What started with a tweet intended to encourage residents of states potentially impacted by Hurricane Dorian to stay safe has escalated to a congressional investigation, a flood of reports making increasingly more dramatic claims, and President Trump, again, pushing back on the &#8220;fake news&#8221; reports based on unnamed sources.
On Wednesday, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2019/09/11/lawmakers-commerce-department-launch-investigations-into-noaas-decision-back-presidents-trump-over-forecasters/">T</a><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/11/us/politics/trump-alabama-noaa.html">he New York Times</a> upped the ante on the NOAA Alabama &#8220;clarification&#8221; story, reporting that unnamed sources from the administration say it was Trump himself who directed his chief of staff to tell Commerce Sec. Wilbur Ross to strong-arm the NOAA to &#8220;clarify&#8221; the controversy over what its analysts were predicting about the potential path of Dorian when Trump first included Alabama as one of the states that could be impacted.
Citing &#8220;people familiar with the events,&#8221; including &#8220;a senior administration official, who asked not to be identified discussing internal matters,&#8221; the Times reported Wednesday that Trump, &#8220;seeking to justify his claim of a hurricane threat to Alabama, pressed aides to intervene with a federal scientific agency, leading to a highly unusual public rebuke of the forecasters who contradicted him.&#8221;
&#8220;In response to the president’s request, Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff, told Wilbur Ross, the commerce secretary, to have the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration publicly correct the forecasters, who had insisted that Alabama was not actually at risk from Hurricane Dorian,&#8221; the Times continues. &#8220;A senior administration official, who asked not to be identified discussing internal matters, said Mr. Trump told his staff to have NOAA &#8216;clarify&#8217; the forecasters’ position.&#8221;
The result of the order was NOAA issuing an unsigned <a href="https://www.noaa.gov/news/statement-from-noaa">statement</a> on Friday correcting and giving more context to the NWS Birmingham rebuke of Trump&#8217;s initial tweet including Alabama in the potential impact areas:
<blockquote>From Wednesday, August 28, through Monday, September 2, the information provided by NOAA and the National Hurricane Center to President Trump and the wider public demonstrated that tropical-storm-force winds from Hurricane Dorian could impact Alabama. This is clearly demonstrated in Hurricane Advisories #15 through #41, which can be viewed at the following link.
The Birmingham National Weather Service’s Sunday morning tweet spoke in absolute terms that were inconsistent with probabilities from the best forecast products available at the time.</blockquote>
On Wednesday, as reported by the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/11/climate/noaa-wilbur-ross-dorian.html">Times</a>, a Democrat-led congressional committee opened an inquiry into the reports that Ross threatened to fire NOAA staff if they didn&#8217;t issue the correction. The House Committee on Science, Space and Technology sent a letter demanding any documents or information related to the issue. &#8220;We are deeply disturbed by the politicization of NOAA’s weather forecast activities for the purpose of supporting incorrect statements by the president,&#8221; wrote Democratic Reps. Eddie Bernice Johnson and Mikie Sherrill.
Both the Commerce Department and Trump deny the claims and have denounced the reports as &#8220;fake news.&#8221;
A spokesperson for the Commerce Department told The Daily Wire on Monday that The New York Times story claiming Ross threatened to fire NOAA staff is simply &#8220;false.&#8221;
&#8220;Secretary Ross did not threaten to fire any NOAA staff over forecasting and public statements about Hurricane Dorian,&#8221; the spokesperson told The Daily Wire.
On Wednesday, Trump denied telling his chief of staff to order the &#8220;clarification.&#8221;
&#8220;I never did that,&#8221; Trump told reporters Wednesday, as reported by the <a href="https://time.com/5674609/noaa-trump-dorian-alabama-claims/">Associated Press</a>. The Times&#8217; report claiming he gave the order is just more &#8220;fake news,&#8221; he said.
Below are the pair of tweets that started the latest Trump firestorm:
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">In addition to Florida &#8211; South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama, will most likely be hit (much) harder than anticipated. Looking like one of the largest hurricanes ever. Already category 5. BE CAREFUL! GOD BLESS EVERYONE!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1168174613827899393?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 1, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">Alabama will NOT see any impacts from <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Dorian?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Dorian</a>. We repeat, no impacts from Hurricane <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Dorian?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Dorian</a> will be felt across Alabama. The system will remain too far east. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/alwx?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#alwx</a>
— NWS Birmingham (@NWSBirmingham) <a href="https://twitter.com/NWSBirmingham/status/1168179647667814400?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 1, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/51632/study-finds-media-losing-fake-news-war-badly-james-barrett">Study Finds Media Is Losing The ‘Fake News’ War Badly</a>

President Trump Hurricane Briefing

UPDATES: NYT Says TRUMP Ordered NOAA Statement; Dems Launch Investigation; Trump Responds

