Disasters like Helene and Milton test leaders. Trump fails every time

In 2019, residents of Alabama were unnecessarily alarmed after then-President Trump incorrectly said Hurricane Dorian was headed their way. However, instead of acknowledging he made a mistake, Trump questioned the National Weather Service and showed Americans a falsified weather map — which is against the law.

Opinion Columnist

LZ Granderson

LZ Granderson writes about culture, politics, sports and navigating life in America.

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Today the former president is spewing lies about relief efforts and federal resources at a time when those affected by Hurricanes Helene and Milton need guidance and aid. State and local Republicans have asked him to stop, because apparently misinformation mucks up rescue and relief efforts. Of course, Trump doesn’t care so long as his lies also muck up the election.

What can I say? Same Trump, different year.

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After he intentionally played down the threat of COVID-19 in those initial months of 2020, Trump said he purposefully misled the public to prevent panic. As a result, we were ill-prepared as a country. Our hospitals became quickly overrun, with people dying in school gyms and bodies held in refrigerated trucks as morgues overflowed.

The pandemic began with him lying to us about the severity of the virus. Four years later, and once again Trump’s instinct as a leader during a national crisis is to lie to the American people and complain about “The View.”

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Elections have consequences. The first Trump term added $8.4 trillion to the national debt and forced rape victims to give birth after the overturning of Roe vs. Wade by Trump justices. If you flip through Project 2025, the plan conservatives put together to reshape the federal government under a second Trump administration, you’ll see that Round 2 would be much worse.

Trump would even make natural disasters worse.

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The 2025 blueprint calls for chopping up and selling off large chunks of the federal government’s agency devoted to gathering data about weather — the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. That’s where the National Hurricane Center is housed. The expert who suggested that Trump scrap this agency for parts, Thomas F. Gilman, was a lifer in the automobile industry before joining Trump’s Commerce Department in 2019, the same year Trump redrew the route of a hurricane with a Sharpie.

Project 2025 sets out to replace tens of thousands of experienced civil servants who have relevant expertise with political appointees who are first loyal to Trump — people like Gilman. If you’re still wondering how bad that could be, consider that while the nation was bracing for Hurricane Milton — on the heels of Hurricane Helene — one of Trump’s allies, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), used her platform to tell Americans “they” control the weather.

She didn’t say who “they” are, how “they” are doing it or what House Republicans would do to stop … “they.” It sounds nonsensical because it is. But do not conflate nonsensical with inconsequential. Elections have consequences.

Greene might believe 9/11 was a hoax, but Republicans who know better placed her on the Homeland Security Committee to appease Trump. The committee’s official website states that it was formed “in 2002 in the aftermath of September 11, 2001,” and yet GOP leadership put a denier on the panel to appease someone who they know is lying about hurricane relief efforts right now. Loyalty to Trump is the only currency that matters to some of these people. Not expertise, not traditional conservative values, not integrity.

That’s how the party of Lincoln has sadly become the party that responds to national emergencies by scapegoating others: claiming “they” control the weather; “they” are eating pets; “they” are paid actors rather than traumatized survivors of a school shooting. To this day, House Speaker Mike Johnson refuses to say who won the 2020 election. Instead when reporters ask, he accuses them of hurling “gotcha questions” at him, which may be good for his relationship with Trump but doesn’t help the country in any way.

All of which brings me here: For more than 50 years, since Richard M. Nixon faced off against John F. Kennedy, televised debates have been a benchmark in presidential politics. With Trump at the center of attention, the first Republican primary debate of 2016 gave Fox the most-watched nonsports event in cable history. The second debate also brought high ratings. Trump didn’t start skipping debates in the primary until Fox News announced it would be using video of previous appearances to hold candidates accountable for their words.

That’s why he and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), oppose fact-checking during debates and interviews. Accountability is why Trump avoided debating Ambassador Nikki Haley during the 2024 primary. It’s why he got into a fight with journalists at a news conference this past summer. It’s why he’s afraid to debate Vice President Kamala Harris again.

When a businessman is accustomed to escaping consequences for his misdeeds by filing for bankruptcy as often as Trump has, I can see why he’d be uncomfortable with being held accountable.

However, a president or candidate doesn’t get to avoid accountability any more than the country can escape the consequences of an election. Trump’s lies in office did damage. His lies today are hurting people who need help. And no one should be surprised: In every crisis, Trump has shown himself to be a liar, not a leader.

@LZGranderson