The Bringer of Death

Disinformation and the danger we face

Sharpie as a tool of disinformation

In the years since COVID first reached the United States, study after study has made clear that Donald Trump and his allies’ lies about the virus and vaccines led to a disproportionate number of deaths among his supporters.

He’s continuing to spread the same kind of disinformation about the catastrophic storms that have been ravaging, and continue to ravage the south.

The Biden administration has been doing everything possible to help the people who have been and will be affected by these devastating hurricanes. In an attempt to gain the upper hand, Donald and his subordinates have been spreading disinformation about relief efforts in order to put a dent in Vice President Harris’ campaign while trying to prop up his.

On Tuesday, Congressman Chuck Edwards (R-NC) was forced to put out a statement which attempt to debunk the lies that have been spread by others in his party, from Donald on down. That this was necessary should be an embarrassment to the Republican Party and yet another red flag to the American people.

Edwards wrote:

Over the past 10 days, I have been proud of how our mountain communities have come together to help one another. We have seen a level of support that is unmatched by most any other disaster nationwide, but amidst all of the support, we have also seen an uptick in untrustworthy sources trying to spark chaos by sharing hoaxes, conspiracy theories and hearsay about hurricane response efforts across our mountains.

One of the first lies Edwards had to debunk was one promoted by his colleague, Marjorie Taylor Greene who claimed that Democrats are creating these storms in order to unleash them on red states. In order to correct that conspiracy, which is probably believed by a significant percentage of Greene’s constituents, along with rumors that government agencies are blocking help, Edwards was forced to write:

Hurricane Helene was NOT geoengineered by the government to seize and access lithium deposits in Chimney Rock [a small town in western North Carolina decimated by Helene].

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, FEMA, and the National Guard have been working around the clock to save people’s lives, livelihoods, and property. Meanwhile, Donald has been alleging that FEMA funds are being diverted away from residents in hard-hit areas to undocumented immigrants. For any other politician, these lies at a time of national crisis would be disqualifying. For him, they never are, but they may prove to be deadly to those of his supporters who, because of those lies, lose faith in the government’s ability or willingness to help them. But Donald is achieving exactly what he intends to—more division, more uncertainty, and more mistrust of the government.

“They spent all their funds,” Donald said at one of his rallies Wednesday. “They have no funds to take care. They have no funds. They have no workers. They have no nothing. FEMA. We had such a good FEMA. FEMA was great under Trump, that I can tell you.”

That is, of course, another lie, one which he told just hours after President Biden was compelled to put out a video alerting Americans to the dangers of misinformation and disinformation. Democrats and a handful of responsible Republicans, including Republican governors Brian Kemp of Georgia, Henry McMaster of South Carolina, and Glenn Youngkin of Virginia, are doing everything they can to push back.

As category-5 Hurricane Milton bears down on the Gulf coast of Florida, Vice President Harris called into CNN and the Weather Channel on Wednesday to give people real information:

We know the desperation and the fear that the folks who are attempting to evacuate Florida are experiencing. The last thing that they deserve is to have a so-called leader, make them more afraid than they already are.

According to FEMA, the agency already has more than 1,000 responders on the ground to help with Hurricane Milton. There are 1,400 search-and-rescue personnel, seven incident management teams, 400 ambulances, 20 helicopters, 60 high-water vehicles. They also have 20 million meals and 40 million liters of water on hand to distribute to those in need.

While Biden and Harris are coordinating the effort to save lives before, during, and after Milton makes landfall, Donald spent the day praising Bill O’Reilly, calling women “dumb,” and bragging about the size of the crowd at his recent rally. He also continued to spread dangerous and potentially deadly lies—because it suits his purposes. 

In my first book, Too Much and Never Enough, I wrote:

If [Donald] can in anyway profit from your death, he’ll facilitate it, and then he’ll ignore the fact that you died.

That’s really all we need to know.