Donald Trump

Hurricane Dorian

Trump Administration

The media are pathetic. But that doesn’t mean they can’t hit an all-time low yet again.
Take Sharpiegate. Yes, every little thing in Washington eventually gets a “-gate” suffix, no matter how insignificant.
As Hurricane Dorian moved across the Caribbean last month, very early forecasts showed the possibly Category 5 storm might hit Florida hard. In what are called &#8220;spaghetti models&#8221; — several lines showing projections for where a given tropical storm or hurricane might go — one showed Dorian crossing Florida and moving into the Gulf of Mexico before doubling back across the state. Several showed the path crossing over into parts of Alabama.
The storm was still hundreds of miles east of Puerto Rico, so the models were virtually meaningless.
President Trump and acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin K. McAleenan updated the media on Dorian in an Oval Office briefing. Trump held up a map from the National Hurricane Center that showed the &#8220;cone&#8221; of the storm. But on the edge, drawn in black magic marker, was another smaller half-circle that extended the cone into the Florida panhandle and Alabama.
Then the real hurricane descended on Washington, the media declaring that Trump had falsely claimed that the hurricane was going to &#8220;hit&#8221; Alabama. At one point, The Washington Post cited an unnamed source <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/51455/wapo-we-found-out-who-illegally-sharpied-trumps-james-barrett">saying</a> Trump himself had drawn the half-circle on the big map, asserting that Mr. Trump is known to use Sharpies.
The &#8220;scandal&#8221; quickly became #Sharpiegate.
Day after day, the media penned pieces on how Trump had said Alabama was ground zero for Dorian. By September 5 — Day 7 of the biggest story in Washington — Trump took to Twitter to defend himself.
&#8220;In the early days of the hurricane, when it was predicted that Dorian would go through Miami or West Palm Beach, even before it reached the Bahamas, certain models strongly suggested that Alabama &amp; Georgia would be hit as it made its way through Florida &amp; to the Gulf,&#8221; Trump tweeted.
Trump followed up by tweeting: &#8220;Alabama was going to be hit or grazed, and then Hurricane Dorian took a different path (up along the East Coast). The Fake News knows this very well. That&#8217;s why they&#8217;re the Fake News!&#8221;
On and on the major &#8220;scandal&#8221; went. It got stupider and stupider, sure, but on it went nevertheless.
Before we move on with The Story of the Century, let&#8217;s stop and point out that huge hurricanes — which Dorian certainly was — often have major rain and wind bands that stretch for hundreds of miles. Based on the very early projection, had Dorian come straight into Florida, Alabama would likely have been affected — if not by hurricane-force winds, at least by heavy rain and possible flooding.
Doubt that? Think back to Hurricane Irene in 2011. The media spent days breathlessly saying the huge storm was projected to directly hit New York City. It didn&#8217;t. But it did hit — Vermont. Hard. Almost every river and stream in Vermont flooded and many of the historic covered bridges were damaged or destroyed.
Hurricanes affect areas hundreds of miles from where they make landfall. Case closed.
By September 7, the whole story started to change.
&#8220;The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued a statement from an unidentified spokesman stating that information provided by NOAA and the National Hurricane Center to the president had demonstrated that &#8216;tropical-storm-force winds from Hurricane Dorian could impact Alabama,'&#8221; The Associated Press reported. &#8220;The advisories were dated from last Wednesday, Aug. 28, through Monday, the statement read.&#8221;
&#8220;Parts of Alabama were covered, usually with 5% to 10% chances, between Aug. 27 and Sept. 3. Maps on Aug. 30 grew to cover far more of Alabama, but for only 12 hours, and the highest percentage hit 20% to 30% before quickly shrinking back down,&#8221; the AP said.
And there you go. At least for some period of time, the storm — or its remnants, or its outer bands, or something — was expected to affect Alabama.
Trump wasn&#8217;t wrong, but the media just couldn&#8217;t let it go. And they sought out people who would say so.
&#8220;People are used to the president saying things that aren&#8217;t true, but this Alabama stuff is another story,&#8221; sources told the heavily liberal site The Independent in a piece headlined &#8220;&#8216;Trump is in severe mental decline&#8217;: Concerns raised over president’s health.&#8221;
&#8220;No one knows what to expect from him anymore,&#8221; one former White House official told Business Insider, speaking anonymously.
Then Britain’s Daily Mail tabloid got into the act. &#8220;Workers in the National Weather Service are &#8216;shocked, stunned and irate&#8217; at their bosses in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for backing Trump up and claiming that he was right to say Hurricane Dorian was headed for Alabama.&#8221;
But now, two weeks later — and long after Dorian came and went — the story is finally losing wind.
Only to be replaced by this from The New York Times: &#8220;Trump Had Deal With Scotland Airport That Sent Flight Crews to His Resort.&#8221;
Get ready for a week of #Resortgate — and more idiocy from America’s media.
*Joseph Curl ran the Drudge Report from 2010 to 2014 and covered the White House for a dozen years. He can be reached at josephcurl@gmail.com and on Twitter at @JosephCurl. A version of this article ran previously in The Washington Times.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/51568/nyt-commerce-sec-threatened-fire-noaa-employees-if-james-barrett">NYT: Commerce Sec. Threatened To Fire NOAA Employees If They Didn’t Back Trump; Senior Official: That’s Not What Happened</a>

President Trump With Melania Trump

CURL: #Sharpiegate Shows Mainstream Media Has Terminal Case Of Trump Derangement Syndrome

Media Bias

