Trump’s deadly lies

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Lerato Khumalo

Hurricanes are devastating the southeastern United States every week, while Donald Trump is spreading outrageous lies. And the latest polls prove him right.

US President Joe Biden appeared to be amused when asked by a reporter whether he had spoken to his predecessor Donald Trump about the situation in the disaster area. “Are you kidding?” Biden asks back, looks into the camera and says directly to Trump: “Get a life, man. Help these people!”

It was probably the sheer frustration that Biden expressed during his crisis press conference on Hurricane Milton on Thursday evening. Several severe hurricanes have hit the southeastern United States in recent weeks; Helene alone killed more than 220 people and flooded entire regions at the end of September. “Milton” also claimed several lives during its journey across Florida, but probably caused less damage than feared.

But while the White House is fighting the forces of nature in crisis mode, a flood of disinformation is coming from Donald Trump’s campaign camp.

Trump’s recent comments are reminiscent of the coronavirus pandemic during his presidency, when he advised people to inject themselves with chlorine bleach or fight the virus with the dewormer ivermectin – dangerous misinformation that allegedly cost lives. Now Trump is once again spreading outrageous lies that can be fatal for people in the disaster areas.

Trump claimed without any basis that there were no longer any helicopters in the state of North Carolina to rescue people from flood areas. Those who are currently fighting for their survival could make bad decisions with fatal consequences based on such misinformation. As “Milton” headed toward Florida on Wednesday, Vice President Kamala Harris felt compelled to call CNN to counter Trump’s lies.

video | “This is the beginning of a new weather”

Source: t-online

“It is dangerous and irresponsible for a politician to mislead desperate people, with the result that they do not get the help they deserve,” Harris said on live TV. “We all know how dangerous this is and these games have to end,” said the Democratic presidential candidate. She spoke to those responsible in the crisis areas, who are now not only struggling with the consequences of the hurricanes, but also against the rampant misinformation.

But Trump’s statements don’t just make the work of helpers in the flood areas more difficult. The Republican presidential candidate is also exploiting the natural disasters to specifically discredit the Biden administration’s foreign policy.

Trump’s advantage is that the concrete consequences of his statements in the flood areas can hardly be measured. In turn, he can easily mobilize his supporters with false claims of alleged total government failure in the crisis – aid to Ukraine and the alleged migration crisis at the US southern border are the most important election campaign issues for the Republicans. Whether Trump’s tactics work will be seen in the presidential election on November 5th.

Trump and his campaign team should feel confirmed when they look at the latest surveys. In two crucial “swing states,” Harris is now behind Trump again, after being ahead of her rival there for a long time. It is unclear whether Trump’s constant fire in recent weeks triggered the turnaround in Michigan and Wisconsin. But the Trump team is unlikely to interpret the latest figures as a call for restraint – quite the opposite.