Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg appeared on CNN Wednesday, to speak about evacuation preparations underway in Florida, as Hurricane Milton approaches. He additionally provided a relaxed voice to counter the stream of misinformation and disinformation being pushed by right-wing politicians and their supporters concerning the aid efforts underway within the wake of Hurricane Helene.
“We’re working through our Federal Highway Administration with Florida’s DOT and local officials. Things like making sure that the shoulder can be used to effectively add a lane on I-4 or I-75,” Buttigieg defined. “The airlines have added capacity and capped fares going out of the affected airports. But most of those are either closed or they’re about to close.”
Host John Berman additionally requested Buttigieg about his dealing with of billionaire Trump supporter Elon Musk, who has been selling misinformation on X.
Musk has a historical past of spreading false info about a big selection of topics, and he promoted the concept the FAA was blocking rescue efforts after Helene. Buttigieg responded to Musk’s dangerously infantile tantrum on the tech bro’s social media platform, however was additionally capable of have an actual dialog.
“Yeah, I’m a big believer in picking up the phone. So I saw information that he was putting out that didn’t seem right to me. It’s suggested that the FAA was preventing emergency flights, which is definitely not the case. So I encouraged him to, to, talk to me. That’s what I would do with any major business leader who’s encountering a problem.”
It seems Musk’s insistence that the FAA and/or FEMA was obstructing rescue efforts was unfaithful. There have been, nonetheless, “coordination issues on the ground,” and Buttigieg was capable of finding an answer to Musk’s private grievances.
“So, you know, I guess the moral of the story for me is, before taking to Twitter, getting online, work through things, through credible sources, and often the most credible sources in these disaster scenarios, in addition, of course, to FEMA, is folks on the ground, your local first responders.”
Buttigieg was capable of put out this single Musk misinformation fireplace, however he warned that the issues of misinformation stay. “That is one thing that actively harms the power of responders to do their job,” he stated. “I think a lot of it’s driven by politics. Some of it’s just, the internet doing what it seems to do lately, and amplify the loudest or strangest thing that is being said.”
“You need information, good, accurate information,” Buttigieg continued. “That’s what this administration will provide, and that’s what we’re also, of course, counting on the media to make sure it gets out.”
