October 14, 2024
Trump is among the most prominent voices pushing conspiracy theories and other falsehoods about FEMA and other disaster relief efforts from the federal government.
Vice President Kamala Harris called out former president Donald Trump for spreading misinformation about the federal government’s response to hurricanes Helene and Milton during an Oct. 13 campaign stop at a Black church in Greenville, North Carolina.
According to The Associated Press, while Harris did not mention the former president by name, it was clear who she was referring to.
Trump is among the most prominent voices pushing conspiracy theories and other falsehoods about FEMA and disaster relief efforts from the federal government.
Harris told the crowd that despite the heroes who were helping relief efforts without respect to political affiliation, there were others committed to sowing division.
“Yet, church, there are some who are not acting in the spirit of community, and I am speaking of these who have been literally not telling the truth, lying about people who are working hard to help the folks in need, spreading disinformation when the truth and facts are required,” she said.
Harris continued, “The problem with this, beyond the obvious, is it’s making it harder, then, to get people life-saving information if they’re led to believe they cannot trust. And that’s the pain of it all, which is the idea that those who are in need have somehow been convinced that the forces are working against them in a way that they would not seek aid.”
Harris also said that those who are trying to further false narratives are attempting “to gain some advantage for themselves, to play politics with other people’s heartbreak, and it is unconscionable. Now is not a time to incite fear. It is not right to make people feel alone. That is not what leaders, as we know, do in crisis.”
According to Politico, the disinformation campaign coming from Trump and others in the Republican Party was characterized by FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell as the worst she has seen.
“It’s creating distrust in the federal government, but also the state government, and we have so many first responders that have been working to go out and help these communities,” Criswell added in an Oct. 8 call with reporters.
Trump and his sycophants have loudly and baselessly accused federal responders of diverting disaster relief funds to immigrants, which has been amplified by Elon Musk, the owner of X, the social media platform. The Republican mega-donor and has steered X in the direction of a massive disinformation campaign.
According to Poynter, Musk has made finding misinformation and disinformation as easy as checking a trending topic on the app or website.
“It used to take work to find disinformation on Twitter. You had to set up dashboards and Boolean searches,” Maarten Schenk, co-founder and chief technology officer at Lead Stories, told Poynter. “Nowadays, you just check the trending topics. You can also see what Elon Musk retweets or amplifies.”
According to Politico, President Joe Biden called the sentiments spread by Trump’s misinformation campaign un-American and said they spread fear and mistrust during a hurricane briefing at the White House earlier in October.
RELATED CONTENT: Letter Warns Public About ‘Sophisticated Disinformation Campaigns’ Targeting Black Voters
