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Trump Shows Doctored Map of Hurricane to Back His False Claim About Alabama. How do you like that?

Trump uses doctored map to back false claim about Hurricane Dorian

Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

President Trump on Tuesday presented a doctored version of an official National Hurricane Center map of Hurricane Dorian's path that appeared to show Alabama in the eye of the storm.

Reality check: None of the original forecast maps featured the black loop that appeared on the map shown by Trump.

  • Presumably, the loop was drawn on the map to make it appear as though Trump's false claim that Alabama was in the storm's path was true. (The National Weather Service has since debunked the claim.)
  • In response, the White House provided a map it said Trump was shown on Sunday that displayed a large possible storm track that included a small piece of Alabama. It didn't say who produced the map.
  • Trump also tweeted a map showing many possible storm tracks, including over Alabama. But the map was dated Aug. 28, days before the storm approached the coast.

The big picture: This isn't the first time Trump has pulled something like this.

  • April 2019: Trump tweeted a doctored video of Nancy Pelosi that made her seem drunk with the caption "PELOSI STAMMERS THROUGH NEWS CONFERENCE."
  • January 2019: Gizmodo reported that photos posted to Trump's official Facebook page seemed altered to make himself look thinner and his hands longer. Trump faced insults about his hand size during the 2016 Republican primaries, which he adamantly refuted.
  • November 2018: Then-White House press secretary Sarah Sanders shared an edited video on Twitter of a confrontation between CNN's Jim Acosta and a White House press official that made Acosta look aggressive. The video appeared to editorialize the incident to justify the removal of Acosta's press pass.

The bottom line: The media has been focused on preparing for deepfakes, but amateur fakes coming from the White House are already happening.

This story has been updated to include the Trump tweet and the White House response.


https://www.axios.com/trump-map-dorian-doctors-media-video-a86efda7-ba6f-4989-a186-e39527824de8.html

Posted - September 4, 2019
Tags : None

Responses


  • 5391
    More of the same. Lies to support lies. Talk about fake news; can we now shoot the messenger? 
      September 4, 2019 6:34 PM MDT
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  • 19942
    None of the weather stations were showing the map he presented.  He reimaged the map so that he didn't look like the fool he is.  He cannot admit when he makes a mistake.  Four more years of him and we'll be one of those sh*thole countries he speaks about.
      September 5, 2019 8:14 AM MDT
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  • 5391
    What’s funny is, in trying not to appear to have made a foolish claim, he presents an obviously fake proof that makes him look even more ridiculous. 

    He doesn’t get it. 
      September 5, 2019 9:13 AM MDT
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  • 19942
    No, he doesn't get it and the people who make excuses for him are even more ridiculous.
      September 5, 2019 9:36 AM MDT
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  • 17401
    I have family in Mobile, AL and I live on the Gulf (SouthWest) coast of Florida.  In the first days prior to the news forecasters saying the storm would turn North, we were all on alert and the forecasters did say if the storm crossed the state and  into the Gulf it could strengthen increase and take northwest tract taking it into the panhandle and  Alabama.  I heard that a couple of times.  I don't think I saw the map in the picture with the black circle and I didn't know Trump was forecasting the weather these days.  Point is he may have said it after hearing it but I don't know about the map.  And I don't see why he would want to hype what was already a big hurricane. This post was edited by Thriftymaid at September 4, 2019 7:05 PM MDT
      September 4, 2019 6:36 PM MDT
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  • 46117
    Why you don't see, just mystifies me.  HE IS NUTS. 
      September 4, 2019 7:05 PM MDT
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  • 32701
    Yep. That was still being reported as a possibility Sat. 8/30. 

