As Hurricane Milton tracks toward Florida's Gulf Coast, conspiracy theories about the storm are already swamping some social media feeds.
I normally wouldn't lead with this — but there are three reasons why this is an abnormal moment in time. First, lies about the federal response to Hurricane Helene have literally hindered the recovery effort. Some of the lies have come straight from Donald Trump, one of the most trusted politicians in America.
Second, the incentive structures that supported a surge of Helene disinformation (like Elon Musk's X paying people for posting viral lies) aren't changing any time soon. It's not just no-name accounts with potentially foreign fingerprints getting in on the action — public figures with big followings are doing it too.
Third, Milton is a genuinely unusual hurricane, and anything unusual spawns confusion and conspiracy-theorizing. But the ugly murmurs about mysterious forces manipulating the weather are next-level wacky.
Meteorologists are frustrated and overwhelmed by the flood of disinformation. As Matthew Cappucci wrote the other day, "Just because you don’t know or understand something doesn't mean it's a conspiracy. For example, I don’t know how yogurt is produced. But that doesn’t mean yogurt comes from the Illuminati."
>> Just now on "CNN News Central," FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell said the misinfo from figures like the former president is "putting fear in the people that we're not going to be there to help them, and I worry that they won't register for assistance with us and get access to the critical resources that they are eligible for."
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Ultimately, this misinformation crisis is all about trust. Having absolute trust in the government is irrational – but so is having no trust at all. Right now government forecasters and emergency officials are trying to save lives by getting accurate info to the people in Milton's path. But the people who most need to read, say, FEMA's "rumor response" page... are the ones who won't believe it.
Past government failures are partly to blame for this trust gap, yes, but years and years of right-wing media distortions (tearing down trust in so many American institutions) are also to blame. When people assume everything is a lie, everything is fake, everything is corrupt, they can't engage rationally with the world. Rebuilding trust bit by bit is Job #1.
>> Consider this: Last Friday Sen. Marco Rubio was casting doubt about government data, alleging the jobs report was "fake." Now he is imploring Floridians to believe government data – specifically NOAA's forecasts – and heed evacuation alerts. See the problem?
>> "The awful irony is that a slogan of the overheated movement that powered so much of the last 8 years of denialism was 'the storm is coming,'" writer Jeff Sharlet pointed out.
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A mass exodus is underway along Florida's Gulf Coast as Milton approaches. CNN has live updates here. For local coverage, check out the Tampa Bay Times' live blog. |
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Bob Woodward's next book, "War," out one week from today, is "full of verbatim quotes from high-stakes meetings, confidential documents and intimate calls among world leaders," Mike Allen wrote in Axios AM.
CNN obtained an early copy of "War" and published some of the shocking revelations just a few minutes ago. According to Jamie Gangel, Jeremy Herb and Elizabeth Stuart, the book contains "Biden's blunt, profanity-laced assessments" – like POTUS calling Benjamin Netanyahu a "son of a bitch" and a "bad fucking guy" and saying Vladimir Putin is "evil."
There is so much here. (CNN's summary is about 3,000 words.) The book also "offers a glimpse into Harris' private dealings with Biden as his vice president..."
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Was "CBS Mornings" co-anchor Tony Dokoupil doing his job by challenging author Ta-Nehisi Coates, or did he strike the wrong tone? What is the "right" tone to take when a guest is making controversial claims? Journalists at CBS News are asking these questions in the wake of Monday's rebuke of Dokoupil by management.
As Hadas Gold and I reported here, CBS News boss Wendy McMahon and her top deputy Adrienne Roark say last week's interview of Coates did not meet the network's editorial standards. "The problem was Tony's tone," a source said.
Management's assessment pacified some employees – but it offended others who thought Dokoupil's questions were appropriately tough. Now some staffers are expressing confusion over the standards – and shock that management chose October 7, of all days, to critique the segment. The situation has people buzzing all across the TV industry. This text from an anchor for a rival network sums it up: "Tony did his job. He asked tough and probing questions in a respectful way of an author whose book makes a number of controversial assertions, to put it mildly." So, has CBS bowed to the anti-Israel crowd? The Free Press sure thinks so.
>> I expect more leaks later today when morning show staffers meet with a "DEI strategist" for an open forum on the matter...
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At 11 a.m. ET, Kamala Harris will be live on ABC's "The View," followed by a live interview on "The Howard Stern Show." (Many Trump boosters like to ridicule her taped interviews and argue that she can't handle live appearances, so the live-ness is notable.) Later in the day Harris will tape "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert." |
Tuesday's new nonfiction releases |
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Last night on "60 Minutes," Scott Pelley brought the proverbial receipts about Trump cancelling on the show. The campaign had claimed "nothing was ever scheduled or locked in," but Pelley showed otherwise.
