As communities across the Southeastern United States reel from the deadly impacts of Hurricane Milton and Hurricane Helene, Donald Trump is weaponizing the tragedy by undermining faith in government institutions. He’s exploiting these extreme weather events by spreading disinformation and scapegoating migrants, all while ignoring the climate crisis that contributed to historic back-to-back hurricanes.
At a rally Wednesday, just hours before Milton made landfall as a Category 3 storm near Siesta Key, Florida, Trump repeated debunked lies about the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s response. During a storm briefing hours before, President Joe Biden was forced to push back against Trump’s lies about FEMA dollars being diverted to migrants, slamming Trump’s disinformation campaign as “reckless and irresponsible.”
Trump’s presidency showed us how poorly he handles a moment of national crisis, but a second Trump term could be far worse.
Trump’s presidency showed us how poorly he handles a moment of national crisis, but a second Trump term could be far worse. From walking away from our commitment to confront climate change to refusing to deliver disaster relief to Americans in blue states, every extreme weather event could become an exercise in placing politics over public safety.
The visuals of Trump casually tossing paper towels to Hurricane Maria survivors in Puerto Rico are still seared into the minds of Americans. But that stunt just scratches the surface. An independent study found about 2,975 people died in the aftermath of Maria. Trump downplayed that death toll, accusing Democrats of inflating the number to make him look bad.
The Trump administration would later stall $20 billion in hurricane relief for Puerto Rico, relief that Congress approved. In a closed-door meeting with Republicans, Trump also said federal funding was “way out of proportion to what Texas and Florida and others have gotten.” You see, in the mind of Trump, it’s not about who needs help; it’s about where victims of natural disasters live.
We recently learned that as president, Trump threatened to withhold federal aid to help California respond to dangerous wildfires. Former Trump administration official Olivia Troye told The New York Times that he viewed disaster relief as a matter of “red states vs. blue states.” Trump relented, the Times reports, after aides delivered voter data showing his supporters in Orange County were among those hit hardest. The Trump campaign denies that story is true.
For Trump, it’s not only about “us versus them,” but also all about him. Voters must worry about Trump’s vanity when it’s his responsibility to warn Americans about the dangers of a looming storm. He will undermine science with the stroke of a magic marker.
In 2019, Trump claimed without evidence that Hurricane Dorian was set to hit Alabama. The National Weather Service was forced to debunk Trump’s misinformation about the deadly hurricane, posting on social media, “We repeat, no impacts from Hurricane #Dorian will be felt across Alabama.”
Instead of owning up to a mistake, Trump took a DIY approach to contradict federal forecasters. Enter #Sharpiegate. During a briefing with reporters, Trump doubled down on his junk science, pointing to a chart with a model of Hurricane Dorian. On the chart, someone appeared to have drawn a line in black ink to include Alabama in the storm’s projected path. Scientific evidence be damned.
If the past is prologue, the politicization of national weather emergencies would become a feature of a possible second Trump administration. Trump would also surround himself with climate deniers hell-bent on reshaping the government to gut resources communities rely on. Under Project 2025, Trump allies would push to outsource functions of the National Weather Service to private companies. Crucial weather information would be in the hands of the private sector instead of the federal government. The far-right conservative blueprint would also abandon goals of fighting climate change by downsizing the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Project 2025 calls the NOAA a leading driver of “the climate change alarm industry” and claims the agency is “harmful to future U.S. prosperity.” And you don’t need to take Project 2025’s word for it. The Trump campaign has signaled a hands-off approach to address the climate crisis. Trump plans to abandon the Paris Agreement once again. Trump already did that in 2017, although Biden recommitted the U.S. to the global initiative to cut greenhouse gas emissions when he took office. We are again reminded of the dangers of disinformation amplified by the ex-president Just weeks before the November election, we are again reminded of the dangers of disinformation amplified by the ex-president. In the aftermath of Helene, North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein joined MSNBC’s “The Weekend” to address how Trump’s lies about FEMA undermine the government’s response in the western part of his state. “It’s devastating psychologically to those people because they now believe, some of them, that FEMA is going to be contrary to their interests rather than trying to help them get back on their feet,” said Stein, who is running for governor. In a moment when a robust federal response is needed to save lives and livelihoods, Trump is once again showing us he cannot be trusted to lead in a moment of despair. Empathy, steady leadership, and long-term solutions are needed as the United States grapples with unpredictable hurricane seasons that are only becoming more intense. Trump doesn’t have the answers.
Alicia Menendez
Alicia Menendez is a co-host of "The Weeknight," which airs Monday through Friday at 7 p.m. ET on MSNBC. She is also the host of the “Latina to Latina” podcast and the author of “The Likeability Trap: How to Break Free and Succeed As You Are.”
Lynox Norman
Lynox Norman is a segment producer for "The Weekend" on MSNBC. 
