The scandal has gone beyond a Sharpie as government employees say that they felt pressured to from above to put out an inaccurate hurricane forecast.
The Washington Post reported:
The agency sent a similar message warning scientists and meteorologists not to speak out on Sept. 4, after Trump showed a hurricane map from Aug. 29 modified with a hand-drawn, half-circle in black Sharpie around Alabama.
“This is the first time I’ve felt pressure from above to not say what truly is the forecast,†the meteorologist said. “It’s hard for me to wrap my head around. One of the things we train on is to dispel inaccurate rumors and ultimately that is what was occurring — ultimately what the Alabama office did is provide a forecast with their tweet, that is what they get paid to do.â€
This is so much worse than a Sharpie on a map.
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The President Of The United States is pressuring national weather forecasters to change their forecasts so that they agree with his tweets. Trump is meddling with life and death situations so that he can appear to be correct on Twitter. Abuse of power does not begin to cover the president’s behavior. Donald Trump is using the power of the executive branch of the federal government to help him create a false reality that could cause unnecessary panic, or in the worst-case scenario, get people killed.
Trump isn’t a meteorologist, and he shouldn’t be trying to predict the path of a hurricane on Twitter.
The president is corrupting public trust in all elements of the US government and potentially putting lives at risk with his unstable behavior.
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Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