    https://www.pnj.com/story/weather/2019/08/29/hurricane-dorian-could-make-second-landfall-along-gulf-coast/2152412001/
      September 4, 2019 7:07 PM MDT
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  • 19942
    It's September 5th.  The map has changed, the trajectory of the hurricane has changed.  What else have you got?
      September 5, 2019 8:04 AM MDT
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  • 32701
    Yes, the map changed. But when Trump said this was Sun. (Sept 1) As I showed it was still being forcasted as an possiblity that Dorian could cross FL into the Gulf. (I bet if I looked harder I could find a later report...on Sunday same Day Trump said it) 
      September 5, 2019 8:46 AM MDT
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  • 19942
    The point is that he lied and he altered the map to make it seem as though he was right when no one was saying it would hit Alabama.  Why must you continually make excuses for Trump when he's wrong?  
      September 5, 2019 8:49 AM MDT
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  • 32701
    I do not know about the map. My guess would be that when discussing what locations could see any damage from the storm....(more areas get damage than just those who get hit with the eye)  And the black arc was to show possible high winds capable of damage if the eye did cross over to the Gulf side of FL. 

    I have gotten storm damage from the remnants of Hurricane Andrew years back...it took down trees at my business location. And I am a 20hr straight driving to reach the coast. 

    So it is no hard to believe that there would could be damage in AL if the hurricane did cross FL as was the last point on the map. 

    Where it is at now, 100+ miles away have tornado watches out. If it throws a tornado....that is damage from the hurricane even if they do not actually get hit by the hurricane itself. 
      September 5, 2019 9:02 AM MDT
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  • 19942
    At the time Trump said there was a 95% chance it would hit Alabama, the National Weather Service said the state was in no danger from the storm. 

    Interestingly, it is a violation of federal law to falsify a weather report.  
      September 5, 2019 9:45 AM MDT
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  • 32701
    Do you have a link or video of the 95% quote on Alabama? CNN is not even claiming that. 


      September 5, 2019 9:57 AM MDT
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  • 19942
    “They actually gave that a 95 percent chance probability,” he said. “It turned out that that was not what happened. It made the right turn up the coast. But Alabama was going to be hit very hard, along with Georgia. But under the current, they won’t be.”

    The president did not say where he got that information, which is directly contradicted by days of reports from the National Weather Service and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, neither of which publicly reported any threat to Alabama from the hurricane.
    https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/04/us/politics/trump-hurricane-alabama-sharpie.html

    “They actually gave that a 95 percent chance probability. It turned out that that was not what happened; it made the right turn up the coast. But Alabama was hit very hard, and was going to be hit very hard, along with Georgia,” Trump told reporters, without further explaining where he got the 95 percent figure.
    https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/460044-trump-doubles-down-on-alabama-hurricane-threat
      September 6, 2019 10:27 AM MDT
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  • 32701
    Thank you. 
    Please see my post below to JaneS showing damage for possible for AL. 
      September 6, 2019 2:44 PM MDT
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  • 19942
    From my original posting:

    "None of the original forecast maps featured the black loop that appeared on the map shown by Trump.
    • Presumably, the loop was drawn on the map to make it appear as though Trump's false claim that Alabama was in the storm's path was true. (The National Weather Service has since debunked the claim.)
    • In response, the White House provided a map it said Trump was shown on Sunday that displayed a large possible storm track that included a small piece of Alabama. It didn't say who produced the map.
    • Trump also tweeted a map showing many possible storm tracks, including over Alabama. But the map was dated Aug. 28, days before the storm approached the coast.
    I don't know how much clearer it could be that Trump was wrong. NO ONE was predicting that the storm would hit Alabama.  Yes, Alabama might have been affected by strong winds and rain as the hurricane moved north, but NO ONE was predicting that the hurricane would make landfall in Alabama.  NO ONE.  

