Donald Trump Fights Back Against Media Mockery, Doubles Down On Claim Dorian Threatened Alabama
Donald Trump doubled down on his claim that Alabama was in Hurrican Dorian’s path after the media and popular culture figures slammed him for displaying a map that had been altered using a marker to support his erroneous assertion.
According to The Washington Post, the president tweeted on Thursday that his Sunday tweet was accurate and that the media was reporting falsely to harm his reputation. He insisted that he was presented with predictions that showed Alabama being impacted directly by the hurricane.
“In the early days of the hurricane, when it was predicted that Dorian would go through Miami or West Palm Beach, even before it reached the Bahamas, certain models strongly suggested that Alabama & Georgia would be hit as it made its way through Florida & to the Gulf,” he tweeted.
“Instead it turned North and went up the coast, where it continues now. In the one model through Florida, the Great State of Alabama would have been hit or grazed. In the path it took, no. Read my FULL FEMA statement. What I said was accurate! All Fake News in order to demean!” he concluded.
The tweets come as a defense over the ongoing controversy that started on Sunday when Trump claimed that Dorian was headed for Alabama. At the time, Dorian was slamming into the Bahamas as a high-end Category 5 hurricane, prompting public alarm that the storm could impact more Americans on the mainland than expected.
The National Weather Service in Birmingham, Alabama was forced to respond to the president’s message saying that the state would not be impacted by the storm. After being attacked for the post, which was deemed inaccurate by experts, Trump fixated on the idea.
He attempted to prove his information by displaying a modified image from the National Hurricane Center that had apparently been altered using a marker to show that the hurricane’s path would hit the state as he claimed.
President @realDonaldTrump gives an update on Hurricane #Dorian: pic.twitter.com/CmxAXHY5AO
— The White House 45 Archived (@WhiteHouse45) September 4, 2019
He also repeatedly posted a map showing the hurricane’s flight path on Wednesday and Thursday, calling for the media to apologize for its claim that he was incorrect. The week-old map, which showed the majority of impact would hit Florida, had long been ruled out by experts prior to Trump using it as evidence for his comments. The map also contained details at the bottom saying it should be ignored if updated information was provided by the National Hurricane Center.
This was the originally projected path of the Hurricane in its early stages. As you can see, almost all models predicted it to go through Florida also hitting Georgia and Alabama. I accept the Fake News apologies! pic.twitter.com/0uCT0Qvyo6
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 4, 2019
Dorian has now reduced to a Category 3 storm and is approaching North Carolina and South Carolina.