The Sharpiegate saga added another anonymous source-based chapter on Monday with <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/09/climate/hurrican-dorian-trump-tweet.html">The New York Times</a> reporting that Commerce Sec. Wilbur Ross allegedly &#8220;threatened to fire top employees at NOAA on Friday after the agency’s Birmingham office contradicted President Trump&#8217;s claim that Hurricane Dorian might hit Alabama.&#8221; At least that&#8217;s what &#8220;three people familiar with the discussion&#8221; told the Times. Another unnamed source, a senior administration official, told the Times that they&#8217;ve got their story wrong, while a Commerce Department spokesperson told The Daily Wire that the claim is flat-out &#8220;false.&#8221;
The alleged threat by Ross to NOAA employees, the Times reports, &#8220;led to an unusual, unsigned statement later that Friday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration disavowing the office&#8217;s own position that Alabama was not at risk.&#8221; That, in turn, sparked &#8220;widespread anger within the agency and drew criticism from the scientific community that NOAA, a division of the Commerce Department, had been bent to political purposes.&#8221;
The whole Alabama-Dorian-Sharpie scandal began last week with a seemingly innocuous tweet from Trump trying to keep residents of the Southern states apprised of the threat of Dorian, which grew to become a Category 5 at its height. In the tweet, Trump included Alabama among the states that might be impacted. He also made the claim during a press conference on the hurricane, suggesting that the most recent models included Alabama as potentially threatened, though by then the models did not include Alabama.
The claim was countered by the National Weather Service Birmingham, which tweeted out an emphatic correction: &#8220;Alabama will NOT see any impacts from #Dorian. We repeat, no impacts from Hurricane #Dorian will be felt across Alabama. The system will remain too far east.&#8221;
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">In addition to Florida &#8211; South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama, will most likely be hit (much) harder than anticipated. Looking like one of the largest hurricanes ever. Already category 5. BE CAREFUL! GOD BLESS EVERYONE!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1168174613827899393?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 1, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">Alabama will NOT see any impacts from <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Dorian?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Dorian</a>. We repeat, no impacts from Hurricane <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Dorian?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Dorian</a> will be felt across Alabama. The system will remain too far east. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/alwx?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#alwx</a>
— NWS Birmingham (@NWSBirmingham) <a href="https://twitter.com/NWSBirmingham/status/1168179647667814400?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 1, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
Amid blowback from the media, Trump doubled and tripled down on the claim that he was correct — at least about initial reports. The &#8220;scandal&#8221; reached a new level when Trump presented a storm forecast map from the NOAA that appeared to have been altered with a Sharpie marker to include Alabama among the potentially threatened states (see image above).
According to three of the Times&#8217; sources &#8220;familiar with his actions,&#8221; Ross phoned NOAA Acting Director Neil Jacobs two days later and told him &#8220;to fix the agency&#8217;s perceived contradiction of the president.&#8221; The sources said that when Jacobs objected, Ross told him that &#8220;the political staff at NOAA would be fired if the situation was not fixed.&#8221; The result, according to the Times, was the <a href="https://www.noaa.gov/news/statement-from-noaa">NOAA statement</a> backing up Trump issued Friday:
<blockquote>From Wednesday, August 28, through Monday, September 2, the information provided by NOAA and the National Hurricane Center to President Trump and the wider public demonstrated that tropical-storm-force winds from Hurricane Dorian could impact Alabama. This is clearly demonstrated in Hurricane Advisories #15 through #41, which can be viewed at the following link.
The Birmingham National Weather Service’s Sunday morning tweet spoke in absolute terms that were inconsistent with probabilities from the best forecast products available at the time.</blockquote>
The Times reports, however, that while three of its sources said Ross&#8217;s threat is what prompted the statement, a senior administration official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, &#8220;said that the Birmingham office had been wrong and that NOAA had simply done the responsible thing and corrected the record.&#8221;
The politicization of the process was the other way around, the official said, stating that the NWS Birmingham tweet had been &#8220;motivated by a desire to embarrass the president more than concern for the safety of people in Alabama.&#8221; The unnamed official did not offer any proof for the assertion, the Times notes.
A spokesperson for the Commerce Department told The Daily Wire on Monday that the Times&#8217; report claiming that Ross threatened to fire staff if they did not back Trump is false. &#8220;The New York Times story is false,&#8221; the spokesperson told The Daily Wire. &#8220;Secretary Ross did not threaten to fire any NOAA staff over forecasting and public statements about Hurricane Dorian.&#8221;
Meanwhile, other NOAA and NWS officials have been blasting staff members about caving to political pressure and providing inaccurate information. NOAA&#8217;s Acting Chief Scientist Craig McLean sent out an email to staff warning that he was looking for whoever might have violated the agency&#8217;s policies by publicly backing Trump in the press release Friday.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/50775/trump-nyt-just-admitted-what-ive-been-saying-all-james-barrett">Trump: NYT Just Admitted What I’ve Been Saying All Along About Their Anti-Trump Agenda</a>
This story has been updated to include the statement from the Commerce Department spokesperson.

