It’s Friday and Donald Trump Is Still Talking About Alabama

Meanwhile, Hurricane Dorian is slamming North Carolina.

White House/ZUMA

Get your news from a source that’s not owned and controlled by oligarchs. Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily.

As Hurricane Dorian made landfall over North Carolina on Friday, President Donald Trump logged onto Twitter to rage-tweet about Alabama, a state that never faced a threat from the storm that devastated the Bahamas. 

“The Fake News Media was fixated on the fact that I properly said, at the beginnings of Hurricane Dorian, that in addition to Florida & other states, Alabama may also be grazed or hit,” Trump said in a trio of tweets. “They went Crazy, hoping against hope that I made a mistake (which I didn’t).”

This marks the sixth consecutive day that the president has continued to insist—despite official pushback from the National Weather Service—that Alabama was once projected to be affected by Dorian. In his newest tweets, Trump notably downplayed the alarm he initially had expressed in his erroneous Sunday warning to now claim that he had only indicated that Alabama might be “grazed or hit.” 

The original tweet, which is still available on the president’s timeline, claimed that Alabama was among a string of states that would “most likely be hit (much) harder” in the hurricane’s path.  

On Friday, Trump also attacked critics who have ridiculed him for once more refusing to simply acknowledge an error. The president made no reference to new reports that he personally doctored a now-widely mocked hurricane map he had used Wednesday to try and show that he had been right all along.

DECEMBER IS MAKE OR BREAK

A full one-third of our annual fundraising comes in this month alone. That’s risky, because a strong December means our newsroom is on the beat and reporting at full strength—but a weak one means budget cuts and hard choices ahead.

The December 31 deadline is closing in fast. To reach our $400,000 goal, we need readers who’ve never given before to join the ranks of MoJo donors. And we need our steadfast supporters to give again—any amount today.

Managing an independent, nonprofit newsroom is staggeringly hard. There’s no cushion in our budget—no backup revenue, no corporate safety net. We can’t afford to fall short, and we can’t rely on corporations or deep-pocketed interests to fund the fierce, investigative journalism Mother Jones exists to do.

That’s why we need you right now. Please chip in to help close the gap.

DECEMBER IS MAKE OR BREAK

A full one-third of our annual fundraising comes in this month alone. That’s risky, because a strong December means our newsroom is on the beat and reporting at full strength—but a weak one means budget cuts and hard choices ahead.

The December 31 deadline is closing in fast. To reach our $400,000 goal, we need readers who’ve never given before to join the ranks of MoJo donors. And we need our steadfast supporters to give again—any amount today.

Managing an independent, nonprofit newsroom is staggeringly hard. There’s no cushion in our budget—no backup revenue, no corporate safety net. We can’t afford to fall short, and we can’t rely on corporations or deep-pocketed interests to fund the fierce, investigative journalism Mother Jones exists to do.

That’s why we need you right now. Please chip in to help close the gap.

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate