Photo: Washington Post
Throughout the last 2 and a half years, I have been trying to give President Trump the benefit of the doubt in any given situation. I have looked at decisions and tried hard to see his perspective. The last two weeks have been a roller-coaster of a ride for scientists and weather forecasters across the nation. Those who are scratching their heads and wondering how the current events came to be.
Remember, Hurricane Dorian has wreaked havoc on the Bahamas. The news has been filled with videos of the destruction. In one scene, a Humvee is shown that was lifted up and propelled to land inside of a house. That vehicle weighs on average around 6,600 lbs or 3 tons. Imagine that vehicle being propelled into your living room. The storm has done an immeasurable amount of damage to regions traveled.
President Caught In A Lie?
On top of all of this horrible news, we have a president who chose to use old (outdated) weather information and broadcast that the state of Alabama would be hit. The old data is shown below:
Photo: MSNBC Morning Joe
Upon closer inspection of the lower left-hand side of the weather map, the date of the infographic is shown. Which is shown below and clearly states that the report is old:
On September 1st, President Trump sent out a 'tweet' shown below:
To which, the National Weather Service from Alabama immediately responded with the following 'tweet':
Next, he presented a poster from the National Hurricane Center and claimed that the state of Alabama would be hit.
A Great Story Never Dies Down...
Throughout the next week, the following weather map shown below would appear on ever national news channel. If you look closely at the left-hand side of the white circle on the map, a black marker was used to extend the range of the storm to include the state of Alabama.
This is ridiculous. This is an outright lie. And still, President Trump continued to lie and say that the storm was going to hit the state of Alabama throughout the entire next week and a half. What?
When the story did not die down but instead start to pick up the momentum, the Trump administration started to ramp up efforts to prove the president correct.
Why has the story grown legs over the last couple of weeks?
There are many reasons why the story has grown legs and continued to dominate the news cycle. The first is that President Trump does not want to be perceived as wrong. He is wrong. Not only is he wrong in forecasting an incorrect fact, but his forecast is also illegal as shown below:
Last weekend, Jamie Pietruskia of the Washington Post, detailed in a perspective article the dangers of incorrect weather reporting. She provided historical time points which pointed to widespread hysteria produced by incomplete forecasting. Distorting weather facts can impact a wide range of industries from the manufacturing industry to the shipping industry not to mention farmers along with local government agencies.
As a result, Congress got involved to ensure that public information would be complete and accurate. Which is why the current efforts by the Trump administration to undermine scientists and weather forecasters is so alarming. Recently, the New York Times reported that the Commerce Department ordered the NOAA (National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration) to issue a response to the public which highlights that President Trump's forecast that Hurricane Dorian would have hit the state of Alabama was correct. Yes, you read correctly.
The Trump administration continues to undermine science by holding the pervasive view that the President was correct and should be recognized as such. There is an issue among many on which this stands to be a real danger to the public at large.
Above, I showed still images from the show 'Morning Joe' reporting on the incorrect weather forecasting. The show was aired a week ago. On that show, the weather forecaster who is shown in the pictures above highlighted the real dangers associated with the President's incorrect forecast. He stated that the real adverse impacts of inaccurate reporting are:
1) The National Hurricane Center Maps are not for TV viewers but for Emergency Disaster Managers
2) During a given state of emergency, is the best use of the National Hurricane Center's time spent on clarifying the incorrect information coming out the of the highest office in the land?
The real problem with inaccurate information is that certain levers in local through the federal government are set in motion. Levers which direct massive amounts of resources and money to be sent to specific geographic locations to respond to such disasters. This means that massive amounts of money could be given to the state of Alabama when the true location is North Carolina or Florida.
All of this chaos is due to one man's inability to admit he was wrong? What a disaster? President Trump needs to do what his job entails him to do -- preside over our nation. He does not need to act like a scientist or a weather forecaster. That is not what the American people elected him to do over the course of an elected term. He needs to preside over national and international issues. Just yesterday, US News and World Report still write about this disaster of reporting. When will the chaos stop? Have a good weekend.
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