Donald Trump just handed out dangerously inaccurate information about Hurricane Dorian
Hurricane Dorian is now a massive Category 5 storm, and wherever it makes landfall, it’s going to be dangerous and devastating. At times like this, it’s important to have competent leadership. Donald Trump hasn’t had a permanent FEMA Director since the last guy resigned amid scandal six months ago. Worse, Trump has no idea what he’s talking about – and he just handed out dangerously inaccurate information.
See if you can spot what’s terribly wrong with this Donald Trump tweet: “In addition to Florida – South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama, will most likely be hit (much) harder than anticipated. Looking like one of the largest hurricanes ever. Already category 5. BE CAREFUL! GOD BLESS EVERYONE!”
Aside from the fact that he’s histrionically yelling around like a child, he also included a state where Hurricane Dorian will certainly not make landfall. Alabama’s southern border does touch the Gulf Mexico and the state is therefore capable of getting hit by a hurricane that comes up through the Gulf. But this hurricane is on the east coast the United States, and it would have to travel all the way across Georgia in order to reach Alabama from that side – by which time it would largely dissipate over land.
But if anyone in Alabama wasn’t following this hurricane and saw Donald Trump’s tweet, they might be tempted to conclude that Dorian had completely changed course and was now coming up through the Gulf of Mexico to hit the state. This is an incredibly dangerous error. News outlets in Alabama are already trying to inform people that Trump got it wrong, and even Trump’s own National Weather Service is trying to correct him. Trump is as incompetent as he is evil.
