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The extreme weather ravaging the southeastern United States could be the proverbial October Surprise to impact the presidential election, which is only three weeks away.

Political observers often speculate on a wild card event that upends the race to the White House. Usually, it is a debacle over a sudden political scandal involving one of the candidates, or a foreign policy setback such as the failure in 1980 to release American hostages held in Iran, believed to have cost Jimmy Carter that election to Ronald Reagan.

With fears of a looming war between Israel and Iran embroiling the Biden administration, that event might seem a likely risk to damage the chances of the Democrat candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris. Her Republican rival, Donald Trump, would no doubt make plenty of political hay over the Democrats “getting us into another endless war” – at a time when American voters are weary of foreign military misadventures.

However, the annual hurricane season has wrought unprecedented destruction to multiple states in the U.S. along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. The political repercussions are piling up. As the Associated Press reported this week: “Back-to-back hurricanes are shaping the 2024 election.”

Hurricanes Helene and Milton slammed into the U.S. – less than two weeks apart – and have wreaked apocalyptic devastation. Hundreds of people have been killed and hundreds more are still missing. Winds and tidal surges have destroyed millions of homes. It is estimated that the cost of infrastructure damage alone could reach $100 billion and quite possibly much more. Ominously, there are several weeks left before the hurricane season ends.

Compounding the chaos is a storm of political recrimination and disinformation. This election was already supercharged with divisive tensions and bitter polarization. The political atmosphere in the U.S. is as ugly as hell, generating fears of a civil crisis, whatever the outcome on November 7. Trump’s bid for election is based on his incendiary claims that Biden and the Democrats stole the last one in 2020. If he loses this time, there are real concerns that the constitutional order of the U.S. may go into meltdown. Even if he wins, the system faces a crisis from deep-seated opposition to another Trump administration.

Trump may have coined the phrase “fake news” – and with some validity given the systematic disinformation churned out by the mainstream media in the U.S. (and Europe). But the Republican candidate and his GOP base are also peddlers of gross distortions and lies.

In the past week, for example, Trump claimed that during his presidency (2016-2020), he came close to persuading Russia and China to give up their nuclear arsenals. Trump also claimed that the unsustainable $36 trillion U.S. national debt was the fault of China “raping” American workers and consumers with unfair trade practices.

On the hurricane disasters, Trump and his acolytes have been poisoning the political waters with outlandish lies that nevertheless have gained credence among millions of voters. One such claim is that the federal government has been “geo-engineering” extreme weather to hit Republican states. Another toxic lie is that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is diverting aid from storm-ravaged Americans to the pockets of illegal migrants.

Amid a natural disaster, Trump and his followers have found a perfect storm for disinformation. In this endeavor, he is shamelessly aided and abetted by Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of the X social media platform. Musk’s platform is an engine of storm disinformation that has led to death threats being posted against FEMA workers and even meteorologists who are accused of “treason”. It is no coincidence that Musk is a major donor to the Trump campaign and is angling for a cabinet post if Trump is elected.

It can be anticipated if Trump loses in November, he will push a new narrative that the election was lost because the Democrats wiped out Republican voting centers with “weaponized hurricanes”.

Laughably, American intelligence agencies and the political establishment often accuse Russia and China of interfering in U.S. politics with disinformation campaigns.

Evidently, the Americans are quite capable of disinforming and destabilizing their own people, whether they be Republicans or Democrats. A culture of media lies and manipulation is as American as apple pie. How else have so many criminal wars been waged by the U.S. since the Second World War? For democracy? Human rights? Preventing weapons of mass destruction? How absurd. Only a massive system of media disinformation could make such criminality possible.

Nonetheless, there is a damning truth in the recent eye of the storm, which many ordinary Americans can see.

It is shockingly clear that the Biden administration has prioritized war and overseas military destruction over the basic needs of American citizens. The FEMA budget is around $30 billion – nowhere near adequate to salvage the horrendous impact on communities across the United States from these latest storms. Many members of Trump’s Republican Party voted against increasing the budget.

Meanwhile, the Biden White House, along with the bipartisan Congress, have spent upwards of $300 billion – tenfold – on supporting a futile and fraudulent proxy war in Ukraine against Russia and fueling a non-stop, year-long genocide in Gaza by Israel.

The priorities of the U.S. federal government are perverse and despicable. And this goes way beyond the incumbent Democrats. For decades, that despicable dysfunction of supposedly “democratic governments” has been true – under Democrats and Republicans. Wars, destruction, mayhem and mass murder are the “normal” conduct of the United States. Trump accuses China of raping America. The truth is the U.S. has been raping the entire planet and Trump would continue the criminal empire with little difference to Harris or any other figure in the White House.

It is no surprise to witness millions of Americans struggling to cope with the latest extreme weather events, while their political rulers and oligarchs fund the misery and destruction of human beings in other parts of the world. They are integral facets of the same odious system.

A mass realization of that truth and appropriate political action by American citizens against their corrupt system – now that would be a welcome October Surprise and perfect storm.