"Recently the media has been buzzing about #sharpiegate which hit the news last Wednesday when President Trump allegedly doctored a map of Hurricane Dorian with a Sharpie to support his claim that Hurricane Dorian would hit Alabama."
--Milo trejo, 7th grade
Recently the media has been buzzing about #sharpiegate which hit the news last Wednesday when President Trump allegedly doctored a map of Hurricane Dorian with a Sharpie to support his claim that Hurricane Dorian would hit Alabama. According to Vox.com, it all started on Wednesday September 4 when “the president tweeted a warning about Hurricane Dorian and said that in addition to Florida, ‘South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama will most likely be hit (much) harder than anticipated by the storm.
In addition to Florida - South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama, will most likely be hit (much) harder than anticipated. Looking like one of the largest hurricanes ever. Already category 5. BE CAREFUL! GOD BLESS EVERYONE!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 1, 2019
Almost immediately after this false claim was made, the Birmingham National Weather Service corrected him. |
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On Friday September 6, a CNN weather reporter noticed that it looked like someone had drawn a little bubble with Sharpie to make it look like the hurricane would hit southeastern Alabama, and once it was confirmed that it was, most definitely, drawn on there, the media went into a frenzy--creating memes, trying to defend the White House, or trying to bring down the White House, all because of one silly Sharpie.
That one Sharpie may not be so silly after all. According to a US code entitled False Weather Reports, “Whoever knowingly issues or publishes any counterfeit weather forecast or warning of weather falsely representing such forecast or warning to have been issued or published by the Weather Bureau, United States Signal Service, or other branch of the Government service, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ninety days, or both.”
However, President Trump isn’t facing fines or 90 days of imprisonment. The question of why he isn’t being fined or put in jail is still unknown, but is most likely due to the fact that there is no concrete proof that President Trump was the one who doctored the map.
Right now President Trump is spending a lot of time defending himself, and according to CNN.Com manipulating the Birmingham Weather Service into defending him. “The National Weather Service sent a memo last week to staffers directing them to focus on Hurricane Dorian and not ‘national level social media posts,’” even though it’s two weeks after the original incident.
President Trump however doesn’t seem to be bothered by the attention, and obviously goes by the motto “All news is good news,” and is even selling Sharpies as part of his 2020 campaign.
That one Sharpie may not be so silly after all. According to a US code entitled False Weather Reports, “Whoever knowingly issues or publishes any counterfeit weather forecast or warning of weather falsely representing such forecast or warning to have been issued or published by the Weather Bureau, United States Signal Service, or other branch of the Government service, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ninety days, or both.”
However, President Trump isn’t facing fines or 90 days of imprisonment. The question of why he isn’t being fined or put in jail is still unknown, but is most likely due to the fact that there is no concrete proof that President Trump was the one who doctored the map.
Right now President Trump is spending a lot of time defending himself, and according to CNN.Com manipulating the Birmingham Weather Service into defending him. “The National Weather Service sent a memo last week to staffers directing them to focus on Hurricane Dorian and not ‘national level social media posts,’” even though it’s two weeks after the original incident.
President Trump however doesn’t seem to be bothered by the attention, and obviously goes by the motto “All news is good news,” and is even selling Sharpies as part of his 2020 campaign.

On
Meanwhile the media is still eating up #sharpiegate looking for as many details as they can get and it doesn’t look like they’re going to stop anytime soon.
On
Meanwhile the media is still eating up #sharpiegate looking for as many details as they can get and it doesn’t look like they’re going to stop anytime soon.