NYT: Commerce Sec. Threatened To Fire NOAA Employees If They Didn’t Back Trump; Senior Official: That’s Not What Happened

On Thursday’s episode of “The Andrew Klavan Show,” Klavan talks about CNN’s fact-free reporting about climate change. Video and partial transcript below:
Remember that “Simpsons” headline? I always loved this headline, “Old Man Yells At Cloud,” and it just has a picture of the old man from “The Simpsons” yelling at the cloud. That to me is the Democrats. They&#8217;re yelling at the clouds.
There&#8217;s this terrible storm, Dorian, and Dorian is now, I think, moving over the Carolinas. It&#8217;s been degraded to a Category 2 as I&#8217;m speaking [Thursday morning], went up to a Category 3, but when it hit the Bahamas — it eliminated whole parts of the Bahamas. That was a genuine catastrophe. Last I heard, the death toll was around seven I think, but it&#8217;s obviously, unfortunately, going to go up.
So we talk about this fact that it&#8217;s a fact-free world, and it&#8217;s always Donald Trump&#8217;s fault. So Donald Trump, at some point, said that he thought the storm was going to hit Alabama, and all the weather people said no, no, no. The National Weather Service said Alabama is not going to see any impact from Dorian. This is important, because when the president says something, people pack up and leave — they evacuate and all this stuff, so it matters.
<div class="embed video fluid-video"><iframe loading="lazy" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/C95jo55YM-E?start=421" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></div>
If [Trump] was wrong, he shouldn&#8217;t have said it. If he was wrong, he should have admitted it. Then, [Trump] was talking in front of a weather map, and somebody had drawn on the weather map movement that made it look like the storm was going to hit Alabama. And Trump is still saying he was right about this, that there was a point when they said it was gonna hit Alabama. Who knows?
Who cares? This is what I mean. When they talk about a fact-free world, they&#8217;re always going after Trump&#8217;s gaffes. He talks carelessly, and you know, the way I hear him lie — he lies in this kind of harmless exaggerating way, and in this negotiating way. But we’ve kind of factored in the way Trump talks, most of us, those of us who are paying attention, those of us who are not trying to destroy him in order to give power back to the Democrats, which is a small number of people in the media.
But let&#8217;s compare that to the news media and to the Democrats. When we&#8217;re talking about the storm, does it hit Alabama? Does it not hit Alabama? Was it ever going to? I don&#8217;t know, a lot of times Trump turns out to have been right about this. I don&#8217;t know what he saw. But let&#8217;s talk about this. Temperatures, I think, have been rising somewhat. The question of whether that increases hurricanes is completely unknown. Nobody knows. There have not been any more hurricanes recently. The question is, does it make them more powerful? We don&#8217;t know.
Even the U.N., which has been pushing climate change like crazy, doesn&#8217;t know whether hurricanes get more powerful just in the same way that they don&#8217;t know whether [climate change] makes fires worse. It seems like there are fewer forest fires, but they burn worse because of poor forest management. That&#8217;s what it seems like. But there&#8217;s a lot of science that&#8217;s unsettled, this whole thing. However, is that unsettled on CNN? No, no, no my friends. On CNN, the science is done completely in the laboratories of their imagination and they&#8217;ve got it all figured out. This is what CNN is selling about Dorian.
<blockquote>BLITZER: We&#8217;re seeing firsthand the effects of climate change, as a powerful Atlantic hurricane is sitting right now off the coast of Florida. It could make landfall tomorrow in South Carolina ….
BLITZER: More extreme weather events, like Hurricane Dorian that&#8217;s churning toward the Carolinas right now.</blockquote>
<blockquote>BURNETT: Think bigger fires in the West, or deadlier heatwaves, supercharged storms like the one we&#8217;ve seen now, Hurricane Dorian, which is hovering off the coast of the Carolinas as I speak&#8230;
BURNETT TO HARRIS: When you look at the severe weather, certainly what we&#8217;re seeing with the hurricane now …
BURNETT: The top Democratic presidential candidates are all with us tonight on the heels of the deadly hurricane Dorian, which is leaving neighborhoods underwater in the Bahamas — utter devastation. It now heads north along the United States coast.
BURNETT: The storm comes as we are facing a catastrophe of unprecedented proportions. You know, Hurricane Dorian is just one, right. One thing, right, one side of that dangerous world that scientists say we are entering if humans do not cut carbon pollution.</blockquote>
<blockquote>COOPER: Flooded coastal cities, island nations under water &#8230;
COOPER: We&#8217;re coming to you, of course, tonight just as Hurricane Dorian, the strongest storm anywhere on the planet this year, has decimated parts of the Bahamas and is threatening the East Coast.
COOPER: &#8230; [T]alking about super storms and mass extinction, worsening drought.</blockquote>
They have it all figured out on CNN. They actually don’t even need scientists, they just have little scientists in their brains who run around doing experiments in their imagination, getting the results that they want to get. You could even hear the way Anderson Cooper was talking when he said [Dorian is] the “strongest storm anywhere on the planet this year.”
So it&#8217;s a bad storm, [but] we’ve had bad storms before. If my anecdotal memory is any use at all, when I was a kid, storms were much worse. We had these hurricanes, I remember my backyard — I lived out on Long Island. I remember these storms that absolutely flooded our neighborhoods, flooded, and we were fairly far inland, but we would just get absolutely flooded. Guys in hip[-high] waters coming down the street to make sure everybody was alright, boats being overturned.
Then they stopped for a while. They seemed to get better, and now [we’re starting] to see some of these storms again. But of course, it&#8217;s the reporting. I mean you heard that. That is completely fact-free reporting. They do not have proof that Dorian has anything to do with climate change, and they haven&#8217;t prove[n] that climate change is a result of human activity.
The climate is changing; the climate always changes. Human activity does create heat, I&#8217;m sure it does have an effect on the climate. We just don&#8217;t know if it&#8217;s catastrophic. When they call you a denier &#8230; that is a way of comparing people who disagree with the Democratic panic on this, the CNN panic. This completely dishonest reporting on CNN, they&#8217;re comparing you to Holocaust deniers.
The Holocaust, the most completely documented atrocity in human history. OK, I mean the Nazis, say what you will about them: They kept good records. They kept good records, and we have their testimony, and we have the testimony of people who were there, and we have movies, we have all this [stuff]. If you&#8217;re denying the Holocaust, it&#8217;s because you are an anti-Semite. That&#8217;s why people deny the Holocaust, or you&#8217;re a nutty conspiracy theorist.
If you are denying that a computer model can predict the climate long into the future, you&#8217;re simply being sensible and sane. The climate is a vastly complex system that computers have not predicted very soundly in the past. So we simply don&#8217;t know what&#8217;s going on. The other thing is, even in the worst climate predictions, the cost is not that bad. You know the cost of climate change is not that bad, but it is if you&#8217;re listening to CNN.
<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-andrew-klavan-show/id1045171376?mt=2">Listen to full episodes of “The Andrew Klavan Show” on iTunes. </a>
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/podcasts/show/andrew-klavan-show">Watch “The Andrew Klavan Show” on-demand! </a>

