Trump, irked at Shep Smith, has now roped Fox News into his increasingly odd crusade to prove he was right about Dorian and Alabama


President Trump just can't let it go, and it's getting weird. In four days of trying to prove that his wrong information about Hurricane Dorian threatening Alabama was actually technically right, Trump has dragged in Homeland Security officials, several outdated maps, a Coast Guard admiral, and even Fox News reporter John Roberts, according to an email Roberts wrote to colleagues and obtained by CNN.
And yes, the president used a Sharpie to alter a government forecast map so it included Alabama, a White House official tells The Washington Post. "No one else writes like that on a map with a black Sharpie," the official said.
In his email, Roberts said Trump called him into the Oval Office on Thursday afternoon and "stressed to me that forecasts for Dorian last week had Alabama in the warning cone," the president presumably "looking for acknowledgment that he was not wrong for saying that at some point, Alabama was at risk — even if the situation had changed by the time he issued the tweet" on Sunday. A White House aide told CNN that Trump also summoned Roberts "to hit back at Shepard Smith," the Fox News anchor who had just thoroughly deflated Trump's bizarre "fake news" about Dorian and Alabama. "Some things in Trumplandia are inexplicable," Smith shrugged.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
CNN also reports that Trump ordered homeland security adviser Rear Admiral Peter Brown to issue Thursday's 225-word statement affirming that Alabama was at one point at risk for tropical storm-force winds, and Trump himself tweeted out several maps Thursday — from the previous Thursday — showing a 5-20 percent forecast Alabama would get moderately strong winds.
When will Trump move on? "As long as it's in the news, he is not going to drop it," a senior administration official tells the Post. And so it goes.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
China and Taiwan's war of words ahead of anniversary parade
Under The Radar Neighbours both claim to have led the fighting during World War Two
-
Epstein files: Maxwell courts a pardon
Feature A new prison transcript shows Ghislaine Maxwell praising Trump as 'a gentleman' while denying his involvement in the Epstein scandal
-
Pentagon readies military deployment in Chicago
Feature The Pentagon is preparing to deploy thousands of Illinois National Guard members to Chicago after Trump threatened to send troops into other major cities
-
Florida erases rainbow crosswalk at Pulse nightclub
Speed Read The colorful crosswalk was outside the former LGBTQ nightclub where 49 people were killed in a 2016 shooting
-
Trump says Smithsonian too focused on slavery's ills
Speed Read The president would prefer the museum to highlight 'success,' 'brightness' and 'the future'
-
Trump to host Kennedy Honors for Kiss, Stallone
Speed Read Actor Sylvester Stallone and the glam-rock band Kiss were among those named as this year's inductees
-
White House seeks to bend Smithsonian to Trump's view
Speed Read The Smithsonian Institution's 21 museums are under review to ensure their content aligns with the president's interpretation of American history
-
Charlamagne Tha God irks Trump with Epstein talk
Speed Read The radio host said the Jeffrey Epstein scandal could help 'traditional conservatives' take back the Republican Party
-
CBS cancels Colbert's 'Late Show'
Speed Read 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert' is ending next year
-
A long weekend in Zürich
The Week Recommends The vibrant Swiss city is far more than just a banking hub
-
Shakespeare not an absent spouse, study proposes
speed read A letter fragment suggests that the Shakespeares lived together all along, says scholar Matthew Steggle