For weeks, misinformation about the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Hurricane Helene response has spread far and wide on social media platforms \u2014 with more than a helpful nudge from Donald Trump, Elon Musk and the relaxed moderation policies of Musk\u2019s platform, X.<\/p>\n
The real consequences of that have begun to show.<\/p>\n
The Washington Post reported late Sunday that federal emergency responders were ordered evacuated from Rutherford County, N.C., on Saturday due to a reported threat from militia. An official with the U.S. Forest Service said the National Guard \u201chad come across x2 trucks of armed militia saying there were out hunting FEMA.\u201d<\/p>\n
Earlier in the day, a resident threatened FEMA personnel in a trailer in the same county, according to two volunteers with Cajun Navy, a relief organization. Former Forest Service official Riva Duncan also said people had been harassing federal employees who were delivering aid to the area, saying they didn\u2019t want the help.<\/p>\n
Ashe County, N.C., Sheriff Phil Howell cited \u201cthreats\u201d made against FEMA employees in nearby counties \u2014 though not in his, he said \u2014 and said the officials had \u201cpaused their process as they are assessing the threats.\u201d<\/p>\n
Separately, Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-N.C.) told MSNBC on Sunday that \u201cwe had two counties [where] folks reported different militia groups attacking and threatening FEMA.\u201d<\/p>\n
The origin of the threats and how serious they have been isn\u2019t yet known. The North Carolina National Guard has reportedly said it has no actual reports of encountering militia, though authorities in the state arrested an individual Saturday and charged him in connection with alleged threats made against FEMA.<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s clear that the situation has led to heightened tensions, and that has now delayed recovery efforts. And it\u2019s easy to connect that to the volatile environment that social media misinformation has created in the areas most affected by Helene in western North Carolina. Both Musk and Trump have contributed to that.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s now the second time in a month that a Trump-fueled conspiracy theory has preceded apparent threats made in the relevant area \u2014 with the last one being Trump\u2019s false claims about Haitian migrants stealing and eating pets in Springfield, Ohio. Each time, local Republican officials have sought to combat the conspiracy theories and warned of the harm they could do.<\/p>\n
Both instances reinforce the potential danger of Trump\u2019s conspiratorial bent and willingness to deploy such misinformation and political tactics even in tense and tragic situations. Trump unleashed a torrent of similar misinformation early in the coronavirus pandemic and after the 2020 election as he sought to overturn the results \u2014 the latter of which culminated in the Jan. 6 insurrection.<\/p>\n
Most prominent among the Helene conspiracy theories has been that FEMA has blocked materials and seized property from affected areas. Rutherford County is a focal point of such theories, with users falsely claiming that the government aimed to seize lithium deposits in Chimney Rock in Rutherford County.<\/p>\n
Edwards last week cited that false claim at the very top of a news release seeking to debunk various conspiracy theories related to the hurricane. North Carolina state Sen. Kevin Corbin (R) also prominently cited the theory while seeking to combat misinformation.<\/p>\n
The government in neighboring Buncombe County reported last week that it was inundated with calls about FEMA purportedly rejecting donations and seizing property.<\/p>\n
As far back as last week \u2014 before the most recent events \u2014 a nonprofit group warned of potential militia activity related to such claims. The Institute for Strategic Dialogue connected the conspiracy theories to \u201ccalls to send militias to face down FEMA for the perceived denial of aid, or to shoot and\/or harm FEMA officials and the agency\u2019s emergency responders.\u201d<\/p>\n
To be clear, it\u2019s not just social media users promoting this underlying theory. It has also been Trump, Musk and prominent MAGA influencers.<\/p>\n
They haven\u2019t specifically cited the claims about lithium deposits, but they have promoted the idea that the government is blocking and seizing things. Musk on Oct. 4 passed along a claim from a SpaceX employee who claimed that FEMA was \u201cactively blocking shipments and seizing goods and services locally and locking them away to state they are their own.\u201d Trump then reposted Musk\u2019s X post on his Truth Social platform. Trump has also claimed without evidence that the hurricane response is deliberately withholding aid from Republican-leaning areas.<\/p>\n
Just received this note from a SpaceX engineer helping on the ground in North Carolina. @FEMA is not merely failing to adequately help people in trouble, but is actively blocking citizens who try to help!<\/p>\n
\u201cHey Elon, update here on site of Asheville, NC. We have powered up two\u2026<\/p>\n
\u2014 Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 4, 2024<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Those are among a battery of false claims Trump has made about the hurricane response, in a transparent effort to politically harm the Democrats atop the federal and state governments \u2014 including his 2024 election opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris.<\/p>\n
Shortly after the hurricane hit, Trump claimed Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) hadn\u2019t been able to reach President Joe Biden, even though Kemp had already said he\u2019d spoken to Biden. Trump has also falsely claimed FEMA funding was diverted to helping migrants.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s difficult to attach what we know of the apparent threats in North Carolina directly to Trump or even Musk, vs. others promoting such claims. The claim about seized materials has not been Trump\u2019s most prominent conspiracy theory, even as he has clearly trafficked in it and made other false claims about FEMA.<\/p>\n
We also don\u2019t know much about the threats or how serious they might have been. After dozens of bomb threats in Springfield last month, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) said many of them had originated overseas \u2014 the implication being that foreign actors were seizing on the situation to stoke unrest, rather than that Trump\u2019s claims spurred actual Americans to make such threats.<\/p>\n
But regardless of the origin of the threats, it\u2019s clear the underlying conspiracy theories are creating real problems on the ground and unnecessary confusion and fear in North Carolina. And as with the Jan. 6 insurrection, while Trump\u2019s direct culpability might be an open question, it\u2019s incontrovertible that he has made a tense situation worse with his misinformation.<\/p>\n
He has seeded unwarranted distrust of FEMA with a series of false claims. And North Carolina is the latest to deal with the consequences.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
For weeks, misinformation about the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Hurricane Helene response has spread far and wide on social media platforms \u2014 with more than a helpful nudge from Donald Trump, Elon Musk and the relaxed moderation policies of Musk\u2019s platform, X. The real consequences of that have begun to show. The Washington […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":11036,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11035","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11035","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11035"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11035\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}