Former New York City Mayor and Trump acolyte Rudy Giuliani was widely mocked online after he claimed the 4.8 magnitude earthquake that hit New Jersey and was felt by several surrounding states last Friday was a sign that God was targeting "communist states" to send a message.
The earthquake, measuring 4.8 magnitude, struck near Whitehouse Station in New Jersey, sending tremors across the region. Giuliani, during an episode of his America's Mayor Live show on YouTube and X, suggested that the seismic activity was a sign that should be heeded by traditionally Democratic-leaning areas.
He said:
"We were in the communist state of New York and then we were in Connecticut and we just escaped all the earthquakes then we got to Massachusetts which probably had some earthquakes and we got to New Hampshire where there were no earthquakes which is telling me that somebody's sending us a message."
"The communist states are getting earthquakes. Look at California. You can't have more earthquakes than California. You want to figure out why?"
"Now they're going to say I'm a conspiracy theorist, I'm crazy. You know why? Because they don't have a sense of humor. They're not even human anymore. They're Marxist automatons."
You can hear what he said in the video below.
Giuliani's remarks were rightfully mocked.
Giuliani's theory was echoed by Georgia Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, who took to social media to assert that the earthquake was a divine warning for America to "repent":
"God is sending America strong signs to tell us to repent. Earthquakes and eclipses and many more things to come. I pray that our country listens."
An X Community Note beneath her post noted that there are "approximately 1700 earthquakes in the US every year, about 4 a day." It also pointed out that solar eclipses "occur approximately every 18 months." Moreover, predicting eclipses is standard; scientists do so "well in advance."
You can see her post below.
Seismic experts have refuted claims of a political or divine agenda behind the recent northeast earthquake, emphasizing that seismic activity is a natural phenomenon governed by geological processes. Despite the quake's proximity to the Trump-owned National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, no significant damage was reported in the area.
Although felt across the New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C metropolitan areas and other parts of the northeastern United States between Virginia and Maine, the earthquake had a relatively minor impact, with no major damage reported in New York and New Jersey. There were dozens of aftershocks throughout the rest of the week.
Several buildings in New York City, Philadelphia, and Long Island experienced shaking. According to the USGS, approximately 42 million people in the area felt the earthquake.
The first emergency alert sent to New York City residents arrived 26 minutes after the earthquake through the Notify NYC service. A Wireless Emergency Alert was sent out to the broader region even later, with New Yorkers reporting it arriving 40 minutes after the earthquake, a development that prompted many to criticize Mayor Eric Adams and his administration's disaster response.
