A Republican congressman has publicly refuted Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene‘s recent claim that someone is “controlling” the weather to summon hurricanes, calling them “outrageous.”
“Yes they can control the weather,” Greene wrote on X last week, after Hurricane Helene swept across the Southeastern U.S., killing at least 227 people. “It’s ridiculous for anyone to lie and say it can’t be done.” Greene didn’t specify who “they” were.
She then posted an image of Helene overlaid on an electoral map, suggesting that the hurricane’s path had been intentionally set in motion to target Republican-leaning counties. The map appeared to have been created by Matt Wallace, a crypto influencer and conspiracy theorist with over 2 million followers on X.
“This took me a long time to make!” Wallace wrote on Sept. 30, posting an image of the map. “I created map showing the path of destruction of Hurricane Helene with an overlay of the 2020 election results… The storm seemed to almost methodically miss the bluest parts of those crucial swing states, while simultaneously ravaging the red parts. What a crazy coincidence!”
Marjorie Taylor Greene on Sept. 24, 2024, in Savannah, Georgia. She is being mocked after claiming the weather can be controlled.
Evan Vucci/AP
Greene’s posts quickly went viral, with one receiving a user-generated community note that clarified existing “weather control” technology is limited to small-scale cloud seeding and cannot generate large storms or hurricanes.
She was widely mocked for her posts, with Russell Foster, a former Democratic congressional candidate in Texas, writing on X: “If we control the weather then why the hell do we have such droughts around the world & wildfires getting worse each year? They could just turn the rain on & refill the billions of gallons of water America is needing right now & stop the fires. Marjorie Taylor Greene is dumb AF.”
Rep. Chuck Edwards, a Republican who represents one of the hardest-hit areas in western North Carolina, also felt compelled to debunk Greene’s conspiracy theory, calling it “outrageous.”
“Over the past 10 days, I have been proud of how our mountain communities have come together to help one another. We have seen a level of support that is unmatched by most any other disaster nationwide; but amidst all of the support, we have also seen an uptick in untrustworthy sources trying to spark chaos by sharing hoaxes, conspiracy theories, and hearsay about hurricane response efforts across our mountains,” he wrote on his congressional website.
“While it is true, the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s response to Hurricane Helene has had its shortfalls, I’m here to dispel the outrageous rumors that have been circulated online.
“Hurricane Helene was NOT geoengineered by the government to seize and access lithium deposits in Chimney Rock,” said the statement. “Nobody can control the weather. Charles Konrad, director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Southeast Regional Climate Center, has confirmed that no one has the technology or ability to geoengineer a hurricane. Current geoengineering technology can serve as a large-scale intervention to mitigate the negative consequences of naturally occurring weather phenomena, but it cannot be used to create or manipulate hurricanes.
“I encourage you to remember that everything you see on Facebook, X, or any other social media platform is not always fact. Please make sure you are fact checking what you read online with a reputable source.”
Newsweek reached out to Greene via email outside of normal business hours for a response.
The congresswoman is known for promoting conspiracy theories. In 2021, the House Democratic majority removed her from her committee assignments due to her support of such theories, racist comments, and previous endorsements of violence against prominent Democrats.
In 2018, she claimed that the Rothschilds, a wealthy Jewish banking family often associated with antisemitic conspiracy theories, were involved in a scheme to use space lasers to ignite wildfires in California for profit.