    This is where I exit this discussion because no matter how many links I send showing that the hurricane was not predicted to hit Alabama, you are going to challenge that, which makes you as obstinate as Trump and, while I have patience up to a point, I refuse to deal with obstinance in the face of overwhelming facts to the contrary.
      September 6, 2019 2:58 PM MDT
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  • 32701
    Trump did not claim they would be hit by the eye. He said they could be hurt/hit by the storm. There was  And I have posted maps that indeed show it was possible for AL to be hurt (hit by the eye) by the storm. One is from Monday. 
      September 7, 2019 7:14 PM MDT
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  • 9892
    If only he could have gotten hourly updates so that his tweets could have been accurate at the time he made them. Someone should be fired! The president has a lot of critical decisions to make and important guidance to provide to Americans and if he can't get accurate information, bad things can happen.
      September 6, 2019 7:49 AM MDT
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  • 32701
    He made the tweets on Sun the 1st. 
    There were still forcasts that said AL could be hit. (Not with eye but damage) Trump simply told people to be prepared and listen to your local people. 
    Here is what the Euro model was forcasting MON Sept 2nd, the day after Trump's tweets saying AL could be hurt. 
    Notice the black line that is still touching the southeastern border of AL (this is MON the day after the tweets) 
    Now look at this forcast: 
    https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1171434/hurricane-dorian-path-map-latest-euro-model-gfs-noaa-chart-spaghetti-model-nhc


    Here is a map of spaghetti models from 8/29 showing AL was a possiblity. (Interesting these have been removed from American news sites....I was in process of capturing one  on of the New York Times site when I had to help a customer and when I returned it was gone. Why? To claim AL was never in any forcasts) 


    Others have said they had family in AL who were concerned about getting hit. 

    He was correct. There was a chance for damage in AL being forcasted at the time. This post was edited by my2cents at September 6, 2019 2:56 PM MDT
      September 6, 2019 9:16 AM MDT
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  • 9892
    If these maps are credible and the NWS didn't have them, or had them and didn't use them to warn people, then we have a worse situation. I hope it wasn't because Alabama is a red state! If Trump was the only one to sound the much-needed alarm and then got publicly contradicted by the weather service, there is a real swamp that needs draining. 
      September 6, 2019 1:25 PM MDT
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  • 32701
    It was reported earlier. That is why I started hunting. I remembered it being reported as a possibility of a double hit for FL. With it crossing over FL into the Gulf and hit somewhere there and then returning to FL. 

    As you can see Thriftymaid said her family in AL was worried about it. 
    Why the media is claiming it was never a possibility? I can only geuss. 
      September 6, 2019 1:41 PM MDT
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  • 19942
    I can't understand a lot of what he does.  The point of my post was that he altered the map to "prove" that he wasn't wrong about his prediction about Alabama.  None of the weather channels produced such a map or trajectory of the storm at that time.  He just can't admit when he makes a mistake.
      September 5, 2019 8:12 AM MDT
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  • 17401
    Yeah, I just read an article about it a little while ago.  When I answered your question I had not seen the map, and quite frankly couldn't imagine anyone attemting to change a Weather Service map.  But "they" (the local affiliate here) discussed it going across the state into the Gulf and hitting the Florida Panhandle and Alabama. My family was watching very closely.   When it was way out in the Atlantic going 20 mph they didn't have a good idea where it would end up.  And I'm still shocked that it is doing such a job on the Carolinas.  I feel for those folks.  I just saw an article about a blind man in the Bahamas wading through flood water carrying his disabled son on his shoulders.  Heartbreaking stories
      September 5, 2019 3:44 PM MDT
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  • 19942
    According to the National Weather Service, they never thought it would hit Alabama.  Of course, with hurricanes, you can never really tell where they will land.  It would never have been as devastating iv it hadn't hovered over the Bahamas for 12 hours without moving.  The fact that it veered west was a Godsend to the coast although the high tides and rain/flooding will definitely affect them, but they dodged a bullet when they knew the eye of the storm wouldn't pass directly over.  It could have been a lot worse for us, but I'm just flabbergasted at the amount of damage the Bahamas has suffered.  It will be decades before they rebuild. 
      September 5, 2019 6:37 PM MDT
    1