#SharpieGate
Trump used a Sharpie to alter a hurricane forecast map to match his incorrect tweet.
Origin & Impact
After President Trump incorrectly tweeted that Alabama would be hit by Hurricane Dorian in September 2019, he displayed a weather map in the Oval Office that had been crudely altered with a Sharpie to include Alabama in the hurricane’s path. The obvious forgery was meant to support his incorrect statement rather than admit a simple mistake.
The hashtag mocked the absurdity of a president altering official weather data with a marker. NOAA embarrassed itself by backing Trump’s claim, and the episode became another example of the administration’s relationship with truth. Sharpie sales briefly spiked, and the incident entered the lexicon of 2019 political absurdity.
Related Hashtags
#SharpieGate #HurricaneDorian #Alabama #WeatherGate