North Carolina Congressman Chuck Edwards represents some of the areas in the Western part of the state that were hardest hit by Hurricane Helene as it whirled through the Southeastern U.S. last week.
But it is a second storm — the storm of misinformation — that Edwards has had to take time away from his relief efforts to debunk.
This press release from a Republican congressman debunking myths about the Helene response is just an incredible document pic.twitter.com/hbnfZQKus9
— Jordan Weissmann (@JHWeissmann) October 9, 2024
Responding to the disinformation targeting his constituents, Edwards sought to combat raging conspiracy theories that actively hindered recovery efforts, including writing on X that, among other wild conjectures, Hurricane Helene was “NOT geoengineered by the government.”
Edwards could not say the same about the second storm, as members and former members of the U.S. government did help to engineer the storm of conspiracy theories that walloped North Carolina in Helene’s aftermath, spreading false rumors that Edwards called “outrageous.”
While it’s true that FEMA’s response to Hurricane Helene has not been perfect, there are outrageous rumors that have been circulated online and need to be addressed .https://t.co/prL1eFELZs
— Congressman Chuck Edwards (@RepChuckEdwards) October 8, 2024
That storm of manufactured disinformation included a barrage of false insinuations by former President Donald Trump and a particularly egregious instance where Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) suggested that the government — which she said can “control” the weather — created the storm to punish and disenfranchise right-leaning citizens.
[NOTE: On CBS, Scott MacFarlane points out how enervating it is, amidst the chaos of recovery, for Edwards to have to battle both the results of the disinformation and the real storm’s topographic devastation.]
Amid a sea of toxic misinformation…. a US House member from North Carolina tried to debunk the conspiracy theories
Including: No… the government does NOT control the weather
Filed to @cbsnews =====> pic.twitter.com/myZVpauf61
— Scott MacFarlane (@MacFarlaneNews) October 9, 2024
“Hurricane Helene was NOT geoengineered by the government to seize and access lithium deposits in Chimney Rock,” Edwards wrote, addressing the deeper level of conspiracy that had sneaked into the theory — a notion that the federal government hoped to displace North Carolinians in order to take possession of an area rich in lithium, the element critical for batteries.
“Local officials have confirmed the government is NOT seizing Chimney Rock,” Edwards wrote, pleading for a basic level of reason about an iconic North Carolina area that has been devastated by Helene.
This press release from a Republican congressman debunking myths about the Helene response is just an incredible document pic.twitter.com/hbnfZQKus9
— Jordan Weissmann (@JHWeissmann) October 9, 2024