GOP/HURRICANE/SOCIAL MEDIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “With all attention on Hurricane Florence, Republicans are dealing with a separate, familiar kind of storm in the halls of Congress — one of the president’s own making. As happens often, congressional Republicans were blindsided Thursday [9-13-18] morning by a tweet, as President Donald Trump challenged without evidence the official conclusion that nearly 3,000 people died in Puerto Rico from last year’s Hurricane Maria. He falsely claimed the number had been inflated by Democrats ‘in order to make me look as bad as possible.’ Democrats immediately had cutting words for the president, with various lawmakers calling his tweets ‘horrifying’ and an attempt to ‘gaslight our nation.’ It wasn’t as simple for Republicans, who did all sorts of familiar dances — ones they’ve been doing since the presidential election — when responding to questions in the hallways of the Capitol. The day quickly became a case study in the tactics that Republicans use to avoid crossing Trump, who rarely forgets a slight.”
–The Associated Press, “Republicans Dodge, Weave Around Trump’s Hurricane Tweets,” The New York Times online, September 13, 2018