Like lots of folks yesterday, I tuned in to the Weather Channel to catch up on Hurricane Milton. Low and behold, there was President Biden and Vice President Harris, on-line, talking with Jim Cantore and the gang. Imagine my surprise.
Secretary Mayorkas and other administration folks were also there. But in my mind it was the just President and Vice President doing what had to be done to get the word out on the reality of the hurricane and the reality of relief efforts already underway. Being there and doing there jobs might have been enough, but, “No,” it got better.
They pointed out the dangers of the disinformation campaign F-POTUS Trump was running. How his team was lying to the general public about everything hurricane related and everything hurricane relief related. I am fairly certain that it was President Biden himself who pointed out that Presidents cannot and do not create hurricanes and direct them to Republican areas. If I recall correctly, he said the fact that anyone would make this kind of stuff up was both sad and dangerous. It was all pointed out in a very matter-of-fact, not vitriolic way, that simply made the Trump campaign efforts appear trivial.
I can not think of a better way to weaken the Trump image than to make him appear inconsequential. It was as if to say that if folks pay attention to real information, what Trump says will not matter. Perfect.
But, wait. It gets better. It dawned on me that the administration would not fail to notify other news outlets that they were going to be on live TV talking about the hurricane. So, I scanned the channels for other news shows. Yup! The President and Vice President were everywhere. Even Fox was covering the interviews.
I did not watch long enough to see the post-interview discussions on any of the channels. However, one thing is clear. This interview, on a channel that the Trump team has not already dismissed as inconsequential, will in fact, be consequential.
It may directly impact the election outcome in Florida, Georgia, and North Carolina. Likely, it will have a larger impact than that. Lots of folks who do not follow political news do follow weather news. One or two percent of the voters in a number of states could make a big difference in a number of races. Further, I suspect it will weaken some of the cult-like belief in whatever Trump says.
Heck, Jim Cantore gives everyone the local weather forecast several times each hour. If he believes that what the Trump campaign is saying is false, it may have as big an impact on older folks as Taylor Swift has on younger folks.
As the saying goes, “It’s an ill wind that blows no good.”
