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Trump fans are infected with bizarre conspiracy theories about Hurricane Milton

Posted on by darion

Hurricane Milton became a Category 5 storm on Monday and is on track to hit Florida’s west coast Wednesday afternoon or evening. The hurricane is unusual both for its trajectory and its rapid intensification, which climate scientists attribute to higher ocean temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico caused by climate change. However, Donald Trump’s supporters on social media have a different explanation for the hurricane’s dangerous potential. They say it’s President Joe Biden’s fault because Democrats are engaging in weather manipulation to hurt Republicans.

Matt Wallace, one of X’s most popular junk conspiracy theorists and a staunch Trump supporter, on Sunday tweeted about a NOAA flight monitoring the hurricane in an apparent attempt to suggest that something fishy was going on.

“There are rumors of a strange-looking flight pattern for a NOAA aircraft ‘collecting data’ through Hurricane Milton,” Wallace wrote on Twitter.

While Wallace did not explicitly say that he believed these flights were intended to modify the weather, he was employing a strategy often used by disinformation accounts by “simply asking questions.” By refraining from declarative statements, Wallace often avoids direct fact-checking and still receives support from the X algorithm, allowing his supporters to fill in the gaps.

Wallace also tweeted about Milton when the hurricane first formed, writing: “LOOK AWAY!!! It’s just a coincidence that a few days after one of the most disastrous storms in U.S. history, another monster with crazy cloud cover formed in the Gulf of Mexico“

Hurricanes are not suspected of occurring during the US hurricane season, which runs from June to November. This is how the world works. What’s strange is how much more intense these storms have become so quickly, which can be explained by warmer ocean waters, exacerbated by climate change. NOAA flights simply provide us with useful information about hurricanes, and there is absolutely no evidence that they are used to control the weather.

Grant Cardone, a private equity fund manager and another Trump supporter, also said absolute nonsense about Hurricane Milton over the weekend, which garnered over 4 million views.

“I grew up on the Gulf of Mexico. I have been observing storms since I was a child. I have NEVER seen a storm start here and head east. Do you think the government is using technology to manipulate weather patterns and storms?” Cardone asked on Sunday.

While Wallace’s tweet didn’t get a community note on X, Cardone’s tweet did, which pointed out that hurricanes don’t usually follow Milton’s trajectory but have happened at least six times in recorded history.

The @BGatesIsaPyscho account spreads wild conspiracy theories and contributed to an absurd narrative on social media over the weekend.

“They just upgraded what was originally a mild tropical depression and is now a Category 5 Hurricane Milton. This is crazy,” it wrote on Twitter on Monday. It’s actually unclear who runs this account, but it often goes viral during major events like this one.

And it’s not just Trump supporters in X who help spread idiotic conspiracy theories. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia jumped in, maintaining her weather control theories that began with Hurricane Helene.

“Yes, they can control the weather. Here’s Obama’s CIA director, John Brennan, talking about it. Anyone who says this isn’t the case or makes fun of it is lying. By the way, people know this and hate all of you who are trying to cover it up,” Greene wrote over the weekend.

Greene is among conspiracy theorists who suggest that hurricanes are targeted at regions with the highest concentration of Trump voters in order to rig the upcoming November 5 election. And while geoengineering is a real field with real future possibilities, there is absolutely no evidence that the US government is modifying the weather to influence elections, let alone any other plausible explanation.

Stew Peters, the far-right influencer who called Adolf Hitler a “hero,” last week tried to prove that Hurricane Helene was the result of government weather control efforts by asking a question to his Amazon Echo device. Peters repeated the theory that North Carolina was cleared because lithium mining was necessary to build electric cars. What actually happens when Peters asks his home device this question? Alexa simply retrieves conspiracy theories from the Internet and presents them as fact, which is a common problem with artificial intelligence tools.

Conspiracy theories about

“Climate change is not real. In my opinion, a lot of globohomo nonsense. You know what’s real. A hurricane machine that appears randomly in different parts of the deep blue sea and generates category 4-5 hurricanes intended to punish Christians, patriots and cybertruck owners,” one user joked on Monday.

Even some Trump supporters were clearly frustrated with the spread of absurd conspiracy theories on Monday, with right-wing pundit Erick Erickson writing on Twitter that he believed Russian disinformation actors were behind the spread of such obvious nonsense.

“I’m starting to believe that Russian bots are really back. Mention the absurdity of government hurricane control and suddenly many small accounts appear claiming it’s true,” Erickson wrote.

It’s entirely possible that Russian bots are helping to amplify these ridiculous conspiracy theories on X, but a more likely explanation is that the site has just become overrun with far-right users who may be spreading garbage faster than you can check. X has become a hotbed of disinformation since Elon Musk purchased the platform in late 2022. The changes made by the billionaire allowed the voices of the far right to be strengthened. For example, purchasing a blue checkmark allows these users to gain more exposure and get more eyeballs on your site, even as they spread the most nonsensical conspiracy theories all over the Internet.

According to the Washington Post, Milton is just one of seven hurricanes on record to intensify from a Category 1 to a Category 5 in less than 24 hours. And mainstream journalists admit that climate change is the reason this storm is intensifying so quickly. Meteorologist John Morales of NBC6 in South Florida choked up as he watched symptoms worsen in Milton on Monday, knowing it would spell much or misfortune and destruction for the region.

If you are in the expected path of Hurricane Milton, you should get out immediately. During an emergency news conference Sunday afternoon, Pinellas Sheriff Bob Gualtieri emphasized how serious the situation is.

“This will be bad. That’s all you need to know,” Gualtieri said, according to Axios. “Everyone just needs to leave.”