President Trump said he’s considering an executive order that could eliminate the Federal Emergency Management Agency, blasting it as a failure and saying that states should oversee their own disaster recovery efforts.

The president’s comments came Friday in Asheville, North Carolina, where he surveyed damage from Hurricane Helene, which devastated the region in September. He said a state response to crises would be faster and less expensive.

“FEMA just hasn’t done the job,” he said. “I like, frankly, the concept when North Carolina gets hit, the governor takes care of it. When Florida gets hit, the governor takes care of it.”

He added, “To have a group of people come in for an area they don’t even know where they’re going to solve immediately a problem is something that never worked for me.”

Mr. Trump also ripped FEMA for giving states complex rules difficult to navigate when time is of the essence.

“FEMA has turned out to be a disaster,” he said.

When asked about the timeline for eliminating or overhauling FEMA, Mr. Trump responded that he isn’t “thinking about FEMA right now.”

Mr. Trump’s trip to North Carolina was the first of his second term. Later Friday he was to fly to California to tour the wildfires’ devastation.

Conservatives have long questioned FEMA, asking why states weren’t picking up the tab for what they said are local issues.

FEMA’s response to Hurricane Helene in North Carolina has become a target for Republican criticism. Some have blasted the agency for insufficient response, especially after it was revealed that FEMA workers skipped Florida homes that had pro-Trump signs in their yards.

• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.