On Thursday, Twitter lit up with the hashtag #SharpiePresident, as people mocked President Donald Trump for drawing a circle around the path for Hurricane Dorian, showing the hurricane threatening the Great State of Alabama. The memes are hilarious, but the hurricane really did threaten Alabama, as Rear Admiral Peter J. Brown said in a letter defending the president. In fact, the Alabama National Guard mobilized for the hurricane days before Trump’s infamous Sharpie snafu.
On Wednesday, Trump shared the original projections, to which someone added a circle in Sharpie to emphasize the threat to Alabama. Note: in the video, Trump does not claim that Dorian was still headed toward Alabama, only that the original projections suggested it would be.
President @realDonaldTrump gives an update on Hurricane #Dorian: pic.twitter.com/CmxAXHY5AO
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) September 4, 2019
The president told The New York Times he did not know who added the Sharpie circle to the map. Liberals rushed to mock the president on Twitter, however, sharing memes about “President Sharpie.”
Donald finally got the check from Mexico. #SharpiePresident pic.twitter.com/5XZI8BH4C4
— ketogirl 🥓 (@RemaxBev) September 6, 2019
I hadn't seen anyone do this yet but it seemed perfect. #SharpiePresident pic.twitter.com/tVtUwtN8Ru
— skullsinthestars (@drskyskull) September 5, 2019
Annexing Greenland! #SharpieGate #SharpieScam #SharpiePresident pic.twitter.com/JB0tdbX5mT
— Principles Over Party (@EthicsOverParty) September 5, 2019
Liberal commentators had a field day, with Stephen Colbert joking that Trump would be going to “weather jail.” Democratic members of Congress also attacked the president over the image, claiming he had committed an illegal act by doctoring the map.
CNN’s Jim Acosta attacked a Trump tweet from September 1, claiming that by that point the threat to Alabama had passed.
This is NOAA’s map archive of Dorian as it headed toward the US. As you can see the forecast does not show the storm threatening Alabama on Sept. 1, the day Trump sent his false tweet. (You can watch the map in motion below) https://t.co/dNbi1QTPpu pic.twitter.com/NHrugTrWM5
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) September 5, 2019
CNN’s senior political reporter, Nia-Malika Henderson, accused the president of “making up a fake hurricane,” and then caught herself, adding, “the fake trajectory of a hurricane.”
This is insane. CNN's @niaCNN just accused President Trump of "making up a fake hurricane."
Here are the maps proving @realDonaldTrump is 100% right about the original projections showing Alabama being impacted by Dorian: https://t.co/hLLDecc8lQ pic.twitter.com/dMS8P0MzqE
— Trump War Room – Text WOKE to 88022 (@TrumpWarRoom) September 5, 2019
Yet Trump tweeted maps showing that the hurricane was projected to hit Alabama.
Just as I said, Alabama was originally projected to be hit. The Fake News denies it! pic.twitter.com/elJ7ROfm2p
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 5, 2019
Rear Admiral Peter J. Brown, Trump’s homeland security and counterterrorism advisor, released a statement explaining the president’s position.
“As the Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Advisor, I briefed President Donald J. Trump multiple times concerning the position, forecast, risks, and Federal Government preparations for and response to Hurricane Dorian,” Brown wrote. He noted that Trump’s comments on September 1 “were based on that morning’s Hurricane Dorian briefing, which included the possibility of tropical storm force winds in southeastern Alabama. In fact, from the evening of Tuesday, August 27 until the morning of September 2, forecasts from the National Hurricane Center showed the possibility of tropical storm force winds hitting parts of Alabama.”
The saga continues pic.twitter.com/DtBZIWJ5n9
— Chris Megerian (@ChrisMegerian) September 5, 2019
Yet perhaps the most important piece of evidence came from the Alabama National Guard itself. The state’s National Guard started mobilizing for Hurricane Dorian because the storm was projected to hit their state.
“[Hurricane Dorian] is projected to reach southern Alabama by the early part of the week. We are watching closely and [ready] to act. Are you?” the Alabama National Guard tweeted.
#HurricaneDorian is projected to reach southern Alabama by the early part of the week. We are watching closely and #ready to act. Are you? pic.twitter.com/iMH0DnE4QO
— AL National Guard (@AlabamaNG) August 30, 2019
If the Alabama National Guard was mobilizing for Hurricane Dorian, Trump was right to say that the original projections suggested Alabama would face the fallout. “Sharpie President” is an overblown story.
Follow Tyler O’Neil, the author of this article, on Twitter at @Tyler2ONeil.
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