Summary
A New York Times feature on Gregg Phillips, head of FEMA’s Office of Response and Recovery (appointed December 2025), who claims to have teleported to a Waffle House in Rome, Georgia on two occasions. The reporter visits all three Rome Waffle Houses; none of the roughly two dozen workers and regulars interviewed recall anyone teleporting. Phillips was previously known for election fraud conspiracy theories amplified by Donald Trump. The piece situates his claims within a broader trend of high-profile conservatives asserting supernatural or paranormal experiences, including Tucker Carlson claiming demon attacks and Matt Gaetz citing alien-human hybrid breeding programs.
Key Points
- Gregg Phillips, 65, was appointed December 2025 to head FEMA’s Office of Response and Recovery — the agency’s largest division with 1,000+ employees and ~$300 million budget.
- Phillips was previously known as a proponent of election fraud conspiracy theories.
- CNN investigative report (March 2026) documented Phillips’s teleportation claims, violent rhetoric against Biden, and other conspiracy theories.
- Phillips initially described being moved “by forces beyond his control” dozens of miles to Waffle Houses in Georgia on two occasions.
- Phillips later attributed the incident to medication from cancer treatment and described it as a miracle performed by God, using biblical terms “translated” or “transported.”
- An Emory University physics professor called human teleportation informationally impossible — the data needed is “off the charts.”
- The article catalogs a pattern: Tucker Carlson claiming to be “mauled by a demon” while sleeping; Matt Gaetz citing Army briefings on alien-human hybrid breeding; Rep. Tim Burchett claiming government alien briefings.
- Trump has pushed to downsize FEMA, shift disaster response to states, and slash funding and staff under Kristi Noem.
- FEMA’s Waffle House Index — gauging storm damage by restaurant operating status — creates an ironic connection to Phillips’s claims.
Newsletter Angles
- Institutional capture by conspiracy culture: A man who claims to teleport runs FEMA’s disaster response. This is not a “weird beliefs” story — it’s a story about who controls critical government infrastructure during emergencies. The $300M budget and 1,000 employees under Phillips’s command are the real stakes.
- The supernatural turn in conservative politics: Carlson (demons), Gaetz (alien hybrids), Burchett (alien briefings), Phillips (teleportation) — this is a pattern worth naming. When did supernatural claims become a viable credential rather than a disqualifier for public officials?
- FEMA dismantlement from within: Phillips’s appointment is part of the broader Trump project to hollow out disaster response capacity. Combined with funding cuts and Kristi Noem’s downsizing push, this is institutional destruction via appointment.
- The Waffle House irony: The man running the agency that uses the Waffle House Index for disaster assessment claims to have teleported to a Waffle House. The narrative practically writes itself.
Entities Mentioned
- Gregg Phillips — head of FEMA Office of Response and Recovery; claims teleportation
- Donald Trump — appointed Phillips; pushing to downsize FEMA
- Kristi Noem — former homeland security secretary; led FEMA funding/staff cuts
- Tucker Carlson — former Fox News host; claimed demon attack while sleeping
- Matt Gaetz — former Representative; cited alien-human hybrid breeding briefings
- Tim Burchett — Republican Representative from Tennessee; claims government alien briefings
- FEMA — Federal Emergency Management Agency; being downsized under Trump
Concepts Mentioned
- Conspiracy Culture in Government — the normalization of conspiracy and supernatural claims among officials responsible for critical infrastructure
- Institutional Capture — appointment of ideologically or personally unsuitable officials to degrade agency capacity
- FEMA Dismantlement — the broader Trump-era project of hollowing out federal disaster response
Quotes
“Teleporting is no fun.” — Gregg Phillips, on the “Onward” podcast
Notes
- The NYT piece is written in a deadpan, almost comic tone — interviewing Waffle House regulars about teleportation. This tone choice makes the institutional stakes (FEMA disaster response capacity) feel secondary to the human-interest absurdity. The real story is buried: the person controlling federal disaster relief believes in teleportation and was previously known for election conspiracy theories.
- Phillips’s cancer-treatment-medication explanation is presented alongside his “miracle from God” framing — these two explanations are mutually contradictory, and the article does not press on this.
- The pattern of conservative supernatural claims (Carlson, Gaetz, Burchett, Phillips) would benefit from systematic tracking — is this sincere belief, performative signaling, or something else?
- FEMA press office did not respond to comment request.
- Connects to existing wiki coverage of the 2025 United States Government Shutdown (FEMA funding context) and Kristi Noem.