Harris faced some difficult questions from correspondent Bill Whitaker, particularly about immigration. At the end of the interview, Whitaker asked her about Trump backing out. "Watch his rallies," she replied. That "was an interesting answer from Harris, clearly betting the more people see and hear Trump, the better that is for her campaign," NewsNation's Connell McShane observed.
>> Tim Walz made his late-night debut on "Jimmy Kimmel Live," telling the ABC host in a friendly interview he has Harris listed as “my dry cleaner” on his phone.
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Crowdsourcing a fact-check |
In a chat with Hugh Hewitt yesterday morning, Trump claimed that he has been to Gaza. "I've been there," he said, unbelievably. CNN's Daniel Dale followed up. "I thought perhaps (generously) he was mixing it up with the West Bank, where he has indeed been," Dale wrote. "But his campaign told the NYT, which found no record of a Trump visit to Gaza, that he's been to Israel and 'Gaza is in Israel.'" (As Maggie Haberman wrote, "the Gaza Strip is not part of Israel and has never been, though some Israelis have called for annexing it.")
After the NYT story came out, Trump campaign rep
Karoline Leavitt told Dale that "President Trump has been to Gaza previously," but, as Dale wrote, "she has so far been unwilling to provide even the most basic corroborating details, like, say, a year." So Dale is crowdsourcing this fact-check and asking his followers: "Can anyone substantiate the existence of a Trump trip to Gaza? Thank you."
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This morning's USA Today front page features an exclusive analysis of the country's 3,113 counties that confirms what we all feel: "Red states are getting redder. Blue states are getting bluer." Since 2012 73% of counties have become more partisan and just 8% of counties "changed colors." Check out the feature here.
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First-of-its-kind DOJ recommendations |
Liam Reilly writes: The Justice Department has published a new, actionable report offering police and journalists a roadmap for how to engage before, during, and after large-scale protests and gatherings. The project is a major attempt to de-escalate tension between law enforcement and the press.
The recommendations are largely common-sense wisdom, including for police to loudly articulate dispersal orders and for journalists to wear credentials. "The challenge now is to get the recommendations in the hands of police departments and newsrooms around the country," RCFP executive director Bruce D. Brown says.
>> Related: "At protests, police are increasingly arresting members of the press — especially those with cameras," Feven Merid reports for CJR.
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>> The Errol Morris documentary "Separated," based on NBC correspondent Jacob Soboroff's book about Trump's child separation policy, is getting rave reviews. But for some reason MSNBC is not releasing the film on TV until after the election, Oliver Darcy reports. Morris seems to think politics are at play. (Status)
>> Elon Musk sat with Tucker Carlson, where the two discussed false conspiracy theories about immigrants and laughed about possible consequences for Musk if Trump loses election. "If Trump loses, I'm f--ked," Musk said.
>> Michael Tomasky says "the media is finally waking up to the story of Trump's mental fitness." (TNR)
>> "The podcaster is the new politics power broker, and both the Harris and Trump campaigns know they have to kiss the ring," Kwan Wei Kevin Tan and Aditi Bharade report. (Business Insider)
>> "Match of the Day" host Gary Lineker, who is "the BBC's highest-paid star, of those whose salaries are declared," says his negotiations over a new contract have "just started." (BBC)
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SCOTUS rejects Musk appeal |
On the first day of its new term, the Supreme Court "declined to hear an appeal from Elon Musk's X Corp. claiming special counsel Jack Smith violated the First Amendment when he obtained a search warrant for former President Donald Trump’s messages on Twitter and then barred the company from disclosing it," CNN's John Fritze reports.
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Google ordered to open store |
Alphabet "must lift restrictions that prevent developers from setting up rival marketplaces that compete with its Google Play Store, a judge ruled, upending the search giant's dominance in the lucrative Android app market," Bloomberg's Malathi Nayak and Leah Nylen report.
>> Big picture analysis by CNN's David Goldman: "Google's search dominance is unwinding..."
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>> "The Diddy discourse has lost the plot:" Craig Jenkins says "rumor baiting is eclipsing constructive reflection." (NYMag)
>> The Camerimage Film Festival's decision to host a "Rust" premiere as a tribute to the late Halyna Hutchins "has proved controversial with many of Hutchins' former peers," Zac Ntim reports. (Deadline)
>> "As Brat summer raged, Charli XCX snuck away to Poland for a couple weeks in August to make a secret movie with playwright and actor Jeremy O. Harris and filmmaker Pete Ohs," Angelique Jackson writes. (Variety)
>> "Taylor Swift is now the richest female musician in the world, narrowly inching out Rihanna from the top spot," according to Forbes. (People)
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