A Flood of Lies

Last week was another bonanza of Republican disinformation, disregard, OR weaponization of:

The widespread destruction and heartening response to Hurricane Helene;

The high-stakes longshoreman strike and its swift, inspiring resolution, thanks in no small part to the humane negotiating skills of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg;

Another formidable jobs report and the remarkable economy it reflects in the final report card for the Biden-Harris administration; 

The Vice Presidential debate, where JD Vance, oozing the variety of slick that causes a driver to plummet directly into a ravine, confidently stated that Trump peacefully surrendered power, failing to note the horrific, needless deaths and injuries incited;

Tim Walz’s late-round TKO that caused Vance to fall on his face in an attempt to pivot from answering whether Trump had in fact lost in 2020:

Jack Smith’s shocking filing and its many chilling new revelations about January 6th, particularly those involving VP Mike Pence and precisely why he was not engaged in a cordial, avuncular debate with Tim Walz on that debate stage. 

Also, we witnessed:

Liz Cheney speaking from the heart about our sacred democracy while endorsing Kamala Harris, rallying beside her, to raucous cheers of “Thank you, Liz!”

A blitz of deeply felt endorsements for the Dems from not just Cheney but also legends like Bruce Springsteen and Magic Johnson;

Elon Musk (who’s been on an absolute tear spewing lies on Twitter to 200 million people, including accusing FEMA efforts as being “treason”) appearing at a rally with Trump, behaving in a way that perhaps stoked curiosity as to whether he is his own AI experiment;

And, to the surprise of, well, nobody who has been following the miserable madcap MAGA mob for far too long, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene—feeling all the feels of media neglect in the run-up to an election that is not exclusively focused on her—offering up one of her vintage choice posts on Thursday: “Yes they can control the weather,” adding, “It’s ridiculous for anyone to lie and say it can’t be done.” You’re so right, Marjorie. Diminishing the climate change and suffering Americans by assigning it to Democratic conspiracies so that you can be sure you get attention is, indeed, ridiculous. 

So, it’s been an awfully overwhelming span, with those headlines dominating the last few months of political news.

Totally kidding…that all went down in the past week. It is but a sampling of the bottomless depravity from the right set against the quiet triumphs from the Harris Walz campaign. And doesn’t even touch on the horrors occurring overseas. The week ahead will deliver another onslaught. 

But the lies, particularly those spewing furiously from the thrice-nominated Republican candidate and his radical minions are entirely accidental. Because, as Heather Cox Richardson reminds and warns us: 

“The firehose of lies is designed to make it impossible for voters to figure out the truth. The technique is designed so that eventually voters give up trying to engage, conclude everyone is lying, throw up their hands, and stop voting. Holding on to facts combats the effects of the storm of lies.”   

So if you’re feeling overwhelmed by the avalanche of issues, information, and absolute nonsense…you’re meant to be. But we cannot give in. The best way to combat the paralyzing deluge of lunacy is to distill it down into the basic, indisputable truths—which will not prevent the Trump brigade from disputing them, relentlessly. 

Keep in mind that this is a test run for November and for the lava of dirty, entirely baseless lies that they will no doubt spread about voter fraud, vote dumps, and ballot harvesting. Those lies will run rampant on Twitter, where Elon will not only do nothing to prevent it—he will spread it widely while looking at himself in the mirror and perhaps quietly sobbing while telling himself that he’s a revolutionary. ‘They’ll make a sculpture of you on Mars, Muskostopheles!’ 

So between now and then, as Dr. Richardson proposes, combat the nonsense and the weirdness, however vicious, by holding fast to the facts. Grasp onto them as if our democracy depends on it. 

More urgently, let’s turn our attention or awareness to Hurricane Helene, which uprooted lives and livelihoods last week, devastating a number of our southeastern states in its path. The response from the federal government has been remarkably swift—but those efforts have been completely dwarfed by the bizarre amount of disinformation being peddled by the right. I know I’m not stunning any of you to reveal that these pervasive lies continue to be spearheaded by the unspeakably tiresome chief rambler. 