KLAVAN: Old Democrats Yell At Cloud

Anderson Cooper

Climate Change

Democratic Party

Global Warming

Wolf Blitzer

The &#8220;SharpieGate&#8221; scandal added another curve on Thursday. Amid warnings that whoever altered the map President Trump displayed in an Oval Office briefing on Hurricane Dorian may have violated a 1948 law forbiddding issuing &#8220;counterfeit weather forecast[s] or warning[s] of weather conditions,&#8221; <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/what-i-said-was-accurate-trump-stays-fixated-on-his-alabama-error-as-hurricane-pounds-the-carolinas/2019/09/05/32597606-cfe7-11e9-8c1c-7c8ee785b855_story.html">The Washington Post</a> reported that an unnamed White House official told the paper that it was Trump himself who took the Sharpie to the map to include Alabama in the potential impact area.
&#8220;It was Trump who used a black Sharpie to mark up an official National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration map, which he displayed during an Oval Office briefing on Wednesday, according to a White House official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations,&#8221; the Post reported Thursday.
&#8220;No one else writes like that on a map with a black Sharpie,&#8221; the official said.
&#8220;Several White House officials argued that media coverage of the Alabama issue has been unfair to Trump, but one senior administration official said that &#8216;as long as it&#8217;s in the news, he is not going to drop it,'&#8221; the Post reports.
The Post&#8217;s report follows a warning from its own Aaron Blake on Wednesday that a 1948 federal law could mean big trouble for whoever marked up Trump&#8217;s map. &#8220;Whoever knowingly issues or publishes any counterfeit weather forecast or warning of weather conditions falsely representing such forecast or warning to have been issued or published by the Weather Bureau, United States Signal Service, or other branch of the Government service, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ninety days, or both,&#8221; <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/2074">18 U.S. Code § 2074</a> reads. (The Post has since published another report explaining &#8220;<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2019/09/06/why-president-trumps-sharpied-weather-map-was-likely-crime-should-be/">Why President Trump’s Sharpied weather map was likely a crime — and should be</a>.&#8221;)
At the briefing Wednesday, Trump showed the&#8221;Sharpied&#8221; map and was pressed on it by a reporter. &#8220;[When] you showed us the map earlier, the original forecast of it, it appeared to have been, I guess, edited or something to include Alabama,&#8221; the reporter <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/51443/sharpie-gate-anatomy-most-ludicrous-presidential-frank-camp">asked</a>. &#8220;Can you explain how that change was made?&#8221;
&#8220;No. I just know &#8230; that Alabama was in the original forecast,&#8221; he said. &#8220;They thought it would get it, as a piece of it. Actually, we have a better map, which is gonna be presented, where we had many lines going directly — many models, each line being a model — and they were going directly through. And in all cases, Alabama was hit, if not lightly, in some cases pretty hard. Georgia, Alabama — it was a different route. They actually gave that a 95% 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, was going to be hit very hard.&#8221;
Asked again about how the change was made, Trump said, &#8220;I don’t know. I don’t know.&#8221;
On Wednesday, Trump also tweeted out a so-called spaghetti map showing that Alabama was initially projected as potentially being impacted by the storm. &#8220;This was the originally projected path of the Hurricane in its early stages,&#8221; he tweeted. &#8220;As you can see, almost all models predicted it to go through Florida also hitting Georgia and Alabama. I accept the Fake News apologies!&#8221;
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">This was the originally projected path of the Hurricane in its early stages. As you can see, almost all models predicted it to go through Florida also hitting Georgia and Alabama. I accept the Fake News apologies! <a href="https://t.co/0uCT0Qvyo6">pic.twitter.com/0uCT0Qvyo6</a>
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1169375550806351872?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 4, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
Soon after he posted the tweet, the <a href="http://www.apnews.com/416144d854fb4302a9f34cccae81b0e0">Associated Press</a> quoted hurricane researcher Brian McNoldy, who blasted the map. &#8220;He has no clue what he&#8217;s talking about, or what is plotted on that map,&#8221; said McNoldy. &#8220;At the time of that cycle, Alabama was at even lower risk than before, and it was barely anything to start with.&#8221;
But Trump has since followed that tweet up with another early model likewise showing Alabama as potentially being impacted by Hurricane Dorian. &#8220;Just as I said, Alabama was originally projected to be hit. The Fake News denies it!&#8221; he tweeted Thursday.
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">Just as I said, Alabama was originally projected to be hit. The Fake News denies it! <a href="https://t.co/elJ7ROfm2p">pic.twitter.com/elJ7ROfm2p</a>
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1169705282123046913?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 5, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
As <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/51443/sharpie-gate-anatomy-most-ludicrous-presidential-frank-camp">The Daily Wire</a> detailed Thursday, &#8220;SharpieGate&#8221; officially started over the weekened when Trump posted an update on the status of Hurricane Dorian. &#8220;In addition to Florida — South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama, will most likely be hit (much) harder than anticipated. Looking like one of the largest hurricanes ever. Already category 5,&#8221; he tweeted. &#8220;BE CAREFUL! GOD BLESS EVERYONE!&#8221;
The inclusion of Alabama, which was in fact included in some early projections, but by the time Trump posted the tweet was considered safely out of the storm&#8217;s potential path, prompted the National Weather Service (NWS) Birmingham to tweet out a correction: &#8220;Alabama will NOT see any impacts from #Dorian. We repeat, no impacts from Hurricane #Dorian will be felt across Alabama. The system will remain too far east.&#8221;
Trump also named Alabama as a state that could feel some effects of the storm in a briefing Sunday, suggesting that recent models included it, which wasn&#8217;t the case. Amid backlash from the media, Trump would go on to tweet defenses of his inclusion of Alabama several times over the next few days.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/51443/sharpie-gate-anatomy-most-ludicrous-presidential-frank-camp">Sharpie-Gate: Anatomy Of The Most Insane Presidential ‘Scandal’</a>

