Behind Trump's FEMA Presidential Texting Alert

The recent presidential alert doesn’t mean Trump can text you.

Starting at approximately 2:18 pm on October 3, nearly 75% of Americans received a test of a “Presidential Alert.” The message was sent to assess FEMA’s capability to send a national alert and determine if any improvements are necessary.

FEMA says the Presidential Alert is a new type of Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) — the same type of alert that regional and state-level authorities use for AMBER and weather alerts.

The law that established the Presidential Alert says the message can’t be sent out for any purpose other than “a natural disaster, act of terrorism, or other man-made disaster or threat to public safety.”

The term “Presidential Alert” made some people think Trump himself is drafting the message, inspiring protest Twitter hashtags like #Godark103.

@kenstop tweeted, “#godark103 I’m turning my phone off for a while tomorrow. Don’t need trump! Never have, never will! @fema you should cancel this unneeded waste of time.”

A lawsuit filed in New York on September 26, 2018 is trying to stop the Presidential Alert message, claiming the alert violates Americans’ 1st and 4th Amendment rights.

FEMA says the Presidential Alert is an effort to beef up national emergency alerts, stressing the Trump is not sending the notification out himself.