When the White House appointed conspiracy theorist Gregg Phillips (previously) to a top job in the Federal Emergency Management Agency, that was not his most interesting sudden movement. Phillips claimed to have experienced teleportation on multiple occasions, including into the Waffle House in Rome, Georgia. His remarks were so outlandish even President Donald Trump was visibly disconcerted by them, and he was "told to stop posting about teleportation on Truth Social." It now turns out that Philips has since left the agency.
The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees FEMA, confirmed Thursday that Phillips is leaving the agency, saying he is taking leave for personal reasons. But sources tell CNN the departure was not voluntary: New DHS leadership had grown weary of the embarrassment surrounding Phillips' public image and of his periodic clashes with the department's other leaders. Even so, Phillips had won over some career FEMA officials. When he arrived, then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and her de facto chief of staff Corey Lewandowski were taking aggressive steps to rein in FEMA, shrink the agency and bottleneck funding.
Ironically, the final straw might have been his willingness to resist efforts to diminish the agency. But there was no shortage of delusional nonsense on record to hang him with.
CNN also previously reported that Phillips had a long record of inflammatory public statements before joining FEMA, including violent rhetoric directed at political opponents, repeated promotion of false election fraud claims, and comments warning that migrants were coming to kill Americans while urging podcast listeners to arm themselves.
If his appointment was strange, there is a startling coincidence lurking in it: Waffle House is so famed for its ability to stay open during storms and blackouts that it has become synonymous with disaster preparedness (e.g. the "Waffle House Index." Phillips' remarks about Waffle House might have become part of the training data of whatever AI was being used by White House staff to research candidates, leading it to inappropriately recommend him.
Phillips did warn about the dangers of teleportation.
"Teleporting is no fun," he said "You know it's happening, but you can't do anything about it, and so you just go, you just go with the ride. And wow, what just an incredible adventure it all was."
If this sounds a lot like a drinking problem, you wouldn't be the first to notice.
Previously:
• FEMA official claims divine Waffle House teleportation, somehow keeps job
• Kristi Noem left search and rescue techs without the tools to do their job
• FEMA gave woman a $156 million for 30 million meals for Puerto Ricans. She delivered 50,000
• Evening gown made from a FEMA tarp