WaPo: We Found Out Who Illegally Sharpied Trump’s Hurricane Map

Washington Post

On Sunday morning, President Trump sent out the following tweet regarding Hurricane Dorian: &#8220;​In addition to Florida — South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama, will most likely be hit (much) harder than anticipated,&#8221; he wrote. &#8220;Looking like one of the largest hurricanes ever. Already category 5. BE CAREFUL! GOD BLESS EVERYONE!&#8221;
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">In addition to Florida — South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama, will most likely be hit (much) harder than anticipated. Looking like one of the largest hurricanes ever. Already category 5. BE CAREFUL! GOD BLESS EVERYONE!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1168174613827899393?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 1, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
Less than half an hour later, the National Weather Service (NWS) Birmingham issued a rebuttal tweet: &#8220;Alabama will NOT see any impacts from #Dorian. We repeat, no impacts from Hurricane #Dorian will be felt across Alabama. The system will remain too far east,&#8221; NWS Birmingham tweeted.
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Alabama will NOT see any impacts from <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Dorian?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Dorian</a>. We repeat, no impacts from Hurricane <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Dorian?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Dorian</a> will be felt across Alabama. The system will remain too far east. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/alwx?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#alwx</a>
— NWS Birmingham (@NWSBirmingham) <a href="https://twitter.com/NWSBirmingham/status/1168179647667814400?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 1, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
After slamming the Bahamas as a category 5 monster, Hurricane Dorian made a northward turn, skimmed the Florida coast, and is currently churning up the Eastern Seaboard.
On Wednesday, during a briefing held in the Oval Office, the president displayed a poster-board featuring the projected path of Dorian as predicted by the National Hurricane Center as of last Thursday.
On top of the original image, which showed Dorian&#8217;s predicted path through the following Tuesday, it looked as though a hand-drawn bubble extending the affected area to include the state of Alabama had been added using black marker.
Holding the display, President Trump said:
<blockquote>We got lucky in Florida. Very, very lucky indeed. We had actually — our original chart was that it was going to be hitting Florida directly &#8230; and that would have affected a lot of other states. But that was the original chart, and you see it was going to hit not only Florida, but Georgia. It could have &#8230; was going toward the Gulf — that was what we, what was originally projected, and it took a right turn, and ultimately, hopefully we&#8217;re going to be lucky. It depends on what happens with South Carolina, North Carolina.</blockquote>
<div class="embed video fluid-video"><iframe loading="lazy" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZCmrTmmeZUo" width="720" height="385" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></div>
A reporter later asked the president about the apparent Sharpie add-on: &#8220;[When] you showed us the map earlier, the original forecast of it, it appeared to have been, I guess, edited or something to include Alabama. Can you explain how that change was made?&#8221;
Trump <a href="https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&amp;v=-J98rgakZfE">replied</a>:
<blockquote>No. I just know &#8230; that Alabama was in the original forecast. They thought it would get it, as a piece of it. Actually, we have a better map, which is gonna be presented, where we had many lines going directly — many models, each line being a model — and they were going directly through. And in all cases, Alabama was hit, if not lightly, in some cases pretty hard. Georgia, Alabama — it was a different route. They actually gave that a 95% 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, was going to be hit very hard.</blockquote>
Pressed again on the &#8220;Sharpie,&#8221; the president said: &#8220;I don’t know. I don’t know.&#8221;
The Associated Press <a href="https://www.apnews.com/416144d854fb4302a9f34cccae81b0e0">notes</a>: &#8220;The highest probability issued for a U.S. locale for Dorian has been in the 60% range, not 95%.&#8221;
In the face of scrutiny regarding his assertions about Dorian making an impact on Alabama, President Trump continued to defend himself.
&#8220;​Such a phony hurricane report by lightweight reporter @jonkarl of @ABCWorldNews,&#8221; he tweeted. &#8220;I suggested yesterday at FEMA that, along with Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina, even Alabama could possibly come into play, which WAS true. They made a big deal about this when in fact, under certain original scenarios, it was in fact correct that Alabama could have received some &#8216;hurt.&#8217; Always good to be prepared! But the Fake News is only interested in demeaning and belittling. Didn&#8217;t play my whole sentence or statement. Bad people!&#8221;
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">&#8230;.when in fact, under certain original scenarios, it was in fact correct that Alabama could have received some “hurt.” Always good to be prepared! But the Fake News is only interested in demeaning and belittling. Didn’t play my whole sentence or statement. Bad people!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1168664116095082496?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 2, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
On Wednesday, the president tweeted a &#8220;spaghetti&#8221; model created by the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) from August 28 in which several of the numerous paths Hurricane Dorian could have taken had it seemingly impacting the state of Alabama.
&#8220;This was the originally projected path of the Hurricane in its early stages,&#8221; he wrote. &#8220;As you can see, almost all models predicted it to go through Florida also hitting Georgia and Alabama. I accept the Fake News apologies!&#8221;
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">This was the originally projected path of the Hurricane in its early stages. As you can see, almost all models predicted it to go through Florida also hitting Georgia and Alabama. I accept the Fake News apologies! <a href="https://t.co/0uCT0Qvyo6">pic.twitter.com/0uCT0Qvyo6</a>
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1169375550806351872?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 4, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
User @morten hit back, tweeting, &#8220;Not so fast, Sharpie! You used a map stamped August 28 (lower left corner). Your erroneous tweet was sent September 1. You &#8216;informed&#8217; the population with a four days old weather forecast?&#8221;
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none">Not so fast, Sharpie!
You used a map stamped August 28 (lower left corner). Your erroneous tweet was sent September 1. You &#8220;informed&#8221; the population with a four days old weather forecast?<a href="https://t.co/XCGWI8KskB">https://t.co/XCGWI8KskB</a> <a href="https://t.co/HNmNm0fRbz">pic.twitter.com/HNmNm0fRbz</a>
— Morten Øverbye (@morten) <a href="https://twitter.com/morten/status/1169579092016029697?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 5, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
The Associated Press <a href="https://www.apnews.com/416144d854fb4302a9f34cccae81b0e0">quotes</a> hurricane researcher Brian McNoldy, who said of the president&#8217;s spaghetti map: &#8220;He has no clue what he&#8217;s talking about, or what is plotted on that map. At the time of that cycle, Alabama was at even lower risk than before, and it was barely anything to start with.&#8221;
Additionally, at the bottom of the spaghetti map, it states: &#8220;NHC [National Hurricane Center] advisories and County Emergency Management Statements supersede this product. This graphic should complement, not replace, NHC discussions. If anything on this graphic causes confusion, ignore the entire product.&#8221;
The Daily Wire reached out to the South Florida Water Management District in order to find the model the president used on his Twitter feed, but as of publication, we have not received a reply. However, there were several spaghetti models from late-August that showed similar results:
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">The latest spaghetti models show <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Dorian?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Dorian</a> hitting farther south than originally expected. That puts the Treasure Coast and the Palm Beaches closer to the eye.
One model shows landfall Sunday at noon on the TC as a category 3.
Please prepare and stay safe. <a href="https://twitter.com/WPBF25News?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@WPBF25News</a> <a href="https://t.co/z6TZyLzrrX">pic.twitter.com/z6TZyLzrrX</a>
— Ari Hait (@wpbf_ari) <a href="https://twitter.com/wpbf_ari/status/1166807389611450368?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 28, 2019</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Here&#8217;s some of the updated spaghetti models associated with Tropical Storm <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Dorian?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Dorian</a>. Here&#8217;s a link to more tropical maps: <a href="https://t.co/IInQZfpEwY">https://t.co/IInQZfpEwY</a> <a href="https://t.co/KfHF1aC3b2">pic.twitter.com/KfHF1aC3b2</a>
— Bay News 9 Weather (@bn9weather) <a href="https://twitter.com/bn9weather/status/1166435007575011334?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 27, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
On Wednesday, the idea was floated that the president, or the individual who altered the map, may have broken the law.
The Washington Post&#8217;s Aaron Blake <a href="https://twitter.com/aaronblake/status/1169315922189914112?s=21">pointed</a> to a 1948 law (<a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/2074">18 U.S. Code § 2074</a>) that reads: &#8220;Whoever knowingly issues or publishes any counterfeit weather forecast or warning of weather conditions falsely representing such forecast or warning to have been issued or published by the Weather Bureau, United States Signal Service, or other branch of the Government service, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ninety days, or both.&#8221;
Hurricane Dorian is &#8220;about 55 miles south-southeast of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and 105 miles south-southwest of Wilmington, North Carolina,&#8221; reports <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/live-news/reinvigorated-dorian-lashing-north-and-south-carolina-coasts/">CBS</a>. Meanwhile, the devastation from the hurricane is still being assessed in the Bahamas, where &#8220;the official death toll rose to at least 23 Thursday. The Red Cross said nearly half of the homes on the Abaco Islands and Grand Bahama were damaged or destroyed.&#8221;
Dorian is currently a category 2 storm, and is expected to make landfall in North Carolina today or Friday.

