Right-wing podcaster Charlie Kirk is shockingly blaming what he calls Austin, Texas’ “DEI fire chief” for the deadly flooding that killed 119 people and left another 173 missing over the Fourth of July holiday in Kerr County, Texas.

On Wednesday, on his podcast, “The Charlie Kirk Show,” Kirk ranted over Democrats, whom he called “despicable.” He accused them of “not lifting a finger” to remember those who died and said they were responsible for the catastrophe early Friday morning in central Texas when the Guadalupe River overran its banks before dawn, rising more than 25 feet in just a couple of hours.

The raging flood waters overwhelmed unsuspecting holiday campers and revelers who had almost no warning before the disaster struck. Dozens of children were among those killed.

Kirk pointed the finger at diversity, equity and inclusion policies for the tragedy.

“What you are not being told by the media anywhere is that the death toll likely would not have been as high if it wasn’t for DEI,” Kirk insisted.

“This Texas tragedy is just the latest example. It’s not just incompetence. This is DEI working to undermine meritocratic institutions, and more people likely died than otherwise would have because of DEI,” he continued.

He then went on to cite a federal lawsuit against the Austin Fire Department in 2014 under the Obama administration over racial discrimination. A few years later, the city hired Joel Baker as Austin’s first Black fire chief.

Kirk claims Baker’s top priority “was to make sure the fire department was Blacker.”

“When you hire people based on race, you’re not hiring based on skills,” he continued to rant.

“So right now, Baker is facing a vote of no confidence by his union for — this is the key — for denying the pre-deployment of resources to Kerrville, Texas.”

Kirk claims the fire chief decided not to protect Texans ahead of the deadly flooding.

What this decision has to do with race is unclear, and even though the Austin firefighters’ union also has accused Baker of delaying the deployment of specialized search and rescue teams, according to KXAN-TV, they have made it very clear that it’s not about skin color.

“This is not about race or ethnicity — it’s about failed leadership. During the recent Kerrville flooding, our highly trained swift water rescue teams were ready to respond but were blocked by Fire Chief Joel G. Baker,” the Austin Firefighters Association said in a Facebook post Wednesday, which is what Kirk is referring to.

“His decision likely cost lives. We are demanding accountability for this preventable failure and will continue pushing for leadership that puts public safety first,” the post continued

“The Austin Firefighters Association firmly condemns all forms of racism, hate speech, and abusive rhetoric. Such behavior undermines the important message we are sharing about denied deployments and the resulting losses under the leadership of the Austin Fire Chief,” the post continued.

The union said it’s seeking “accountability” for what it called a preventable tragedy.

Kirk then ranted about what he claimed was Baker’s refusal to deploy the search and rescue crews over concerns about reimbursement because Baker didn’t understand the word reimbursement.

“When you hire fire chiefs based on diversity, you get morons,” Kirk railed.

But news reports detail how the state and local agencies refused to fund a flood warning system that would have helped avoid a disaster like the one that unfolded last weekend.

And Baker has responded to the accusations posted by firefighters union president Bob Nicks. Local station KXAN reported that it spoke to Baker on July 7 and he presented a more detailed picture about the requests from flood-ravaged Kerr County for help from Austin. The station reported the chief said that on July 4 he fielded requests for an assistant fire chief, a dispatcher, and three swimmers, and the assistant chief chose not to deploy, the dispatcher request was not granted, but three swimmers were deployed.

“It’s important that we are able to function and maintain a certain level of readiness in the city of Austin,” Baker told KXAN. “Now, to keep in mind — again — I was not sure how much of the weather would impact my city — the city of Austin. I need to make sure that I have an adequate amount of resources within the city so I can respond for my mutual aid calls and my automatic aid calls around the city of Austin.”

KXAN reported the issue of reimbursement is related to a memo the city had sent in June urging firefighters not to self-deploy on such occasions as the city faced a budget crunch and uncertainty about whether such expenses incurred could be recouped before the end of the fiscal year.

Social media lit up after Kirk’s rant against Fire Chief Baker, accusing the podcaster of trying to deflect from what the real problem is: massive budget and staff cuts across the federal government.

“This is idiotic: A) It doesn’t make sense. He’s just using buzzwords B) It contradicts Gregg Abbott’s plea to not blame anyone C) Blame starts with Trump budget cuts to the NWS, which led to SA never getting a flood alert warning,” an X poster pointed out.

“Republicans RUN Texas, The House, The Senate AND the presidency but somehow it’s black people & Democrats fault?” another user wondered.

“White men saying white things.”And still another X user didn’t hold back, “Dear Charlie, you dumbf!$%, white Republican men have been in charge of Texas for 30 years.

CNN is reporting that the Federal Emergency Management Agency, under Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and acting Director David Richardson, was also slow to respond. The deadly flooding happened early Friday, and by Monday, only 86 FEMA staffers had been deployed, a fraction of the number usually deployed for a tragedy on this scale. By Tuesday, just over 300 were in Texas.