Failed GOP Candidates Say ‘Deep State’ Used ‘Weather Manipulation Technology’ to Punish DeSantis

Two conspiracy-peddling former MAGA congressional candidates pushed an absolutely bonkers claim this week that the “Deep State” used “weather manipulation technology” to power up Hurricane Ian in order to hurt Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. DeAnna Lorraine, who unsuccessfully challenged Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi in 2020, said on her far-right online show that the federal government knows “how to manipulate and create big storms, hurricanes, tornadoes, climate change,” adding that “huge hurricanes seem to target red states” near elections. “In this case, possibly Ron DeSantis has been stepping out of line a lot and challenging, fighting the Deep State,” she added, noting that DeSantis is a likely GOP presidential candidate. Lauren Witzke, the Republican Party’s 2020 Senate nominee for Delaware, agreed that Ian “could be a weather-manipulated hurricane” before noting that the storm became a Cat-5 hurricane “overnight” and “does seem to be hitting the conservative areas of” Florida. “I’m not putting it past the elites to target something like this toward Florida as punishment for getting rid of vaccine mandates or getting rid of child grooming,” Witzke exclaimed. Besides repeatedly pushing the unhinged QAnon conspiracy theory in the past, Witzke and Lorraine have peddled other outlandish and bogus claims in recent years, such as Flat Earthism, 9/11 conspiracies, and the baseless assertion that a Miami condo tower collapse was a “Deep State operation” targeting associates of John McAfee, the late software entrepreneur .