Former President Donald Trump traveled to Valdosta, Georgia on Monday, where he rambled incoherently about how no one could have predicted Hurricane Helene’s arrival—which made landfall at the peak of hurricane season.
Speaking to the press outside the heavily damaged brick facade of a warehouse, Trump opined, “Nobody thought this would be happening, especially now it’s so late in the season for the hurricanes.”
Hurricane season typically runs from early June through late November, meaning that there are still two months to go. What’s more, forecasters with the National Hurricane Center not only knew of Helene’s coming, but accurately predicted its path and impact days before it hit.
Since making landfall in Florida on Thursday night as a Category 4 hurricane, Helene has ravaged the Southeastern United States. At least 128 deaths had been reported across six states by Monday, according to the Associated Press, with millions of people left stranded without power and dozens of towns completely submerged under floodwaters.
Thousands more remain missing, with state officials warning that the death toll is expected to rise.
The Trump campaign announced over the weekend that he’d be heading south to be briefed on the situation there and tour some of the damage. At least 17 of the 25 deaths reported so far in Georgia occurred in Valdosta.
“Hurricane Helene turned out to be a big one,” Trump said at the press conference. “Like, just about the biggest that anyone has seen. I spoke with all of the relief people, all of the people that do this for a living and… they said they’ve never seen one this bad.”
A day earlier, Trump had bashed Vice President Kamala Harris for failing to change her plans like he had, saying at a rally in Erie, Pennsylvania that she “ought to be down in the area” affected by the hurricane.
“She ought to be down in the area where she should be,” he complained. “That’s what she’s getting paid for, right? That’s what she’s getting paid for.”
The Democratic presidential nominee scrapped several campaign events on Monday to return to Washington, D.C. and attend a Federal Emergency Management Agency briefing, her campaign said.
She and President Joe Biden are expected to visit hurricane-damaged parts of the state “as soon as it will not disrupt emergency response operations,” according to Politico.
Trump’s visit comes after he attracted controversy during a rally stop in Michigan on Friday, when he directed a seemingly thoughtless comment to those impacted by the storm.
“We’re with you all the way, and if we were there, we’d be helping you,” he said, “and you’ll be OK.”
The Harris campaign reposted a clip of the remark to X, noting that “Dozens of deaths have already been reported.”
His supporters and allies argued in turn that his words had been taken out of context, and that Trump was merely consoling the storm’s victims.
Critics have savaged Trump for his response to previous natural disasters, calling him insensitive and callous for episodes like an incident in 2017 that saw him casually toss rolls of paper towels into a cheering crowd in San Juan, Puerto Rico, after the island was devastated by Hurricane Maria.
“You don’t throw them. You hand them,” celebrity chef José Andrés, who was involved in relief efforts in Puerto Rico, told The Washington Post a year later. “You look the people in the eye and tell them, ‘We’re here for you, and we’ll do our best to provide relief for you and your family.’”
In 2019, it was reported that the then-president had repeatedly suggested to to senior Homeland Security and national security officials that they explore using nuclear bombs to stop hurricanes.
“Why don’t we nuke them?” Trump asked at one hurricane briefing, according to Axios. “They start forming off the coast of Africa, as they’re moving across the Atlantic, we drop a bomb inside the eye of the hurricane and it disrupts it. Why can’t we do that?”
Just days after Axios’ report, Trump made a stray—and false—assertion on social media that Hurricane Dorian was expected to hit Alabama, prompting panicked residents to call into the confused local weather bureau.
Instead of issuing a correction, Trump doubled down on his declaration, showing reporters a weather map showing the path of the hurricane that had seemingly been altered with black Sharpie to include Alabama in the “cone of uncertainty.”
The National Weather Service had to move quickly to dispel what became known as “Sharpiegate,” clarifying that “Alabama will NOT see any impacts” from the storm.
Trump has also repeatedly cast doubt on climate change, which scientists have linked to the worsening impact of hurricanes like Helene. As recently as Sunday’s rally, the former president referred to climate change as “one of the great scams of all time,” according to The Independent.
“No, but think about this,” Trump said. “They never talk about the environment anymore. You know why? It’s one of the greatest scams of all time. People aren’t buying it any more.”
