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Hurricane Milton requires unity. Trump only sows distrust

ByVanessa

Oct 8, 2024 #2024, #2024 US General Election, #Accidents, #Accidents u0026 Disasters, #Agency, #Biden, #Branch, #Campaigns, #Campaigns u0026 Elections, #Center, #Collection, #Columnists ', #Company, #Content, #Disasters, #Donald, #Donald Trump, #Election, #Election Campaigns, #Elections, #Elon, #Elon Musk, #Emergency, #Executive, #Fake, #Fake News, #Federal, #Federal Emergency Management Agency, #Florida, #General, #Harris, #Helene, #Hurricanes, #Hurricanes (Weather), #Joe, #Joe Biden, #Kamala Harris, #Left, #Management, #Musk( t)Kamala, #Negative( t)Campaigns, #New, #New York Times Company, #News, #Opinion, #Opinion Collection, #Opinion Content, #Opinions, #Opinions of Columnists, #Overall Negative, #Party, #Political, #Political Center-Left, #Politics, #Republican, #Republican Party, #Share, #Storm, #Television, #Times, #Total, #Tropical, #Tropical Storm Helene, #Trump, #u0026, #USA, #USAT, #USAT Content Sharing - Opinion, #Weather, #York
Hurricane Milton requires unity. Trump only sows distrust

Trump will put himself and his political ambitions above everything else. Above all, the safety of the residents of the state he now calls home. Beyond the needs of recovery teams and government agencies.

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I grew up in Florida and I can tell you that hurricanes don't give a damn about your politics. They are vicious, destructive, deadly. They are downright humiliating.

As Hurricane Milton rages across the Gulf of Mexico as a Category 5 storm with Florida's west coast directly in its path, it is the height of folly that Floridians and Americans in general have two things to worry about: the potentially unprecedented Destruction The storm could remain in its wake, and the dangerous and destructive lies that the Republican presidential candidate could spout once the storm passes.

Feel free to scoff at my equating the two things, but former President Donald Trump's lies and misinformation since Hurricane Helene devastated the South have done serious damage – and they continue to sow confusion and distrust.

Trump's lies after Hurricane Helene caused real damage

Trump has done the following in the last week:

That's just the tip of the iceberg. His cynical attempts to use a deadly natural disaster to aid his difficult re-election campaign created a permission structure for right-wing idiots to flood social media sites with misinformation, starting with Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's suggestion that the government was controlling the weather control, up to and including: As the New York Times reported, “it calls on residents to form militias to defend themselves against FEMA workers and against anti-Semitic and misogynistic threats against them.”

FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell told ABC News: “This type of rhetoric is not helpful to people. “It's really a shame that we're prioritizing politics over helping people.”

Opinion: Helene destroyed my NC community. What I saw next helped me survive.

Trump's misinformation eats up time in recovery efforts

Samantha Montano, an assistant professor of emergency management at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy, told The Times: “I've worked in disaster response for nearly 20 years and I can't think of another acute disaster where there has been so much misinformation.”

The incessant lies have forced aid groups and local officials to spend valuable time debunking nonsense. The American Red Cross posted on social media: “Spreading rumors online without first verifying the source and checking the facts ultimately harms people – people who have just lost their homes, their neighborhoods and, in some cases, their loved ones have.”

Aaron Ellenburg, a North Carolina sheriff, told The Times: “I have never seen anything like this. I’m tired of this crap.”

“Trump has politicized the situation at every turn”

And what's truly remarkable is that the root cause of “this crap” is a man who thinks he should be elected president. The Charlotte Observer editorial board commented on the chaos Trump has caused, calling it “shameful”:

“This is not a situation that can be exploited for political reasons. But former President Donald Trump politicized the situation at every turn, spreading falsehoods and conspiracies that divided the community rather than bringing it together. To be clear: Western North Carolina is not a political football. This is not an election opportunity. The most sinister thing a politician – or anyone else – can do right now is spread misinformation and tell people that their government is doing nothing to help them.”

Hurricane Milton threatens Florida. So how will Trump respond?

Now that Hurricane Milton is expected to hit Florida sometime Wednesday, the question is: Will Trump do the same thing about this potential disaster as he did the previous disaster?

We all know the answer: Of course he will. He will put himself and his political ambitions above everything else. Above all, the safety of the residents of the state he now calls home. About the needs of the recovery teams and government agencies who are working tirelessly to save lives and help people rebuild.

His words and social media posts will cause confusion. They will divide people at a time when unity is essential. They are amplified by his opportunistic minions, from Elon Musk to Greene to every bad actor who sees an opportunity to elevate himself at the expense of all decency.

Opinion: I was afraid that my friends in North Carolina wouldn't survive Helene. They told me how they were doing.

There is nothing normal about a presidential candidate behaving this way

That shouldn't happen. What we have seen in North Carolina, Georgia and Florida since Hurricane Helene is good people working together and helping each other. That's how it should be. Nothing can completely resolve a tragedy, but unity goes a long way toward easing the pain.

But Trump loathes unity. He wants the chaos to expand for his own benefit.

A storm like Hurricane Milton is bad enough. Americans, and especially Floridians, shouldn't have to worry about a dishonest presidential candidate making things worse.

Follow USA TODAY columnist Rex Huppke on X, formerly Twitter, @RexHuppke and Facebook facebook.com/RexIsAJerk

By Vanessa

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