Politics
Hurricane disinformation rampant in US election campaign
Hundreds of people have lost their lives to hurricanes Helene and Milton in the southern US. On the campaign trail, Donald Trump is spreading hurricane disinformation, but Republicans are criticizing Kamala Harris.
Joe Biden had had enough. This was very clear when the US president gave a short statement to journalists on Thursday afternoon.
“Anyone who seeks to take advantage of our fellow Americans’ desperation, whether you’re a company engaging in price gouging or a citizen trying to scam your neighbors: we’ll go after you and we’ll hold you accountable,” he told reporters in Washington.
Biden was referring to incidents that have taken place in recent days and weeks in the states affected by hurricanes Helene and Milton. For example: People trying to fly out of Florida before Hurricane Milton made landfall in the early hours of Thursday morning reported on social media that they were being quoted exorbitant ticket prices. There were also reports of hugely inflated prices at hotels and private Airbnb accommodation in Florida this week.
Biden, however, didn’t just criticize the profiteers. He also condemned the “reckless, irresponsible disinformation and outright lies that continue to flow” since Hurricane Helene — much of which are being spread by the Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump.
Trump spreads dangerous hurricane disinformation
In late September, Hurricane Helene devastated several southeastern US states, killing more than 200 people. As the cleanup operation was still ongoing, Trump railed against the Biden administration and Vice President Kamala Harris — who is also his Democratic rival for the presidency on November 5.
“The White House is doing nothing,” Trump declared at a campaign appearance in Wisconsin last Sunday. “They’ve abandoned us in, you know, what’s largely a Republican area” — where Helene has caused extensive damage. His followers reacted with vocal outrage.
But what Trump said is not true. Republican governors of affected states such as Georgia and Florida have stated that they are in contact with Biden, and have received the help they needed from Washington.
Despite this, Trump’s campaign rhetoric about the Biden administration’s supposed indifference has resonated with people more powerfully than the truth. “It has a huge impact on Americans’ trust in government,” said Kathryn Olmsted, a history professor at the University of California, Davis.
“If a presidential candidate, and former president, tells them that they cannot believe what the current government is saying, and that the current government is refusing to help them and is lying to them, then of course [Trump’s] supporters are going to think that what he says is true,” Olmsted, who conducts research into conspiracy theories, told DW by email.
Government battling hurricane rumors online
Trump also criticized FEMA, the US Federal Emergency Management Agency. Claiming that millions of FEMA dollars had gone to irregular migrants, Trump declared that, as a result, there was nothing left for victims of the hurricane. According to the former president, people who had lost everything in the hurricane were getting only $750 (about €685) in government aid.
Hurricane Milton barreled across Florida this week, spawning multiple tornadoes, knocking out power to millions and damaging countless homes and businesses
© Ricardo Arduengo/REUTERS
This, too, is false. FEMA does run a program that helps migrants, but the budget for that is completely separate from the funds for disaster relief. And $750 is just the initial emergency aid payment that those affected are being given to buy essentials like food, clothes and baby supplies. After this, those whose houses have been destroyed will be able to claim several thousand dollars in support. FEMA has detailed this information on a website set up specifically to counter disinformation.
The Biden administration is also actively addressing hurricane disinformation online. The White House has an account on the social media forum Reddit, where it is sharing pictures and information about the government’s response to hurricanes Helene and Milton.
‘Disinformation makes it more difficult to help people’
It’s an unusual approach by the US government. But so close to the US presidential election, there is more than just its own reputation at stake. The disinformation is harming those most urgently in need of help.
“Disinformation makes it much more difficult for government officials to help people,” said Olmsted. “Victims of a disaster might refuse to go to a shelter, or to evacuate, or to accept aid from the government.”
She said the effects of Trump’s words could clearly be seen in the way people responded to Hurricane Milton, which tore across Florida this week, causing millions of dollars in damage and killing at least 16 people.
“I’m sure it affected some Trump supporters,” said Olmsted. “He told them not to believe their government officials, so why would they listen to the evacuation orders?”
Harris’ makes controversial appearance on late night TV
Vice President Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate, also criticized Trump’s behavior in an interview with Stephen Colbert, the TV presenter of “The Late Show,” which is regarded as politically liberal.
“What upsets me so is the idea that any politician would play political games with these folks, with people who are in the midst of such suffering,” Harris said, on an episode broadcast on Tuesday evening. “And then, for the sake of political gain, tell these lies in a way that is meant to make people distrust the help that is there for them to receive.”