Trump Hurricane Map

Sharpie-Gate: Anatomy Of The Most Insane Presidential ‘Scandal’

Each time North Carolina’s Outer Banks is threatened by a hurricane, people across the country worry about the wild horses that inhabit the beach.
CNN is here to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/05/us/north-carolina-wild-horses-hurricane-dorian/index.html?no-st=1567706793">report</a> that there is no need to worry; the horses have been evading hurricanes for 500 years and know what to do. What’s more, unlike humans, the horses can naturally sense changes in air pressure and act accordingly.
As Hurricane Dorian bears down on North Carolina’s coastline, the horses will move to higher ground and huddle together under oak trees for shelter, CNN reported. The outlet explained that the Corolla Wild Horse Fund sends a message before hurricanes letting people know the horses will be okay. The Fund manages and cares for the herd.
&#8220;They&#8217;ll likely ride out winds and rain as their ancestors did before them — in huddles, butts to the wind,&#8221; the organization wrote in its message regarding Dorian.
“Remember, they&#8217;ve been doing this for 500 years!&#8221; the Fund added.
The horses, according to the Outer Banks visitor’s guide, were the earliest settlers in the area after being brought over from Europe in the 1500s. The guide explains that the horses were possibly left behind by Spanish explorer Lucas Vasquez de Allyon, who sent his commanders to colonize the eastern seaboard of America.
“While many modern historians believe the majority of these initial explorations happened somewhere around Cape Fear, (due to multiple references to the large saltwater river), it&#8217;s possible that these expeditions led them all the way to the Northern Outer Banks,” the guide explains.
While the Spanish explorers abandoned the area after various attacks by the area’s Native Americans, the horses remained.
Another theory as to the origins of the horses is that they were brought over by English commander Richard Greenville.
“Regardless of their actual roots, one of the allures of the wild horses is, and has been for centuries, their mysterious appearance on the Outer Banks,” the guide explains. “Whether they are intrepid survivors who indeed ‘traveled incredible journeys’ from ancient shipwrecks off the coastline, or the descendants of livestock that were left behind by the earliest of colonists, the unclear ancestry of the Corolla Wild Horses is clearly part of the allure of their story.”
While Hurricane Dorian continues to batter South Carolina’s coast before moving up to North Carolina, the horses are already preparing for the storm. Extra food and water have been stocked at the farm the horses frequent, and ID tags have been braided into their manes. The Fund said the herd manager will stay at the farm with them through the hurricane.

A wild Spanish mustang on a dune

Don’t Worry, The Wild Horses Of The Outer Banks Will Be Okay During Hurricane Dorian

North Carolina

It has become known to some on Twitter as #sharpiegate.
As Hurricane Dorian moved across the Caribbean last week on its way toward the United States, forecasts showed a possible direct hit on Florida. One model even showed the hurricane crossing the state into the Gulf of Mexico and then doubling back to move back into the Atlantic Ocean.
A week ago, on August 29, President Donald Trump and Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Kevin McAleenan updated the media on Hurricane Dorian in an Oval Office briefing. There, Trump held up a map from the National Hurricane Center that showed the “cone” of the storm. But on the edge, drawn in black magic marker, was another smaller half-circle that extended the cone into the Florida panhandle and Alabama.
The hurricane has since turned northbound and is currently tracking up the East Coast. But Trump insists that at one point, Alabama was in fact in the path of the storm — or at least the outer bands of the storm, which can extend hundreds of miles.
“In the early days of the hurricane, when it was predicted that Dorian would go through Miami or West Palm Beach, even before it reached the Bahamas, certain models strongly suggested that Alabama &amp; Georgia would be hit as it made its way through Florida &amp; to the Gulf,” Trump tweeted Thursday morning.
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">In the early days of the hurricane, when it was predicted that Dorian would go through Miami or West Palm Beach, even before it reached the Bahamas, certain models strongly suggested that Alabama &amp; Georgia would be hit as it made its way through Florida &amp; to the Gulf&#8230;.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1169578155096584192?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 5, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
“Instead it turned North and went up the coast, where it continues now. In the one model through Florida, the Great State of Alabama would have been hit or grazed. In the path it took, no,” he continued. “Read my FULL FEMA statement. What I said was accurate! All Fake News in order to demean!”
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">&#8230;.Instead it turned North and went up the coast, where it continues now. In the one model through Florida, the Great State of Alabama would have been hit or grazed. In the path it took, no. Read my FULL FEMA statement. What I said was accurate! All Fake News in order to demean!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1169578155948072962?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 5, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
Trump followed up by tweeting: “Alabama was going to be hit or grazed, and then Hurricane Dorian took a different path (up along the East Coast). The Fake News knows this very well. That’s why they’re the Fake News!”
On Wednesday, in another Oval Office briefing, Trump said Alabama was in the “original forecast.”
“I know that Alabama was in the original forecast, they thought they would get it as a piece of it &#8230; we had many lines going directly, many models, each line being a model, going directly through, and in all cases, Alabama was hit, if not likely, in some cases, pretty hard,” Trump said.
“They actually gave that a 95 percent chance probability. It turned out that&#8217;s not what happened &#8212; it made a right turn up the coast,” he continued. “But Alabama &#8230; was going to be hit very hard, along with Georgia. But under the current, they won&#8217;t be, but Georgia will be possibly.”
Asked about the added circle on the August 29 map, Trump said: “I don&#8217;t know.”
Trump also put out a map from the early days of the storm, saying: “As you can see, almost all models predicted it go through Florida also hitting Georgia and Alabama. I accept the Fake News Apologies!”
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">This was the originally projected path of the Hurricane in its early stages. As you can see, almost all models predicted it to go through Florida also hitting Georgia and Alabama. I accept the Fake News apologies! <a href="https://t.co/0uCT0Qvyo6">pic.twitter.com/0uCT0Qvyo6</a>
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1169375550806351872?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 4, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
Those projected paths, known as “spaghetti models,” often show tropical storms or hurricanes going off in numerous directions. Every day, some models fall out as others appear, based on how the storm is tracking.
But the media — and Trump foes on Twitter — had sunk their teeth into a huge story: Trump said Dorian was going to hit Alabama.
Within hours, #sharpiegate was trending on Twitter.
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Got Greenland! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/sharpiegate?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#sharpiegate</a> <a href="https://t.co/oLSZMcdrT0">pic.twitter.com/oLSZMcdrT0</a>
— Magnus Hammar (@magnushammar) <a href="https://twitter.com/magnushammar/status/1169509399850881024?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 5, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">When the President plays golf&#8230; <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/sharpiegate?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#sharpiegate</a> <a href="https://t.co/Y60YdDQfBl">pic.twitter.com/Y60YdDQfBl</a>
— Padraig MacRodáin (@PadraigPiarais) <a href="https://twitter.com/PadraigPiarais/status/1169614570396295169?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 5, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">When morons get sharpies, bad things happen.<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/sharpiegate?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#sharpiegate</a> <a href="https://t.co/Xuc2lTGi18">pic.twitter.com/Xuc2lTGi18</a>
— Anne Sagebiel (@AnnieSage) <a href="https://twitter.com/AnnieSage/status/1169413556313313282?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 5, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
#Sharpie also trended on the social media platform.
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">After today Trump FINALLY found a way to prove he had a large attendance at his inauguration.<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Sharpie?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Sharpie</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/sharpiegate?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#sharpiegate</a> <a href="https://t.co/cxtJJKpasu">pic.twitter.com/cxtJJKpasu</a>
— Hard 2 Follows (@carriesmith1123) <a href="https://twitter.com/carriesmith1123/status/1169355778957991938?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 4, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Donald Trump is thrilled to announce he’s been added to Mount Rushmore. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/sharpie?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#sharpie</a> <a href="https://t.co/fICENsMVia">pic.twitter.com/fICENsMVia</a>
— @boopumpkins (@boopumpkins) <a href="https://twitter.com/boopumpkins/status/1169335694289985537?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 4, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">He did. He kept his promise! <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@realDonaldTrump</a> and the <a href="https://twitter.com/WhiteHouse?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@WhiteHouse</a> just released imagery showing a completed Wall. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/nofilter?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#nofilter</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/sharpie?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#sharpie</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/nosharpie?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#nosharpie</a> <a href="https://t.co/HXJXwAaZOM">pic.twitter.com/HXJXwAaZOM</a>
— Eric #VegasStrong (@mypoophonked) <a href="https://twitter.com/mypoophonked/status/1169354865815912449?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 4, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
But one user, citing a Southern rock anthem, said it was time to move on.
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">“Now <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Sharpiegate?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Sharpiegate</a> does not bother me 
Does your conscience bother you? 
Tell the truth 
Sweet home Alabama 
Where the skies are so blue” 
-Lynyrd Skynyrd
— Kai (@UnderAntares) <a href="https://twitter.com/UnderAntares/status/1169608787222769664?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 5, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>

