Former Republican President Donald Trump was mocked after former Trump administration officials revealed he kept asking if China was using a "hurricane gun" on the United States and openly inquired whether he could direct the military to retaliate.
Trump reportedly made the request not too long after he took office. The idea so consumed him he badgered national security officials and their staffers about it on more than one occasion.
According to a former official who spoke to Rolling Stone, Trump's request "was almost too stupid for words" but they admitted they "did not get the sense he was joking at all.”
Another official who spoke to the outlet on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations, Trump "asked if China ‘made’ hurricanes to send to us" and “wanted to know if the technology existed."
The source added:
"One guy in the room responded, ‘Not to the best of my knowledge, sir.’ I kept it together until I got back to my office… I do not know where the [then-]President would have heard about that…"
"He was asking about it around the time, maybe a little before, he asked people about nuking hurricanes.”
Trump's reported fascination with the "hurricane gun" did not surprise his former White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham, who said Trump's inane questions were simply par for the course for working in the Trump administration.
Grisham said:
"Stuff like that was not unusual for him. He would blurt out crazy things all the time, and tell aides to look into it or do something about it."
"His staff would say they’d look into it knowing that more often than not, he’d forget about it quickly—much like a toddler.”
The news quickly spread across social media.
Many mocked Trump's behavior, suggesting it's a sign of further cognitive impairment.
Oh.\n\nA hurricane gun.\n\nthat seems sane.https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-hurricane-gun-china-world-war-1350638/\u00a0\u2026— Rick Wilson (@Rick Wilson) 1652215463
This is idiocy. How anyone can say with a straight face that they would vote for this fool ....https://twitter.com/RollingStone/status/1524117325015924736\u00a0\u2026— Ant \ud83d\udc80 Waiting for Halloween (@Ant \ud83d\udc80 Waiting for Halloween) 1652232768
Trump thinks China has a hurricane gun, and Marjorie Taylor Greene thinks we Jews have space lasers that cause forest fires. What the hell is wrong with the Republican Party?— David Weissman (@David Weissman) 1652239112
If you\u2019re comparing women to sea turtles to justify taking away their bodily autonomy and trying to reinstall the guy who thought China was using a \u201cHurricane gun\u201d to attack us with natural disasters to the WH, you do not belong anywhere near any kind of power.— Andrew Wortman \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 (@Andrew Wortman \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8) 1652237269
There is no such thing as a hurricane gun that creates hurricanes. What the former President was describing is called climate change.https://twitter.com/rollingstone/status/1524117325015924736\u00a0\u2026— Ted Lieu (@Ted Lieu) 1652221195
Trump has zero in the brains department. \n\nAsking if China had a hurricane gun they used against the U.S. is right up there with drinking disinfectant and internalizing UV light. \n\nAnd to think MAGA voted for and still support the idiot. \n\n#DemVoice1pic.twitter.com/TyO7ezhkyr— \ud83d\udc3eAngie K \ud83d\udc99\ud83c\udff4\u200d\u2620\ufe0f\ud83d\udd2c\ud83e\uddeb (@\ud83d\udc3eAngie K \ud83d\udc99\ud83c\udff4\u200d\u2620\ufe0f\ud83d\udd2c\ud83e\uddeb) 1652228686
I wish someone in the WH had mustered the comic sensibility to look at Trump and say \u2018yes Sir, China is shooting us with a \u2018Hurricane Gun\u2019 do you want us to alert Batman?— NoelCaslerComedy (@NoelCaslerComedy) 1652217897
Whenever a crazy combination of words like "hurricane gun" is trending, you already know why.— BrooklynDad_Defiant! (@BrooklynDad_Defiant!) 1652224997
There is literally nothing Trump could say that would surprise me\n\n\u201cTrump wanted to build Trump Tower Antarctica\u201d \u2014 sure \n\n\u201cTrump asked Mike Tyson to his Secretary of the Interior\u201d \u2014 checks out\n\n\u201cTrump proposed putting Gatorade in water fountains\u201d \u2014 aighthttps://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-hurricane-gun-china-world-war-1350638/\u00a0\u2026— Aaron Rupar (@Aaron Rupar) 1652231220
It will never cease to amaze me just how goddamned stupid this man is.https://twitter.com/RollingStone/status/1524117325015924736\u00a0\u2026— Foxy \u270a\ud83c\udffb \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08 \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 \ud83e\udd8b (@Foxy \u270a\ud83c\udffb \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08 \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 \ud83e\udd8b) 1652230703
The news isn't the first time that Trump and his absurd questions about hurricanes have made headlines.
In 2019, Axios reported that Trump asked why the United States could not just drop a nuclear bomb into the eye of a hurricane to stop it from making landfall.
Trump's question–which he vehemently denied ever asking–prompted a response from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which noted that detonating a nuclear weapon "might not even alter the storm" and the "radioactive fallout would fairly quickly move with the tradewinds to affect land areas."
That same year, Trump found himself at the center of "Sharpiegate," which arose from a comment made by Trump as Hurricane Dorian approached the mainland. Trump incorrectly included Alabama in a list of states that would be affected by the storm, a statement that prompted a correction from the local weather bureau after Alabama residents called in to ask about it.
However, Trump continued to insist that his initial claim had been correct and he showed reporters a weather map which had been altered with a Sharpie marker to show the hurricane's track threatening Alabama.
@jaketapoer/Bluesky
@BillAckman/Twitter