“Death! And destruction...that we haven’t seen, maybe ever. It’s a real bad one there, because they don’t have the people…No helicopters, no rescue. What's happened there is very bad… They are offering $750 to people whose homes have been washed away…”

It’s one thing when Trump is lying about, say, Kim Jong-Un’s undying affection and admiration. That’s literally territory nobody wants to pursue, even if we could. But to suggest that the federal government has been completely MIA, and has done nothing for victims of the storm beyond heaving $750 at them as though that cash was a roll of paper towels? That’s a stupid lie, to say nothing for the lack of compassion or regard for human suffering it reflects. 

It’s stupid because it can be proven false by many, many people’s experience--be they first-hand accounts of desperate Americans, or the extraordinary number of human beings on the ground making a difference. 

$750 is the FIRST grant given by FEMA—intended to get money to those who need it immediate necessities: food, drinkable water, diapers, baby formula, toiletries, essential medicine. The amount is the same for everyone. And by the way, that money is an increase from the $500 of initial funds that was distributed while Trump was president. After offering that initial life preserver of cash, FEMA is meeting with those impacted to determine how much to allocate for repair costs. That assistance, for those whose homes have been washed away can amount to a maximum of $42,500.

Stating that there’s been “no rescue”? More lies; easily disproved. FEMA was on the ground, helping save lives before the storm hit. Since then, the Biden-Harris administration has approved a 100% federal cost share for emergency response activities in four states; approved major disaster declarations for Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and Tennessee; and directed the Defense Department to deploy up to 1,000 active duty soldiers to support response efforts.

More than 5,300 federal personnel are on the ground supporting the response.

Upwards of $20 million in individual assistance has been provided to thousands of survivors.

FEMA has shipped over 9.3 million meals, 11 million liters of water, 260,000 tarps, and 150 generators.

Those are facts. Diminishing or dismissing those numbers is insulting to the many hands contributing to life-saving, bipartisan efforts. It’s a pathetic, immoral, tangled web being peddled by a sad man or his sycophants seeking to help themselves politically.

BUT, it is very much worth noting, not his whole troop of sycophants are parroting their leader. Top Republican officials from the major states hit by the storm have all openly acknowledged that the top tiers of our government have been anything but MIA. Not for nothing, but if Lindsey Graham, Glenn Youngkin, or Brian Kemp had the opportunity to shit on the Biden-Harris administration for being MIA, don’t you think they WOULD? Less than a month before the election? They’re not. That, too, is a fact.  

Trump’s lies, especially a careless and callous favorite of his about there being no more FEMA funds because it all went to migrant housing, will no doubt result in people in need not bothering to apply, even though THERE ARE FEMA FUNDS. As explained in the above video, any money through DHS that went to migrant housing is a completely different bucket. 

The disinformation being spread about this hurricane and the federal government’s response has been so pervasive that time and resources have had to be wasted creating a new FEMA web page whose exclusive purpose is to debunk false claims, many of which are being made or reiterated by a man vying to dictate over our country. Please consider these realities, because the windfall of lies and disinformation is only going to get stronger in the coming days and weeks. 

And none of that even touches upon Project 2025, which calls for slashing FEMA funding, privatizing weather forecasting, and leaving. Charming plan, bros. 

Ultimately, let’s do our best to combat or interrogate the bullshit we may be absorbing from bad faith actors on the internet. If you want to know who not to trust, look for people right now who are insistent or derisive about how Kamala and Biden are screwing over hurricane victims. Compare that with what you’re hearing from Republican governors, senators, and FEMA representatives. 

If we want to look forward to a country where the truth matters, the only way to do that is to repudiate those who are so recklessly spreading lies at the ballot box--by as wide a margin as possible. I talk through all of this with Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg on my podcast this week.

Republicans have an entire media apparatus built up to spread their fallacies and fraudulent claims. So treat this as a warning. They will lie about the election like they’re lying about this hurricane. They will sacrifice our democracy just like they’re exploiting this human tragedy. Nothing is sacred to these people other than the consolidation of power. All for themselves.  

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I’ll be back early this week for a deeper dive into the heartless “So What” revealed by Jack Smith.

Stay focused. Stay energized. Stay factual.