Right-Wing Influencers Claim ‘They’ Defeated Physics, Geoengineered Hurricane Milton

Question

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene and a whole host of conspiracy theorists are claiming the hurricane was planned in order to harm Republicans. - What was really said? Is this a misconception or fact?

Answer 1

Marjorie Taylor Greene has made numerous claims that scientists control the weather, and are using climate change as an excuse. She is quite open about this, and has doubled down on this stance. This is closely related to another theory, chemtrails. While scientists can manipulate the weather, they do have no enough control to cause a hurricane.

https://library.noaa.gov/friendly.php?s=weather-climate/weather-modification-project-reports

https://x.com/mtgreenee/status/1844187008740229415

https://x.com/mtgreenee/status/1844056573892579788

https://x.com/mtgreenee/status/1843651263193591936

Comments

I agree with your factcheck on this certain article, and I think you provided a very good list of articles that support your claim about this article being false. Weather modulation is not a real thing and even though scientists can sway the weather to favor humans, they indeed cannot geologically create a hurricane. I would definitely like to see a further insight on the first article provided because I think that has the most information regarding the topic.

Answer 2

This is a surprisingly common conspiracy theory amongst Greene and her ilk. Green has previously stated that she believes the 2018 California wildfires were started by laser beams (Marjorie Taylor Greene penned conspiracy theory that a laser beam from space started deadly 2018 California wildfire | Media Matters for America). she has repeatedly stated that she believes the American left can control the weather and doubled down on numerous occasions (MTG doubles down on weather modification conspiracy theory despite experts rubbishing ‘hurricane control’ (msn.com)). Right wing influencer and agitator Alex Jones has propagated similar theories about hurricane Helene (Conspiracy theories around HAARP hurricane creation are false | wfaa.com). 

Answer 3

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene has claimed that Hurricane Milton was planned and geoengineered by Democrats to harm Republicans. There is no scientific evidence or credible support for the idea that humans currently possess the technology to create/control hurricanes. Media Matters reviewed Greene’s history of making unfounded conspiracy claims and highlighted the lack of scientific evidence supporting her claims about weather control and geoengineering. They previously addressed similar unfounded claims made by Marjorie Taylor Greene, such as the conspiracy theory about laser beams from space starting wildfires. The final source, “Weather and Climate Modification” by the National Science Foundation (NSF), provides a report  that outlines the current scientific understanding of weather modification, emphasizing that while certain techniques like cloud seeding can influence precipitation under specific conditions, the ability to control or create large-scale weather events like hurricanes does not exist. This contradicts the claim that a hurricane could be engineered. By presenting this evidence, it is clear that the claim about Hurricane Milton being geoengineered by Democrats is not supported by scientific facts or credible evidence.