killed more than 135 people, including children and adults at summer camps, in July 2025. That same month, at least six people died in North Carolina due to flooding from the remnants of Tropical Storm Chantal.

Meteorologists note that while no hurricanes made direct landfall, the post-tropical remnants of these systems still caused significant damage and loss of life, particularly in Texas’s Hill Country, an area known to be especially vulnerable to flash flooding.

Neither the Department of Homeland Security nor the White House has issued official statements clarifying Noem’s remarks, despite requests for comment from multiple news organizations.

The December 2 Cabinet meeting generated several other viral moments and claims, including allegations that Trump fell asleep during proceedings and that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s name card incorrectly displayed “Secretary of War” instead of Secretary of Defense.

The incident highlights the often blurry line between casual humor and official statements in high-profile government settings, particularly in an era where brief video clips can be rapidly shared across social media platforms with varying degrees of context.

While Noem did make the statement attributed to her, the full context of the meeting suggests it was received as an impromptu joke rather than a serious claim about presidential influence over meteorological phenomena.