Norms Impact
‘Fake Weather, Fake Flooding’: Republicans Are Spreading A Bizarre Conspiracy Theory After The Deadly Texas Floods
A lawmaker turned an evidence-free catastrophe conspiracy into a felony proposal, blurring the line between governance and online disinformation while victims are being targeted.
Jul 7, 2025
Sources
Summary
Some Republicans publicly blamed weather manipulation and “fake weather” for deadly Texas flash floods that killed at least 89 people, despite no evidence presented in support of the claim.
A sitting member of Congress responded by proposing to criminalize weather modification as a felony, converting an online conspiracy into a legislative posture.
The practical consequence is predictable: public attention and institutional energy shift from emergency response and accountability toward scapegoating, harassment, and fraud opportunities targeting victims.
Reality Check
This conduct trains the public to treat evidence as optional in moments of mass death, and that precedent weakens our shared ability to demand competent response and protect basic rights in a crisis. The push to label “fake weather” as murder and to criminalize weather modification without proof is not, on this record, a clean fit for federal criminal statutes like 18 U.S.C. § 1001 (false statements to the government) or 18 U.S.C. § 371 (conspiracy), but it is a textbook abuse of the public megaphone that predictably fuels harassment and scam targeting of victims. When elected officials convert conspiracy content into legislative threats, they normalize governance by accusation—an anti-democratic drift that leaves ordinary people less safe, less informed, and easier to exploit.
Media
Detail
<p>After flash floods in central Texas killed at least 89 people, including deaths and missing children connected to a riverside Christian camp in Kerr County, multiple Republicans amplified claims that weather manipulation was responsible. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said “we must end” weather modification and geoengineering and proposed a bill on Saturday that would make weather modification, also called cloud seeding, a felony. Greene made the statement one day after a storm dropped up to 12 inches of rain early Friday in parts of Kerr County.</p><p>Republican congressional candidate Kandiss Taylor posted that the deaths and destruction were caused by “cloud seeding, geoengineering, & manipulation,” and added, “If fake weather causes real tragedy, that’s murder,” without providing evidence. Sen. Ted Cruz said Monday there was “zero evidence” of weather modification involvement and warned that flood victims were being harassed online. Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice said local hotlines received fake scam calls targeting families of missing children, including extortion claims such as “We have your kids, pay me money.”</p>