Commentary by Stephen Macaulay
Back in September 2019 Hurricane Dorian developed in the Atlantic and was moving west toward the US. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicted that it would head up the east coast of the US. As it did: Florida. South Carolina. North Carolina.
However, on September 1, Donald Trump, still on what was still Twitter, posted this:
“In addition to Florida -- South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama, will most likely be hit (much) harder than anticipated. Looking like one of the largest hurricanes ever. Already category 5. BE CAREFUL! GOD BLESS EVERYONE!”
President. Meteorologist.
Anyone who has taken a look at a map of the US can readily see that Alabama has Georgia tucked between it and the Atlantic. Off the track that NOAA was predicting.
But southeastern Alabama had been hit by Hurricane Michael in October 2018, so it should come as no surprise that people in the state were rather agitated by the president’s prediction.
On September 4 Trump showed reporters a weather map that showed the path of the storm.
The map looked, for the most part, professional.
There was one problem: The projected path of the storm had added, with what appeared to be a Sharpie marker, an extension of the storm path . . . that included Alabama.
Would anyone give the President of the United States a map with an unprofessional-looking addition, a map that would be presented during a press event?
Hurricane Dorian made US landfall on September 6 in Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, or about 400 miles east of Alabama.
Alabama was spared.
While this may seem trivial, for some Alabamians the president’s forecast was undoubtedly troubling.
Even “real” weather people make mistakes. They generally acknowledge those mistakes because, well, if they say it is going to be sunny and you look out the window and see rain…
But, of course, Donald Trump can never admit to a mistake, so efforts kicked in at the White House to assure there was really no error, even though it was clear that there was.
In the years since, there have been a multiplicity of falsehoods, fabrications, deceptions, and outright lies made by Donald Trump.
As one of his mentors, Roy Cohn, advised, “Never apologize or admit wrongdoing, ever.”
This has become the status quo.
Whether he’s talking about gasoline or groceries, drug runners or prescription drug prices, he says it forcefully and incorrectly.
During the first Trump administration there was a lot of discussion of how he was “gaslighting” people. As his famous comment to the Veteran of Foreign Wars (VFW) national convention in July 2018 has it: “What you’re seeing and what you’re reading is not what’s happening.”
Reality is what he says it is.
Gaslighting is now something that is being fulsomely embraced by people in his administration, like Kristi Noem, Kash Patel and Stephen Miller.
After Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti were shot to death by armed Federal agents, those Trump personnel came out and outright lied about the victims. They did so immediately. There were no investigations. They made outrageous claims about what is clear is not the case.
This isn’t a situation where the “fake press” is presenting distorted information about what happened. People everywhere can watch the shootings on video from multiple angles. People don’t become “terrorists” because those administration officials, based on nothing, say they are.
Leadership begins at the top. Noem, et al. undoubtedly believe they’re scoring points with the boss for trying to mislead the American people — the people who they are supposed to protect and defend.
Which brings me back to hurricanes.
As you may recall, when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans and large swaths of the Gulf Coast, the federal response through FEMA was widely considered to be an ignominious failure, a disastrous response to a disaster.
Katrina arrived in New Orleans on August 29, 2006.
About a week later during a news conference at the White House, President George W. Bush, whose comment to FEMA director Michael Brown about the agency’s response to the hurricane — “Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job” -- will not be forgotten, said this:
"Katrina exposed serious problems in our response capability at all levels of government. And to the extent that the federal government didn't fully do its job right, I take responsibility.”
“I take responsibility.”
Regardless of what you think of Bush, the man showed he has a spine and that he knew that his job as president was to make things right for the American people, even if that meant he had to admit when he failed.
This is something we have yet to see from Donald Trump. Ever.
And the consequences for this country, when its leader finds deception to be more convenient than truth, are devastating.
Macaulay is pundit-at-large for The Hustings.