Local Republicans decry hurricane falsehoods — as Trump spreads them

The Republican Party in the Trump era has overwhelmingly embraced an all’s-fair-in-love-and-war approach to politics. That’s evidenced by the fire hose of misinformation flowing from Donald Trump and his allies late in the 2024 campaign.

It’s one thing to deploy this approach on a candidate’s positions or qualifications; it’s another to do it when it has real on-the-ground costs to people confronting fraught situations — and even tragedy.

Repeatedly in recent weeks, prominent Republican officials in areas dealing with the fallout have indicated that Trump and his MAGA allies are doing the latter.

They’ve pointed to how false claims and conspiracy theories about Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, and the response to Hurricane Helene have caused or could cause real damage.

The most serious situation is the hurricane response. Top Republicans have increasingly spoken out in recent days against misinformation that’s aimed at criticizing the federal government’s (read: the Biden-Harris administration’s) response. They have often spoken broadly and not invoked specific people such as Trump. But their comments come as Trump and his allies have lodged a multitude of false claims on the same topic, and they often reference specific claims Trump has promoted and politicized.

The message seems to be: Cut it out.

“The last thing that the victims of Helene need right now is political posturing, finger-pointing, or conspiracy theories that only hurt the response effort,” Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) said in a letter to constituents Sunday.

Appearing on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Tillis was asked specifically about Trump’s false claim that the Biden-Harris administration diverted funds from hurricane relief to deal with migrants. Trump said Friday that, because of this, “they don’t have the money” to deal with the hurricane response.

Tillis talked around the specific claim but contradicted Trump by saying that “we have the resources that we need.” He added that federal money spent on migrants is not “affecting the flow of resources to western North Carolina.” His letter to constituents, which started with his plea about misinformation, was released hours later.

Other Republicans pointed to a specific claim about the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) supposedly confiscating supplies and property.

“There’s a lot of misinformation,” Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R) said Thursday, citing that claim. He added: “There’s nothing but commitment to serving the people in this state, and those who spread that kind of misinformation, it’s deeply unfortunate that that’s happening.”

Knox County, Tenn., Mayor Glenn Jacobs (R) also referenced the claim in a statement Friday, urging, “Please quit spreading those rumors as they are counterproductive to response efforts.”

These officials didn’t cite Trump by name, but this is a claim Trump has promoted. It really took off in MAGA world thanks to his top ally Elon Musk last week, but Trump has repeatedly pointed to claims that aid is being blocked and even confiscated.

North Carolina state Sen. Kevin Corbin (R) was among the first prominent Republicans in the area to speak out, decrying the “conspiracy theory junk” on social media and calling it “distracting to people trying to do the job.” Corbin cited the purported confiscation and blocking of supplies and the idea that the government can control the weather (which Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has promoted).

Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-N.C.), who represents hard-hit western North Carolina, was asked Monday morning on CNBC about the confiscation rumors and called them “totally unsubstantiated.”

Edwards clarified that he was not defending FEMA’s broader response. But he added, “It’s so unfortunate that at a time like this where we need to be pulling together and being truthful and working on real solutions, we’ve got some nefarious folks out there that are trying to make a name for themself or see what they can stir up on social media.”

Again, the people stirring this up on social media include Trump and Musk, an ally Trump welcomed to a rally on Saturday. And Trump has been far from “truthful.”

The situation is a callback to what happened last month when Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), began promoting baseless conspiracy theories about Haitian migrants stealing and eating pets in Ohio.

Then, as now, Republican officials in the affected area repeatedly derided the claims and even cast them as harmful to their communities — often while avoiding specifically citing Trump and Vance:

• Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) called Trump’s and Vance’s comments “garbage,” “hurtful to a lot of people” and “very hurtful” to the migrants’ children.
• Springfield Mayor Rob Rue (R) said the conspiracy theories were “hurting our citizens and hurting our community.”
• Clark County Commission president Melanie Flax Wilt (R) said the rumors had diverted resources for “a literal wild goose chase,” damaged the integration of Haitians into the community and had a negative effect on local businesses that depend on Haitian migrants for labor.
• “This certainly is incredibly tragic and completely untrue,” Rep. Michael R. Turner (R-Ohio), who represents Springfield in Congress, said on CNN. “This should not have happened; it’s been tearing the community apart.”

The situation led to dozens of bomb threats; DeWine said many of them appeared to have come from overseas.

Turner in his Sept. 19 CNN interview quickly added that he believed Trump and Vance had “moved on” from the claims. But Trump to this day is talking about deporting Haitian migrants from Springfield — despite the fact that they have legal status.

And now, just weeks after Turner’s interview, Trump and his allies have again saddled fellow Republicans in a specific area with an unnecessarily fraught situation thanks to their penchant for politically expedient misinformation.