Topline

In a series of social media posts, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., appeared to claim that Democrats can “control the weather” after Hurricane Helene ripped through the Southeast, adding to other baseless conspiracy theories peddled by of lawmakers, including her, represented past support for the QAnon movement and how space lasers caused wildfires.

Important facts

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tangent

More than 200 people have died, hundreds more are still missing and more than 650,000 people in North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia are without power as of Friday in the week since Hurricane Helene made landfall. The storm is the deadliest hurricane to make landfall in the continental United States since Katrina in 2005.

Important background

In recent years, Greene has faced criticism for spreading several conspiracy theories before taking office. A House committee removed Greene in 2021 after online comments resurfaced showing her questioning the events of September 11, suggesting the 2018 Stoneman Douglas High School shooting was fabricated, and said Democratic leaders in Congress should be executed. Greene reportedly claimed in now-deleted Facebook posts that the Camp Fire that broke out in California in 2018 was caused by lasers fired from space. Greene postulated that these lasers would be powered by “space solar generators” created from an investment by Rothschild, Inc. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said an investigation determined the fire was caused by electrical transmission lines. Greene has also been criticized for her past support of the QAnon movement, which she reportedly stopped supporting as of 2018.

Further reading

Forbes“Space lasers” on the southern border? What to know about Marjorie Taylor Greene’s new relief bill amendment.From Zachary Folk