Trump’s hurricane of lies: ‘He’s trying to weaponise the weather’
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As millions flee Florida to escape Hurricane Milton, Donald Trump is using the impending disaster to spread disinformation about the Democrat response.
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Read time: 4 mins
In brief…
- Trump has said emergency response money has been spent housing migrants, and that Republican states have been refused support, among other inaccuracies.
- Agencies affected have said Trump’s lies are preventing them from delivering the aid to Americans who need it.
- The News Agents say…
What's the story?
Millions of people are attempting to evacuate the state of Florida to escape the path of Hurricane Milton, a category five storm headed for the US west coast.
What these people need? Support, guidance and help from emergency services and officials to get to a place of safety.
What these people don't need? Presidential candidates sharing disinformation and lies about the disaster response in order to politicise the natural disaster.
Since Hurricane Helene hit the Gulf Coast at the end of September 2024, Trump has used the extreme weather to attack the Democratic Party and its response – and of course, he's not bothered whether what he says is true, or whether it prevents aid agencies helping those in need.
Hurricane Helene, a category four storm, left more than 225 people dead when it hit Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and North Carolina last month.
“We know about Kamala's name on the ballot in November, and we know about Donald's name on the ballot in November, but there are two others to consider,” says Jon Sopel.
“One is Helene, and the other is Milton.”
These hurricanes, and the destruction they leave in their wake, are being politicised more than ever before, The News Agents say.
What lies has Trump told about the hurricane disaster response?
Trump has claimed that government officials are "going out of their way" to not help people in Republican states, that governors were unable to contact President Biden for support, he said that Kamala Harris had spent billions of Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) money meant for emergencies on housing migrants and that there was "no helicopters, no rescue" in North Carolina.
All of these comments were incorrect.
His new best friend, Elon Musk, has been doing the same, even making baseless claims the Democratic Party had committed treason over the lie about spending FEMA money housing migrants on social media.
A spokesperson for FEMA said the wilful spread of disinformation is "creating an impedance to our ability to actually get people the help they need."
Republican Marjorie Taylor-Greene, widely known for spouting conspiracy theories, including one which led her to tell Emily Maitlis to "fuck off" earlier this year, said in a post on X “they” can "control the weather" - she didn’t elaborate on who “they” are.
What’s The News Agents’ take?
One month out from the US election, and the Trump campaign is using everything it can to attack their Democratic rivals – even natural disasters.
“It looks as though the Trump campaign is trying to weaponise this as much as possible in the hope that it will drive people away from Kamala Harris in November,” Jon says.
“They could have a devastating impact on people's lives, but they are deeply political, in a way that maybe we haven't seen before, where misinformation and lies are spreading like wildfire about what the government is doing.”
Both Trump and his running-mate, JD Vance, have also directly compared the immediate response payments of $750 for food and emergency supplies to those in the storms’ paths to US funding for migrants under Joe Biden’s administration.
Meanwhile, other Republicans are accusing Democrats of being the ones to politicise the situation – such as Ron DeSantis, who criticised Kamala Harris for visiting Florida to meet victims of Hurricane Helena.
“Trump has been putting out all sorts of spurious rubbish about FEMA not being available to people on the ground,” says Emily.
“Then she offers to go to Florida and Ron DeSantis is saying: ‘Why are you politicising this by turning up here?’ As if it's disaster tourism for her.”
“You have got this sort of claim and counterclaim situation.”
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