Marjorie Taylor Greene appeared to double down on her Hurricane Helene conspiracy theory over the weekend, following up a baseless claim that “they” can control the weather with an assertion that such a scheme might involve lasers.
The Georgia congresswoman, who has a history of blaming deadly disasters on laser-based plots, posted to X a clip from a 2013 CBS News broadcast about experimental efforts to precipitate rain and lightning using lasers. “CBS, 9 years ago, talked about lasers controlling the weather,” Greene wrote, apparently mistaking the year of the broadcast based on text added to the clip.
Without mentioning Hurricane Helene specifically, Greene’s post came after she last week posted that it was “ridiculous” for anyone to claim the weather can’t be controlled. She also shared a map showing counties hit by the storm with an overlay of what she said showed the areas’ political affiliation, claiming the graphic “shows how hurricane devastation could affect the election.”
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Greene’s posts come as officials have warned that fake information is actively hindering relief efforts amid the devastation of one of the worst U.S. storms in recent memory. More than 230 deaths have so far been confirmed from Hurricane Helene—with a second storm, Hurricane Milton, expected to hit Florida later this week.
Greene is not alone, with other conspiracy theorists suggesting Helene was somehow engineered to provide some kind of cover to lithium-mining megacorporations. Donald Trump himself has peddled otherwise-debunked allegations that the Biden administration has discriminated against Republicans in providing disaster relief, while others have pushed fake reports of the bodies of U.S. citizens being deliberately abandoned in the rubble.
The spread of hurricane-related disinformation has gotten so bad that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has had to set up a “rumor response” page on its website to tackle fake claims being made.
“Disinformation of this kind can discourage people from seeking critical assistance when they need it most,” the White House said in a memo, reported by Reuters, on Friday. “It is paramount that every leader, whatever their political beliefs, stops spreading this poison.”
Alarm has also been raised at the local level by state officials. “I just talked to one Senator that has had 15 calls TODAY about why we don’t stop … ‘fill in the blank’,” Kevin Corbin, a Republican in hurricane-ravaged North Carolina’s senate, wrote Friday on Facebook. “98% chance it’s not true and if it is a problem, somebody is aware and on it,” he said, adding he was growing “weary of intentional distractions.”
