On a campaign stop in Pittsburgh last week, former President Barack Obama called out the Reepos and others concerning the chaos sown by Trump's lies in the wake of Hurricane Helene:
Obama calls out Trump on bullying and hurricane aid lies - YouTube
Referring to Trump's "making up stories" and causing delays in assistance reaching those in need, then asking "When did this become okay?" Well, WSJ resident hack Peggy Noonan offered the lamo answer in her weekend column ('What A Deadly Flood Revealed About America', Oct. 12-13, p. A13), writing, after spending three-fourths of her piece on the 1889 Johnstown, Pa. flood:
"What are our thoughts from this? In great disasters rumors spread quick as fire. When you're in one you must take this into account."
Pegs references for her source the 1968 book, The Johnstown Flood by David McCullough, noting the dam that collapsed with over 2,000 killed. But in the wake of the disaster, horrific, depraved rumors circulated, that local Hungarian laborers were robbing, raping and pillaging. Peggy then points out:
"It wasn't true but caused plenty of trouble, and it turned out the rumors were started by a local lawyer who'd lost his wife and children and gone off in his head."
But what is despicable is her using this whole tangential catastrophe from 1889 (and the 1968 book about it) to avoid directly calling out the abominable Trump for his part in compounding the current disaster from Helene. To refresh memories Trump spread a debunked conspiracy theory about FEMA spending disaster relief money on helping migrants who are in the country illegally. Also that when FEMA did give money it was only $750. (An ignorant yarn, given that amount was designated an initial assistance with more to follow when the proper claim forms were completed).
Trump's initial lies then triggered a tsunami of conspiracy codswallop, such as false information spread in western NC that a dam was about to burst, prompting hundreds of people to unnecessarily evacuate and diverting the attention of first responders. Then in eastern Tennessee, some locals spread a hoax about federal officials seizing and bulldozing a town hall.
Trump’s lies about the Federal Emergency Management Agency in the wake of two major hurricanes have been particularly insidious. On Fox News, he insisted: “They’re being treated very badly in the Republican areas. They’re not getting water, they’re not getting anything.” Elsewhere, he declared that “Kamala spent all her FEMA money, billions of dollars, on housing for” — you guessed it — “illegal migrants.”
These allegations of a politically motivated emergency response are vicious and false, but they have discouraged people in need of aid from going to the agency for help. (And, as it turns out, Politico reports, it was Trump who as president hesitated to give disaster relief to blue parts of the country.)
Attacking this toxic behavior and rhetoric - from a former president no less - would have given Noonan's column valence and currency but she lacked the courage to write it. Instead, we got a half-assed, ridiculous history lesson regarding 'rumors' started by a forlorn flood victim in 1889. Can Peggy say "false analogy"?
So again, when did this deplorable shit out of the mouth of a liar who fancies becoming president again become okay, Pegs? That was your question to answer which Obama had asked. But all we got from you was a 135-year-old account of the Johnstown flood, and rumors in its wake.
But:
1- These were not started by a president or former president but by an ordinary citizen "not right in his head".
2- The rumors while nasty did not compound delays in aid or assistance getting to those who needed it, given FEMA didn't even exist then.
3- It is beyond daft and I'd say loco to insist people assume that rumors can spread and be started by a former president!
In a way I get Peggy's reluctance to hold Trump accountable given most times she's done so in the past she was hammered in published letters to the Editor. So being unusually sensitive to such criticisms she steadfastly tries to walk the 'weasel' road now in her columns. But for a true journalist - as opposed to a hack - that simply isn't good enough.
Not far removed from Noonan is fellow WSJ hack Holman Jenkins Jr. who in his own same page, same date column ('Taxpayers Pay People To Be Hurricane Risk Takers') actually claims our current climate -related catastrophes are often "due to questionable government policies."
The nitwit hack is referring to the provision of federal insurance to be able to rebuild. Basically arguing that rebuilding - especially in hurricane prone areas - is an invitation to further disaster and more federal $$$ to do another rebuilding round. But he totally skirts over the fact BOTH recent major hurricanes- as well as previous ones (Ian two years ago) were amplified by much warmer waters directly linked to climate change. Will Jenkins Jr. ever change? Not likely given he's as dug in as the Mensa and Intertel pseudo-climate skeptics - but who at least admitted (one from Intertel) that I had "tatooed them real good" in an Integra article last year."
In the end it's actually a good think that Peggy Noonan and Holman Jenkins Jr. write their offal on the WSJ opinion pages. Because at least then we already know beforehand (like FOX News) it's more about seeding pro-Trump propaganda than useful information.
See Also:
North Carolina authorities arrest armed man after threats against FEMA workers
And:
Of all the lies Donald Trump tells, perhaps the most preposterous is that he cares about his own voters. That was evident in 2020, when Trump repeatedly downplayed the threat of COVID-19, even calling the pandemic a "hoax." His followers got the message, risking their own lives first by refusing to socially distance and then, going further even than Trump himself, refusing to vaccinate. The result was that excess deaths were 43% higher for Republicans than Democrats in the months after the vaccines were released. Trump's lie killed his own voters by the thousands.
At the heart of Trump's pandemic lies was a sociopathic calculation: His lies and conspiracy theories would offset the loss of MAGA voters to COVID deaths. That bet did pay off, as most of the excess Republican deaths occurred after the election. Trump is making the same bet again in 2024 with his lies about Hurricanes Helene and Milton. He's spraying lies about the federal response that have rapidly spread throughout social media, convincing his followers to take risks with their own safety. His lies will kill people. He doesn't care, though, because he's betting that he can offset the losses by using these lies to turn out more voters.
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