Trump_Dorian

Trump Doubles Down On Claim Hurricane Dorian Threatened Alabama, Rips Media

Alabama

Hurricane Dorian, which was upgraded over the weekend to a Category 5, hit the Bahamas with record sustained wind speeds of 185 MPH on Sunday. As the hurricane battered the Abaco and Grand Bahama Islands, authorities in Florida issued mandatory evacuations for multiple counties Sunday, including Palm Beach, Martin, and St. Lucie Counties. Among the high-profile places under the evacuation order is Donald Trump&#8217;s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach. As a developing eyewall replacement cycle threatens to broaden Dorian&#8217;s wind field, the threat of wind and storm surge to Florida is increasing.
Dorian slowly churned over Abaco Island on Sunday, resulting in massive flooding and catastrophic damage. The Category 5 hurricane continued to wreak havoc on the islands Monday, as reported by the <a href="https://apnews.com/02c093eb6ce24d24a959e6d87088590a">Associated Press</a>.
&#8220;Hurricane Dorian hovered over the Bahamas on Monday, pummeling the islands with a fearsome Category 5 assault that shredded roofs, hurled cars and forced even rescue crews to take shelter until the onslaught passes,&#8221; AP reported Monday morning. &#8220;The storm’s top sustained winds fell slightly to 165 mph (270 kph), and its westward movement slowed almost to a standstill. The system crawled along Grand Bahama Island at just 1 mph (2 kph).&#8221;
<a href="https://www.wunderground.com/cat6/Dorians-Wind-Field-Likely-Weaken-and-Expand-Due-Eyewall-Replacement-Cycle">Weather Underground</a> reported in a Monday morning update that Dorian&#8217;s stall location &#8220;increases the probability that the hurricane will turn north in time to miss a direct landfall in Florida, but a developing eyewall replacement cycle (ERC) may broaden Dorian’s wind field, increasing the wind and storm surge threat to Florida.&#8221;
As the hurricane slammed the Bahamas Sunday, Florida officials began ordering evacuations in counties expected to be impacted by the powerful storm.
&#8220;Mandatory evacuation orders for parts of Palm Beach County and Martin County are being issued starting at 1 p.m., as a now-Category 5 Hurricane Dorian reached the Bahamas and nears Florida&#8217;s east coast, state emergency director Jared Moskowitz said Sunday morning,&#8221; the <a href="https://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/article234614387.html">Miami Herald</a> reported. &#8220;In Palm Beach County, one of the state&#8217;s most populous regions, the evacuation order affects about 183,000 residents who live in mobile home parks, barrier islands or other at-risk regions from the Jupiter inlet to the county&#8217;s southern border with Broward County. In Martin, about 38,000 residents are affected.&#8221;
The zones named in the Palm Beach evacuation orders &#8220;cover long swaths of the county&#8217;s beach front, including President Donald Trump&#8217;s Mar-a-Lago resort,&#8221; the paper notes.
Later Sunday, St. Lucie County was also ordered to undergo mandatory evacuations. &#8220;The main concern officials expressed is over storm surge. If the storm continues to turn west, then it could become more of an issue for more residents,&#8221; <a href="http://st. lucie county evacuation">T</a><a href="https://www.tcpalm.com/story/weather/hurricanes/2019/09/01/hurricane-dorian-treasure-coast-list-evacuations-shelter-info/2186218001/">reasure Coast</a> reported Sunday.
Monday morning, the National Hurricane Center and Central Pacific Hurricane Center issued an <a href="https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/text/refresh/MIATCPAT5+shtml/301754.shtml">update</a> on the hurricane, including a list of all watches and warnings currently in effect:
<blockquote>A Storm Surge Warning is in effect for&#8230;
<ul>
<li>Lantana to the Volusia/Brevard County Line</li>
</ul>
A Storm Surge Watch is in effect for&#8230;
<ul>
<li>North of Deerfield Beach to south of Lantana</li>
<li>Volusia/Brevard County Line to the Mouth of the St. Mary&#8217;s River</li>
</ul>
A Hurricane Warning is in effect for&#8230;
<ul>
<li>Grand Bahama and the Abacos Islands in the northwestern Bahamas</li>
<li>Jupiter Inlet to the Volusia/Brevard County Line</li>
</ul>
A Hurricane Watch is in effect for&#8230;
<ul>
<li>North of Deerfield Beach to Jupiter Inlet</li>
<li>Volusia/Brevard County Line to the Mouth of the St. Mary&#8217;s River</li>
</ul>
A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for&#8230;
<ul>
<li>North of Deerfield Beach to Jupiter Inlet</li>
</ul>
A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect for&#8230;
<ul>
<li>North of Golden Beach to Deerfield Beach</li>
<li>Lake Okeechobee</li>
</ul>
</blockquote>

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