President Donald Trump clearly prizes loyalty and, unsurprisingly, wants the people working for and leading elements of his administration to be aligned with his agenda and policy goals.

As such, the acting administrator for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Cameron Hamilton, has been fired and was immediately replaced on Thursday, as The Hill reported.

That termination came just one day after Hamilton appeared to publicly disagree with Trump's plans to dramatically downsize or completely eliminate FEMA during congressional testimony.

Hamilton offers contradictory testimony

Since the days of the presidential campaign and continuing into the new administration, both Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem have openly discussed a desire to radically reform or even abolish FEMA, presumably with state-level emergency management agencies stepping up to take the lead during natural disasters and other emergencies.

Hamilton, who was initially appointed by Trump to a senior role at FEMA before he was elevated to the acting administrator position, seemed to disagree with that course of action while delivering testimony on Wednesday to the House Appropriations Committee, according to CNN.

"As the senior advisor to the president on disasters and emergency management, and to the secretary of Homeland Security, I do not believe it is in the best interest of the American people to eliminate the Federal Emergency Management Agency," Hamilton told lawmakers.

"Having said that, I am not in a position to make decisions and impact outcomes on whether or not a determination as consequential as that should be made," he acknowledged. "That is a conversation that should be had between the President of the United States and this governing body."

Hamilton went on to praise FEMA's workers as "tremendous and amazing," but admitted that the agency was plagued with "systems and processes that are completely antiquated and have to be improved."

He further noted, "FEMA is all too often used by states and public officials as a financial backstop for routine issues that frankly should be handled locally. This misalignment has fostered a culture of dependency, waste, inefficiency, while also delaying crucial aid to Americans who are in genuine need."

Resignation previously contemplated

According to Politico, less than 24 hours after he publicly contradicted Trump and DHS Sec. Noem with his congressional testimony in defense of FEMA, Hamilton was reportedly ordered to report to DHS headquarters in Washington, D.C., to be fired, after which he returned to FEMA headquarters just long enough to gather his belongings and leave.

Asked to comment on the reported termination, a FEMA spokesperson declined to explain, but said, "Effective today, David Richardson is now serving as the Senior Official Performing the duties of the FEMA Administrator," and added, "Cameron Hamilton is no longer serving in this capacity."

Interestingly enough, Politico reported that, per an anonymous source, Hamilton had considered resigning from the administration just a couple of months ago but was convinced to stay by other FEMA staffers.

That alleged desire to quit may have stemmed from his having to undergo a polygraph test, along with other DHS and FEMA officials, as part of the department's search for alleged leakers to the media.

Ironically enough, while Hamilton told Congress that he didn't support the idea of abolishing FEMA altogether, he was in favor of -- and had drafted a memo of recommendations -- substantially reducing the size and scope of FEMA's role in responding to natural disasters and other emergencies, and had been supportive of the idea of state-level agencies playing a more prominent part in such instances.