Trump is pushing falsehoods. Some Republicans are worried about the fallout.
“The misinformation is a throughline of this general election.
Now, in a country where the public square has eroded — and the national fabric of shared facts is fully shredded — the frenetic and familiar cycle of Trump’s baseless claims has become a defining feature of his reelection bid. It’s a tension Kamala Harris’ campaign plans to address at a press conference in Aurora, where they will “hold Trump accountable for spreading misinformation” about the community, according to the campaign.
Even among Republicans, frustration with Trump’s disinformation has grown.
Doug Heye, a former spokesperson for the Republican National Committee who hails from Helene-ravaged North Carolina, has taken to X in recent days to smack down some of the more unfounded rumors there.
“Any minute that I see — whether it’s a state senator, United States senator, or a member of Congress or FEMA — taking time out of rescue and recovery efforts that we need to explain, ‘Here’s what’s true and what’s not’ is massively frustrating and we know that the impacts are on those people who are on the ground,” he said.
North Carolina Republican Rep. Chuck Edwards published a remarkable note to his constituents, many of whom lived in hurricane-damaged parts of the state, dispelling some of his own party’s claims. “Nobody can control the weather,” Edwards said in the note to his constituents. Trump has said that the federal government and Democrats have gone “out of their way to not help people in Republican areas” — a point that Edwards refuted in his own press release.
President Joe Biden himself has railed against the phenomenon, decrying this week “a reckless, irresponsible, relentless promotion of disinformation and outright lies that are disturbing people.”
“It’s undermining confidence in the incredible rescue and recovery work that has already been taken and will continue to be taken,” Biden said. “It’s harmful to those who need help most.”
And Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has done more than 50 interviews— much of the time debunking conspiracies, something he had to do with even Elon Musk.
Asked whether Trump would repeat his false claims in Aurora, a Trump spokesperson sent a statement from an RNC spokesperson mentioning the “violent gang invasion of Aurora” as “just one example of how every state is a border state under failed Border Czar Kamala Harris.”
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