However, her appearance on the comedy talk show, during which she sipped a beer with Colbert, has made Harris, too, the object of criticism. The presenters of the conservative talk show “Fox and Friends” on the Trump-friendly network Fox News described it as extremely inappropriate. A presidential candidate should not be going on “lighthearted” programs like the “The Late Show” when people in North Carolina were still struggling with the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, they said.
This article was originally written in German.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday unveiled his long-awaited Victory Plan to end Russia’s invasion, rejecting any territorial concessions and urging ramped-up Western backing, including an invitation to join NATO.
After pushing back Russian troops at the start of the invasion in February 2022, Kyiv is now facing mounting pressure to find an exit strategy as its troops suffer battlefield losses and Moscow intensifies its strikes on infrastructure.
Russia has seized around a fifth of Ukraine’s territory since the invasion began, reducing towns and cities to rubble and killing thousands of civilians.
Ukraine: position of military forces. Photo: Valentin RAKOVSKY, Sophie RAMIS, Cléa PECULIER / AFP Source: AFP
But in his address to lawmakers in Kyiv on Wednesday, the 46-year-old leader ruled out the possibility that Ukraine could cede some territory to secure peace and also dismissed any pause in the conflict.
“Russia must lose the war against Ukraine. And this does not mean a freeze (in fighting) and it does not mean any trade in Ukraine’s territory or sovereignty,” Zelensky said in his speech to lawmakers, flanked by European Union and Ukrainian flags.
The number one priority in the five-part so-called Victory Plan, the Ukrainian leader said, was closer integration with the US-led NATO defence alliance.
“The first point is an invitation to NATO, now,” Zelensky said, claiming that Moscow had been undermining security in Europe for decades because Kyiv was not a member.
Kremlin derides ‘futile’ plan
Zelensky also said that his country’s Western allies should lift restrictions on Ukraine’s use of long-range weapons so Kyiv can target Russian military sites on occupied Ukrainian territory and also within Russia.
The Kremlin immediately dismissed Zelensky’s roadmap to end the grinding conflict, describing it as “some ephemeral peace plan”.
“The only peace plan there can be is for the Kyiv regime to realise the futility of the policy it is pursuing and understand the need to sober up,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
Ukrainian servicemen prepare to board an armoured vehicle to go to the front, near the town of Kurakhove in the eastern Donetsk region. Photo: Roman PILIPEY / AFP Source: AFP
Russia has demanded Kyiv abandon territory it already controls in the east and south of Ukraine as a precondition for peace talks.
The Russian military announced during Zelensky’s address to lawmakers that its forces had captured two more villages in eastern Ukraine, where its forces are steadily advancing.
The ministry said the villages of Nevske and Krasnyi Yar had been “liberated”, publishing a video of destroyed buildings in Nevske with Russian flags flying from two of them.
‘Coalition of criminals’
In his address, Zelensky criticised China, Iran and North Korea for their support for Moscow, renewing accusations that Pyongyang was sending its citizens to work in Russian factories and fight alongside Russian forces.
“The coalition of criminals along with Putin already includes North Korea,” Zelensky told lawmakers. “Everyone sees the Iranian regime’s assistance to Putin, and also China’s cooperation with Russia.”
An elderly woman walks past damaged buildings in the town of Pokrovsk in the eastern Donetsk region. Photo: Roman PILIPEY / AFP Source: AFP
Kyiv has dismissed any rival plans to end the war, including those put forward by Brazil and China, saying they lack guarantees for Ukraine’s security or the war-battered country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Unlike Zelensky’s “Peace Formula,” an agenda that stipulates Russia must withdraw all its troops from Ukraine’s internationally-recognised borders, the Ukrainian leader had until Wednesday given few details about his “Victory Plan.”
He visited European leaders last week in a bid to promote the plan and secure as much aid as possible, as future backing from Washington hinges on the outcome of presidential elections next month.
On Wednesday, he said he had discussed a secret annex to the “Victory Plan” with the United States, Britain, France, Italy and Germany to deploy on Ukrainian territory a “non-nuclear strategic deterrence package” that would discourage future Russian attacks after the war.
He also said he would present his Victory Plan in full at an EU summit on Thursday, urging more Western support and an invitation to NATO.
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