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Trump Pulls Out Bootleg Weather Map After Alabama Hurricane Lie

Donald Trump Takes a Sharpie to Hurricane Map So It Includes Alabama

During an Oval Office briefing held Wednesday afternoon, President Trump showed reporters a map of Hurricane Dorian’s projected path along the East Coast. Upon closer inspection, the map provided by the National Hurricane Center appeared altered, as if someone drew a bubble with a black marker. Presumably, either Trump or an aide doctored the map to justify the president’s repeated misconception that Dorian is poised to hit Alabama, despite all scientific evidence to the contrary. According to the National Hurricane Center’s animated forecast map, Dorian won’t touch Alabama.

When asked by a reporter about the altered map, Trump said, “I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know.”

That’s not a denial.

The weird saga began on Sunday, when the president tweeted a warning to residents of Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama about the then-category 5 hurricane headed their way. The problem was that Alabama wasn’t actually on Dorian’s projected path. Even if he was trying to be helpful, the president most likely scared residents of that state for no reason. About 20 minutes later, the Birmingham, Alabama, branch of the National Weather Service tweeted that Dorian would not be hitting Alabama, but by that point, the president was already repeating his erroneous warning to a gaggle of reporters outside the White House. The president repeated that claim at a FEMA briefing about an hour after the South Lawn gaggle.

Instead of just admitting an honest mistake and moving on, the president insisted on dying upon the Alabama hill on Monday by flaming ABC News reporter Jon Karl for just doing his job and fact-checking Trump’s tweet. Here is Trump’s absolutely deranged reaction for having a mistake pointed out to him:

It’s pretty clear that the president’s brain isn’t firing on all synapses, and hasn’t been for awhile, but no one seems to want to do anything about it.