Hurricane Helene left hundreds dead and caused untold damage, but the officials leading the recovery have had to face a phenomenon very different from the material and human effect. Indeed, the false claims and conspiracy theories spread about the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) by the most unrepentant Trumpists have been widely disseminated via the Internet and social media. And they continue to circulate. Helene was joined by the impact of Milton in less than two weeks, devastating Tampa Bay and its surroundings
Funneled through FEMA, federal assistance for people affected by the hurricane has so far exceeded $344 million. However, those efforts have been torpedoed by falsehoods because the agency does not have the money to help people hit by the hurricane. Or that it only provides $750 in assistance. Or that it confiscates land. The problem has reached the point that FEMA has had to create a website to collect the most widespread false claims.
As expected, Trump has been the main protagonist of disinformation and manipulation with the purpose of torpedoing the Democratic candidate with statements intended to be validated by the public; that is, lying at full speed to win, including the lie that FEMA does not have hurricane aid money because it has all been spent on illegal immigrants. Kamala Harris called it an “extraordinarily irresponsible” action.
The phenomenon reached its climax with Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, the typical MAGA, who suggested that they could control the path of Hurricane Helene, even though no technical-scientific device allows such a thing.
You don’t have to be very advanced to dismantle this rampant and gross lie. Republican Representative Carlos Giménez, from one of the districts in southern Florida, responded to this manipulation by writing on his social network: “NEW NEWS: humans cannot create or control hurricanes. Anyone who thinks they can do that needs to have their head examined,” he said.
But there is more. Following the rhyme, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has even refused to take calls from Vice President Kamala Harris about recovery after the ravages. The argument is a variation on the same mantra: the accusation of campaigning by getting involved in the emergency response to Hurricanes Helene and Milton. Kamala Harris, Desantis said, “has no role” in the process, adding that she had never tried to call him during the previous hurricanes in Florida.
These and other incidents of a similar nature give a measure of the temperature in the United States in the run-up to the presidential elections. And it is precisely what has led several Democratic advisers to turn on the red lights in the face of the avalanche of misinformation and its possible impact on voters.
One of them, veteran strategist James Carville ― the author of the famous phrase “it’s the economy, stupid” to explain H.W. Bush’s defeat against Bill Clinton in 1992 ― has just expressed his concerns that Kamala Harris’ campaign was running out of time to convey a strong opposite message to voters before the elections.
“The only thing I feel is that the elections will be on November 5. I’m scared to death,” he said. “And very, very concerned and very scared” because Harris has less than twenty days to convey that message to voters. He then suggested that they go on the offensive. “They need to be sharp. They need to be aggressive. They need to stop answering questions and start asking them.” And he has advised them to take actions such as bringing out the cleanup hitters of the game. That is what former President Barack Obama has just done, perhaps for a start.
And he stressed that he would have President Clinton talk on these local television stations about how tariffs would destroy the economy of Wisconsin or Michigan or anywhere else because they have never worked.
The phrase “October surprise” was codified in 1980, when Democrat James Carter failed to secure the release of American hostages in Iran. That surprise was supposed to be his last-minute success in achieving it ― but it never happened. And it was one of the main reasons he lost to Ronald Reagan.
Since then, a lot of water has flowed under the bridge and the term has been applied with more or less success to almost any important breaking news that alters the presidential election. More recently, during the 2016 event, the latest October surprise was documented when WikiLeaks released Hillary Clinton’s emails and then-FBI Director James Comey announced that they would be re-examined.
On the other hand, earlier this month Hillary Clinton herself warned Kamala Harris to expect her own October surprise. “I foresee something happening in October,” she said in an interview with PBS. “There will be concerted efforts to distort and pervert Kamala Harris, who she is, what she stands for, what she has done.”
Hillary Clinton’s is perhaps the only October surprise that has had a direct impact on the outcome of the election so far. Indeed, after that announcement, her lead over Trump narrowed. And in the end, as we know, she lost. That was undoubtedly one of the reasons.
What James Carville is saying is that this time, this surprise could take the form of not only two violent hurricanes but also an avalanche of manipulations and lies that continue to resound and circulate throughout the Kingdom of This World. We will see. There are only three weeks left to find out.
