To Trump, Musk, And All Disaster Rumor Mongers:

I talked to North Carolina state Rep. Lindsey Prather, who represents part of Buncombe County -- a devastated region where Asheville is based -- about whether misinformation is affecting the disaster recovery efforts there.

(Short answer: it is.) https://t.co/smAGSnxAVf

— Jennifer Bendery (@jbendery) October 4, 2024

FUCK YOU

Prather said there's no cell service for much of the area.

The problem is when people get WiFi for a few mins, go on FB and see posts about people being trapped, share it without verifying it, those posts "spread like wildfire," rescue teams rush out there and nobody's there.

— Jennifer Bendery (@jbendery) October 4, 2024

“That’s impacting us, too,” said Prather. “We’re having to take time to respond to things like that, and explain to people how disaster response works.” https://t.co/smAGSny8KN

— Jennifer Bendery (@jbendery) October 4, 2024

The conspiracy theories and misinformation about the federal government’s response to Helene have gotten so out of control that FEMA now has an entire page on its website dedicated to countering false claims about ithttps://t.co/cXGyVhV55n

— Jennifer Bendery (@jbendery) October 4, 2024

“It really impacts us because of the trust factor that we need,” said Nunn.

“The biggest thing, if the misinformation is negative ... is that the survivors, it will discourage them to call us. If we don’t know where they are, we can’t meet them where they are.”

— Jennifer Bendery (@jbendery) October 4, 2024

One thing I'll add that didn't make it into this story: Prather saying nobody on the ground is playing politics with this:

"I’m in regular communication, as a Democrat, to Republicans all the time. There’s no partisanship right now. That stuff is the last thing on our minds."

— Jennifer Bendery (@jbendery) October 5, 2024

People on the ground are dealing with a humanitarian crisis. Trump, Musk, and the usual gang of idiots, are incapable of understanding the concept “humanity.”