Storms Helene and Milton have triggered rise of misinformation stoked by Trump and fellow Republicans

Meteorologists tracking the advance of Hurricane Milton have been targeted by a deluge of conspiracy theories that they were controlling the weather, abuse and even death threats, amid what they say is an unprecedented surge in misinformation as two major hurricanes have hit the US.

A series of falsehoods and threats have swirled in the two weeks since Hurricane Helene tore through six states causing several hundred deaths, followed by Milton crashing into Florida on Wednesday.

The extent of the misinformation, which has been stoked by Donald Trump and his followers, has been such that it has stymied the ability to help hurricane-hit communities, according to the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema).


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  • Burn_The_Right@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    -Conservatives hate FEMA and want it dismantled.

    -Conservatives hate the National Weather Service and want it dismantled.

    -Conservatives hate climate science and want it to be silenced.

    -Conservatives now also hate meteorologists.

    How 'bout we compromise. Let conservative states be opted out of all of these things by default. Bundle these services into an opt-in government program called “Obama and Hillary’s Woke Weather Service”. They can opt in by calling 1-800-4 Pelosi. If all this stuff is just woke liberal propaganda, then they shouldn’t mind this at all. They should be thrilled.

    Let them find out about storms and let them deal with those storms without all of our woke liberal interference. Let them pray and let their God sort them out. In this way, they get everything they are demanding so they can stop whining like a bunch of little removed all the time. When they have disasters, we can save some of our hard-earned money and just toss them a roll of paper towels like their dear leader likes to do.

    • PSoul•Lemmy@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Honestly it would be funny to see Biden do some of this. He only has a few months left and can do whatever because of the supreme court. He could just go on TV an be like: “You know what? The conspiracies are true. We’re gonna turn off the doppler radars in southern states. No more flying. No more weather forecast. We’re going to ban farm laborers to come harvest your crops. The unpredicted weather is gonna ruin the crops anyways. We’re going to stop FEMA from giving aid in your republican states. Communism is unacceptable. We’re gonna ban fossil fuel in the south because that drives the weather crazy. No more cars. Enjoy the 1800s. Bye”

    • lanolinoil@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Hey – I live here and can move but a lot of people are impoverished and can’t. Feels wrong to collectively turn the back to them

      • ZoopZeZoop@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        To those who disagree with the above:

        • Moving is damn expensive.
        • Don’t forget that the Republicans are working hard to prevent legitimate voters from voting, namely anyone who is more likely to support NOAA, NHC, climate science, education, FEMA, etc.
    • Krauerking@lemy.lol
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      2 months ago

      They have forgotten we grouped up and share for the betterment of our species, not just ourselves.

      They have forgotten what it’s like to be without any support cause they have felt unsupported.

      Its easy to feel invulnerable and capable when you still haven’t been tested.

      I pity them even though I don’t want to give them money either.

    • ByteOnBikes@slrpnk.net
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      2 months ago

      There was some maga posts who wanted to shoot up weather machines and people agreeing with it in the comments.

    • socsa@piefed.social
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      2 months ago

      Conservatives can literally already choose not to consume or make decisions based on information from NOAA.

      • Burn_The_Right@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        We can do better than that. We can make the data for their affected regions available only by logging into a system when their state has opted in. They don’t want NOAA to exist, so there’s no reason to bother them with information they don’t want imposed upon them.

    • Gammelfisch@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      I would send the crying shit stain loser MAGATs cheeseburgers and Diet Cokes. Do not waste a good tree product on them.

    • Konala Koala@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      In response to that, we could have.

      -Progressives hate MAGA and want it dismantled.

      -Progressives hate the National Rifle Association and want it dismantled.

      -Progressives hate the Greed Over People and want it to be silenced.

      -Progressives now also hate the Heritage Foundation.

      • michaelmrose@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        All the things conservatives hate are non partisan services to humanity whereas the things you named are blights upon our nation.

      • Zink@programming.dev
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        2 months ago

        It’s nice to put myself in the other person’s shoes like this every once in a while to double check that holy shit I have NOT been tricked into supporting the baddies.

        (Relatively speaking, of course)