Buoyed by firebrands like Alex Jones and Marjorie Taylor Greene, Helene stirred up a toxic stew of conspiracy theories and culture war politics.
ArticleBody:This story was originally published by Grist. Sign up for Grist’s weekly newsletter here. This story is part of State of Emergency, a Grist series exploring how climate disasters are impacting voting and politics. The conspiracy theories started swirling even as the flood waters were rising: Hurricane Helene, the deadliest storm to strike the United States since Katrina in 2005, was created specifically to target Trump voters in crucial swing states.
as a sinister, all-powerful boogeyman capable of the most outlandish and fiendish deeds. During the COVID-19 pandemic, conspiracists alleged that it was seizing medical supplies from hospitals and local governments. Similar rumors about spending over a billion dollars on illegals while they leave Americans stranded and without help is treasonous,” Tim Burchett, a Republican representative from Tennessee, said on X, without citing evidence. Another theory says the agency had prioritized diversity, equity, and inclusion, or DEI, training over disaster preparedness. Immigration, and to a lesser extent DEI, are the heart of former president Donald Trump’s re-election platform.
typically discourages people from sending supplies or going into a disaster zone, not because it wants to keep aid from the people who need it, but because all those items and untrained volunteers simply get in the way and slow down relief efforts. That’s why states often echo
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