While federal officials angrily complain that “online falsehoods are complicating the federal response to Hurricanes Helene and Milton,” Elon Musk uses his social media to spread them, Politico reported the day before Milton slams into Tampa Bay (read story here).
He’s echoing the baseless campaign rhetoric of Trump, whom he supports, and it’s getting in the way of legitimate relief efforts. FEMA leaders say misinformation is deterring Helene survivors from seeking help, and inciting threats against emergency responders. That’s an awful thing to be responsible for, and people should stop listening to Musk.
FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell told reporters the onslaught of false conspiracy theories “is absolutely the worst I have ever seen.” She added, “I anticipated some of this, but not to the extent that we’re seeing.” She warned that disinformation is creating fear in communities “that is impeding our ability to do our job.”
In a separate story posted a few hours earlier, Politico said, “Many of the falsehoods can be traced back to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and his supporters.” A frequently repeated falsehood is that FEMA funds were diverted to illegal immigrants. The story adds, “Elon Musk, the Tesla CEO and ascendant GOP megadonor, has also amplified false claims of feds interfering with hurricane recovery.” (Read that story here.)
During his 4 years as president, Trump presided over a chaotic administration. As a candidate again, he’s an agent of more chaos. It’s hard to believe, but he might win the 2024 election. Musk isn’t running for office, but his political extremism is alienating liberal-leaning car buyers, while conservatives were already down on EVs (see story here). No one should feel sorry for him if his businesses go bust. Originally from South Africa, he’s a cancer in American society.
To learn more about how disaster response works, see related article here.