Disaster a critical test for Trump administration,

Response to crisis looms as key test for White House.

WASHINGTON — Facing what could be the most powerful storm to slam into the United States in more than a decade, President Donald Trump and the team he has put in place at the Federal Emergency Management Agency were bracing Friday for one of the most important tests of his presidency.

The stakes could be exceedingly high. Few events test the effectiveness of an administration — or bear as many political risks — like a major natural disaster.

Trump used the power of his preferred mega phone, his Twitter account, to signal to his more than 36 million followers on Friday that he was closely watching the storm as members of his administration show they were on top of the looming crisis.

Trump’s Homeland Security adviser, Thomas Bossert, told reporters that the president has been in close touch with the governors of Texas and Louisiana, the two states most likely to be affected, and was preparing to sign a federal disaster declaration to support the local response.

“This could remain a dangerous storm for several days,” Bossert said as he outlined the federal government’s preparations.

He later added :“Now is not the time to lose faith in your government institutions.”

Trump received a briefing on the preparations Friday morning from top Homeland Security officials, including Bossert; White House chief of staff John Kelly; acting Homeland Security Secretary Elaine Duke; and FEMA Administrator Brock Long.

Long, a former director of the Alabama Emergency Management Agency, is leading the federal response effort. His selection has been well received by emergency managers around the country, who say Long is battle-tested and well-connected with the states’ emergency teams.

Long’s Obama-era predecessor, W. Craig Fugate, declined Friday to expound on the agency’s preparations, but he had good words to say about the administrator.

“Brock can speak for himself,” he wrote in an email. “But he knows hurricanes.”

Long said Friday that the agency had established an incident support base at Randolph Auxiliary Airfield near Seguin, Texas, roughly 125 miles inland from where the storm was expected to make landfall. Personnel there were stockpiling 77,000 liters of water and 250,000 meals, as well as supplies like blankets and tarps for affected communities.