Greene takes fire for remarks about weather

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) has again thrown herself at the center of controversy over her embrace of claims that the government and humans are “controlling” the severe weather as Hurricane Milton barrels toward Florida.  

In the wake of widespread devastation from Hurricane Helene, the Georgia Republican has shared various conspiracy theories online suggesting the government is in control of the weather and can summon hurricanes as a result.  

In this case, her social media posts have also come amid increased worries that misinformation about Hurricane Milton and its dangers could lead people to make poor decisions about keeping themselves safe.

Some of Greene’s Republican colleagues were quick to call her out for sharing the weather claims, while President Biden referenced her Wednesday in remarks about misinformation ahead of Hurricane Milton’s expected landfall in Florida.  

Greene first posted about the hurricanes on Oct. 3, when she shared an image of Helene superimposed on a map of the 2020 election results. The map was made by influencer Matt Wallace, who claimed the storm “seemed to almost methodically miss the bluest parts” of “crucial swing states, while simultaneously ravaging the red parts.”  

Greene did not attach text to her own post of the map, though some users suggested she was implying the hurricane was set to specifically hit Republican-leaning counties ahead of the November election.  

Later that day, Greene wrote on the social platform X, “Yes, they can control the weather. It’s ridiculous for anyone to lie and say it can’t be done.”  

A community note, intended to add context to posts on X, was attached to Greene’s post. It states weather manipulation is “possible at small scales” but weather patterns “in general are naturally occurring and cannot be ‘controlled.’” 

“Hurricanes and other large storms cannot be created artificially with modern technology,” the note added, followed by a list of articles refuting the claims.  

Two days later, Greene shared a 9-year-old CBS News clip in which a scientist was asked about the possibility of using lasers to control the weather. The scientist noted it was still experimental and only done in a lab at the time.  

Greene’s amplification of this theory comes amid a wider flood of misinformation circulating on social media about the hurricanes and the government response. A series of elected officials on both sides of the aisle have sounded the alarm over the flurry of rumors and how it is complicating an already difficult recovery process.  

Florida Republican Rep. Carlos Gimenez on Wednesday suggested Greene should have her “head examined” following her posts.  

“Humans cannot create or control hurricanes,” Gimenez posted on X as Hurricane Milton bore down on his home state. “Anyone who thinks they can, needs to have their head examined.” 

Republican Rep. Chuck Edwards (N.C.), whose district includes the Asheville area hit heavily by Helene, released an eight-bullet list Tuesday attempting to refute the rumors about Helene and the government’s response.  

He did not name Greene directly, but emphasized Helene was “NOT geoengineered by the government.”  

“Nobody can control the weather,” Edwards said, adding that the current geoengineering technology can mitigate some negative consequences, “but it cannot be used to create or manipulate hurricanes."  

Biden also ripped Greene, along with former President Trump, for spreading what he described “irresponsible” and “beyond ridiculous” falsehoods over extreme weather.  

“Now the claims are getting even more bizarre. Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a congresswoman from Georgia, is now saying the federal government is literally controlling the weather. We’re controlling the weather,” Biden said as he received a briefing on Hurricane Milton. “It’s beyond ridiculous. It’s got to stop. Moments like this, there are no red or blue states.” 

These claims, according to Biden, are “undermining confidence” in the rescue and recovery efforts in the wake of Helene, which slammed Florida, Georgia and North Carolina late last month.  

Nick Dyer, Greene's deputy chief of staff, pushed back against the critics in a statement to The Hill. 

"Every one of Congresswoman Greene’s critics here are the same people who told us the COVID vaccine worked. They are the same people who tell us a man can be a woman. Yet, here they want to ignore the science-based factual evidence she has shared. I assume these are the same people who believed the Russia hoax. And there’s probably a lot of them who told us there were WMDs in Iraq. These critics are the same people who grasp to power while our country crumbles. The facts don’t support their lies, yet the media props them up as some self appointed state apparatchik," Dyer wrote.

Amid the scrutiny Wednesday, Greene claimed the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) reports on weather modification projects back her theory.  

“Everyone keeps asking, 'who is they?’ Well, some of them are listed on NOAA, as well as most of the ways weather can be modified,” she wrote on X.  

“Weather modification” refers to any activity intended to produce “artificial changes in the composition, behavior, or dynamics of the atmosphere.” Companies who carry out this activity are required by law to report it to NOAA, which keeps a public database of these projects. 

The backlash facing Greene is reminiscent of her past amplification of conspiracy theories, including a separate one about the weather.  

Greene in 2018 suggested a “laser beam or light beam” from “space solar generators” could have been behind the devastating wildfires in California, and she mentioned “Rothschild Inc.” She later said she did not know the Rothschilds have been at the center of antisemitic conspiracy theories.   

During her first term in 2021, she faced criticism for a string of false statements and flirtations with conspiracy theories, including an embrace of the QAnon conspiracy theory. 

House Democrats ultimately stripped Greene’s committee assignments that year, arguing at the time she gave up the right to those seats through her endorsement of conspiracy theories, racist dogma and violence against Democratic politics. 

Hours ahead of this vote, Greene delivered a speech on the House floor where she defended her flirtation with the world of online conspiracy theories but emphasized she more recently understood the falsities and dangers of those narratives.

Greene explained how she’d “stumbled across” QAnon in late 2017 and began posting about it on Facebook while she was “upset about things and didn’t trust the government.” Later in 2018, Greene said, “when I started finding misinformation, lies, things that were not true in these QAnon posts, I stopped believing it.”

In doing so, she also disavowed previous support for several conspiracy theories, declaring a belief that school shootings are “absolutely real” and that 9/11 “absolutely happened.” 

Updated at 7:29 p.m. EST.