Why “#SharpieGate” Is Not a Distraction

FEATURING JACOB CARTER – It’s been nearly 2 weeks since President Donald Trump erroneously tweeted that the state of Alabama would be in the path of Hurricane Dorian. The President decided to dig his heels in and crudely draw a line on a map of the hurricane in order to make his case for an impact on Alabama, leading to the reference of “SharpieGate” to describe the entire debacle.

Trump’s apparent mistake has now ballooned into a controversy that has enveloped a major federal agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which contradicted its own National Weather Service in order to appease the President.

Is “SharpieGate” just a distraction as some in the media have suggested? Or is it indicative of a greater problem within the Trump administration.

Jacob Carter, research scientist for the Center for Science and Democracy at the Union of Concerned Scientists. He formerly worked at the US Environmental Protection Agency.