Mike Luckovich, Atlanta Journal Constitution
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As once-in-century hurricane heads for Florida, major media is silent about Trump's disaster relief lies
Hurricane Milton threatens to hit Florida on Wednesday as a once-in-century storm. FEMA and the National Guard are already stretched thin in their response to Hurricane Helene. And Trump continues to spew his disinformation about their response in North Carolinaâcreating an aura of distrust and the potential for vigilante violence by misguided storm victims who believe Trump's lies about the disaster relief.
The good news is that many responsible Republican elected officials have criticized or condemned Trump's lies. The bad news is that the criticism hasnât stopped Trump. He as at it again on Monday. See The Guardian, Fema chief warns âdangerousâ Trump falsehoods hampering Helene response.
While the major media outlets are rightfully focused on the potential damage from Hurricane Milton, they have already lost interest in Trump's disinformation campaign. It has disappeared from their platformsâeven though Trump has not relented. His lies continue unabated.
Never before and never again in the history of our Republic will we witness a presidential candidate leverage the lives and safety of victims of natural disasters into pawns in a campaign. Kamala Harris condemned Trump's statements on Mondayâand the major media yawned (except for The Guardian). Harris said, in part,
People are in desperate need of support right now and playing political games at this moment, in these crisis situations â these are the height of emergency situations â it is utterly irresponsible and it is selfish and it is about political gamesmanship instead of doing the job that you took an oath to do, which is to put the people first.â
And I cannot stress enough to all the folks in Florida in the Tampa area, please listen to evacuation orders. Please listen to your local officials because I know a lot of folks out there have survived these hurricanes before; this one is going to be very, very serious and I urge you to grab whatever you need. The other point Iâd make is thereâs a lot of misinformation being pushed out there by the former president about what is available, particularly for the survivors of Helene. First of all, itâs extraordinarily irresponsible. Itâs about him, itâs not about you. The reality is Fema has so many resources that are available to those who desperately need them.â
Trump is subordinating the lives and safety of hundreds of thousands of Americans to his partisan political interest. That is a scandal unmatched in American historyâand it is missing from the front pages and websites of nearly every major news source. Shameful!
Florida threatens local news stations with jail time for running political ads supporting ballot initiative
If you want a view into what a second Trump presidency would look like, check out Florida. Governor Ron DeSantis has threatened to prosecute local news stations for running political ads in support of the ballot initiative to protect reproductive rights in Florida. The threats are plainly unconstitutional, but the fact that the state is threatening jail time for political speech is beyond the pale. Letâs hope that all Floridians are outraged by this abuse of power and government overreachâand motivated to turn out in massive numbers on November 5. See Talking Points Memo, DeSantis Threatening Jail Time for Running Abortion Rights Ads in Florida.
Again, the fact that the major media has not come down on DeSantis like a ton of bricks bespeaks an inexplicable quiescence in the face of an onrushing fascist threat. Â
[Robert B. Hubbell Newsletter]














