A Torrent of B.S.: Trump-led Lies About Hurricane Relief Spark Fears
False claims, disinformation, and AI sorcery are spreading rapidly amid Helene’s aftermath.
The devastation wrought by Hurricane Helene has given way to a torrent of disinformation, rumors, conspiracies and lies about the federal government’s response to the disaster.
Much of it appears to be pushed by Donald Trump and his allies, who have accused the Biden-Harris administration of a host of actions that government officials insist is simply untrue.
Trump has argued that FEMA has depleted its storm relief funds because it spent much of that money “housing” illegal migrants. His allies have accused FEMA of confiscating property, of making people apply for help, of asking for cash donations, and of preventing everyone from Elon Musk to the Department of Defense from helping out with the response efforts. Virtually all of them have pushed stories insisting that Kamala Harris told storm victims they could get only $750 in aid. (That’s just one type of assistance they can get quickly, not the full amount available.)
Things have gotten bad enough that on Friday, FEMA took the step of posting a “rumor response” webpage. The White House put out a memo of its own accusing Republican leaders of spreading “bald faced lies” and “poison.” One official, speaking to The Bulwark, said they feared there could be on-the-ground confrontations involving people who believed FEMA was trying to plunder the dispossessed.
Much of MAGAville will, naturally, dismiss this government pushback as spin from people covering up their negligence. But Republicans on the ground have also been distraught by the sheer pervasiveness of the disinformation. Glenn Jacobs, a former WWE star turned Knox County mayor, took to X on Friday morning to make clear that the rumors of FEMA confiscating supplies was bunk. North Carolina Republic state Sen. Kevin Corbin did the same on Facebook.
Below, I talked with Tim Miller about how bad the situation has gotten and what, if anything, can be done about it.
Trump tried this with Covid. Because it was his administration he tried to downplay COVID using sheer politics. Told everyone its no big deal, gonna go away soon, it no worse than a flu. He didnt care that this was a deadly virus. Because of his self centered ways hundreds of thousands of people died needlessly.
Flash forward to this Hurricane. Because it is not his administration in power he needs to amplify this and strike fear into people. He wants to blame immigrants and tell people there is no money or help for you. How many more will die believing his lies again? How many will suffer in silence, afraid to ask for help because they heard on Fox that FEMA is confiscating property.
Kamala needs to drive home that Trumps lies arent just weird but deadly.
I am noticing that the media spends 98% of their broadcasts on Trump... MSNBC mostly shows Trump saying questionable things. However, there is very little discussion around what Harris/Walz are doing. For example, I saw a lot of coverage about Trump in GA, standing next to Governor Kemp. I was surprised to find out Harris visited Augusta in the same timeframe, held meetings with local officials, and even served meals to displaced people.
Isn't this part of the problem? I don't need convincing that Trump has issues... that's known. But shouldn't Harris and Walz get some kind of media coverage for what they're doing? As it stands, it seems like they aren't doing anything while Trump and Vance are on barnstorming tours all around the country.