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It’s not unusual for members of Congress to issue press statements after their districts are affected by natural disasters. It’s a basic part of constituent services: Lawmakers alert local residents to available resources, for example, and provide information on how they can get help in a time of need.
But in 2024, that’s apparently no longer good enough. HuffPost reported:
The Republican congressman who represents a western North Carolina district badly damaged by the remnants of Hurricane Helene is tired of the conspiracy theories about recovery efforts circulating online. In a lengthy statement, Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-N.C.) praised the support his district has received but also noted “an uptick in untrustworthy sources trying to spark chaos by sharing hoaxes, conspiracy theories, and hearsay about hurricane response efforts across our mountains.”
As regular readers know, Donald Trump has spent the last week brazenly lying about the governmental response to the deadly storm. State and local officials, including plenty of Republicans, have asked him to stop deceiving the public, but he’s ignored the appeals.
Indeed, the former president continues to ignore the appeals on a daily basis.
The consequences of Trump’s duplicity are real: As my MSNBC colleague Clarissa-Jan Lim explained, officials have said that the election season lies and conspiracy theories “are hindering relief efforts,” while forcing agencies to waste time and resources combatting lies that too many people are falling for.
It was against this backdrop that Edwards, still in his first term on Capitol Hill, published a rather remarkable 800-word press statement, condemning “untrustworthy sources” and responding to “outrageous rumors.”
After going point by point, debunking all kinds of bizarre nonsense — my personal favorite read, “Hurricane Helene was NOT geoengineered by the government to seize and access lithium deposits in Chimney Rock” — the GOP congressman concluded, “I encourage you to remember that everything you see on Facebook, X, or any other social media platform is not always fact. Please make sure you are fact checking what you read online with a reputable source.”
Edwards did not mention Trump’s name, though as a Washington Post report noted, “[S]everal of the hoaxes the congressman listed have been pushed by the former president and his allies — including the false claim that Federal Emergency Management Agency has diverted disaster response funding to the border or to foreign aid.”
Or put another way, when the North Carolina Republican lamented the “untrustworthy sources” who’ve injected conspiratorial poison into the discourse, seeking to capitalize on human suffering to advance their own interests, he was indirectly referring to his own party’s presidential nominee.
That Edwards even felt the need to issue such a statement reflects the extent to which GOP leaders have taken a sledgehammer to our public discourse.
If Trump is rewarded for his misinformation and disinformation campaigns with a second term, the fight over the nature of reality will almost certainly get worse.