In 2019, Alabama residents were unnecessarily alarmed after then-President Trump falsely said Hurricane Dorian was headed their way. However, instead of admitting he made a mistake, Trump questioned the National Weather Service showed Americans a fake weather map – which is against the law.
Today, the former president is spreading lies about relief efforts and federal resources at a time when those affected by Hurricanes Helene and Milton need guidance and assistance. State and local Republicans have asked him to quit, saying apparent misinformation is ruining rescue and relief efforts. Of course, Trump doesn’t care as long as his lies also ruin the election.
What can I say? Same Trump, different year.
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After deliberately downplaying the threat of COVID-19 in the early months of 2020, Trump said he deliberately misled the public to avoid panic. As a result, we were ill-prepared as a country. Our hospitals quickly became overwhelmed, with people dying in gyms and bodies held in refrigerated trucks as morgues overflowed.
The pandemic started when he lied to us about the severity of the virus. Four years later, and again, Trump’s instinct as a leader during a national crisis is to lie to the American people and complain on “The View.”
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Elections have consequences. The first Trump term added $8.4 trillion to the national debt and forced rape victims to give birth after the overturning of Roe vs. Wade by Trump’s judges. If you look through Project 2025, the plan conservatives have drawn up to overhaul the federal government under a second Trump administration, you’ll see that the runoff would be much worse.
Trump would even make natural disasters worse.
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The 2025 blueprint calls for breaking up and selling off large parts of the federal government’s weather data collection agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. That’s where the National Hurricane Center is housed. The expert who suggested Trump scrap this agency for parts, Thomas F. Gilman, was an auto industry bonafide before joining Trump’s Commerce Department in 2019, the same year Trump redrew the path of a hurricane with a Sharpie.
Project 2025 aims to replace tens of thousands of experienced officials with relevant expertise with political appointees primarily loyal to Trump — people like Gilman. If you’re still wondering how bad that could be, consider that as the nation braced for Hurricane Milton — in the wake of Hurricane Helene — one of Trump’s allies, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) , used her platform to tell Americans that “they” control the weather.
She didn’t say who “they” are, how “they” do it, or what Republicans in the House of Representatives would do to stop “them.” It sounds nonsensical because it is. But don’t confuse nonsensical with unimportant. Elections have consequences.
Greene may think 9/11 was a hoax, but Republicans who know better put her on the Homeland Security Committee to appease Trump. The committee’s official website states that it was created “in 2002, in the aftermath of September 11, 2001,” and yet the Republican Party leadership put a denier on the panel to appease someone they know is lying about hurricane relief at this time. Loyalty to Trump is the only currency that matters to some of these people. No expertise, no traditional conservative values, no integrity.
That is how the party of Lincoln has unfortunately become the party that responds to national emergencies by scapegoating others: claiming that “they” control the weather; “they” eat pets; “They” are paid actors and not traumatized survivors of a school shooting. To this day, House Speaker Mike Johnson refuses to say who won the 2020 election. Instead, he accuses them of throwing “gotcha questions” at his head, which may be good for his relationship with Trump, but doesn’t help the country in any way.
All of which brings me here: For more than fifty years, ever since Richard M. Nixon faced John F. Kennedy, televised debates have been a benchmark in presidential politics. With Trump the center of attention, the first Republican primary debate of 2016 gave Fox the most-watched non-sports event in cable history. The second debate also generated high viewing figures. Trump only started skipping primary debates when Fox News announced it would use video footage of past appearances to hold candidates accountable for their words.
That’s why he and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), are against fact-checking during debates and interviews. Accountability is why Trump avoided debating Ambassador Nikki Haley during the 2024 primaries. That’s why he got into an argument with journalists during a press conference last summer. That’s why he’s afraid to debate Vice President Kamala Harris again.
If a businessman is used to avoiding the consequences of his misdeeds by filing for bankruptcy as often as Trump has, I understand why he would be uncomfortable being held accountable.
However, a president or candidate cannot avoid responsibility any more than a country can escape the consequences of elections. Trump’s lies during his time in office have caused damage. His lies today are hurting people who need help. And no one should be surprised: in every crisis, Trump has shown himself to be a liar, not a leader.
@LZGranderson
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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.
