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Trump tweeted 122 times with weather updates and attacks on the media from his Virginia golf course as Hurricane Dorian pummeled the Caribbean

Sep 3, 2019, 19:43 IST

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President Donald Trump departs the White House en route to Camp DavidReuters

  • President Donald Trump tweeted prolifically over Labor Day weekend as Hurricane Dorian pummeled the Bahamas, blasting out frequent updates on the weather to his 64 million followers.
  • According to a report in The New York Times, Trump tweeted 122 times in total from his Virginia golf course, receiving the latest information on the storm from staffers.
  • Trump retweeted dozens of updates from the National Weather Services and National Hurricane Center combined with some of his own commentary, including a false claim that the storm would hit Alabama.
  • As the storm reached Category 5 status and pummeled the Bahamas, Trump tweeted updates along with his usual weekend repertoire of Fox News quotes and attacks on the media.
  • Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

President Donald Trump tweeted prolifically over Labor Day weekend as Hurricane Dorian pummeled the Bahamas, blasting out frequent updates on the weather mixed in with his usual attacks on the media.

Trump tweeted 122 times in total from his golf course in Virginia, according to The New York Times, receiving frequent updates on the developing hurricane from a staffer who followed him around in a separate golf cart as Trump golfed. 

Read more: Trump claims he's never heard of a Category 5 hurricane - but 4 storms of that intensity have threatened the US under his presidency

Trump's tweets ranged from retweets of the National Weather Service and National Hurricane Centers to his own commentary on the developing storm - some of which was wildly incorrect.

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In one tweet, Trump incorrectly wrote to his nearly 64 million followers that the state of Alabama was directly in Dorian's path, and did not correct the claim even when it was rebuked by the National Weather Service. 

Instead of admitting his mistake, Trump attacked the media, lashing out at ABC correspondent Jon Karl as a "lightweight" for reporting on it. 

"I suggested yesterday at FEMA that, along with Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina, even Alabama could possibly come into play, which WAS true," he wrote Monday. "Always good to be prepared! But the Fake News is only interested in demeaning and belittling."

Dorian, now rated a Category 3 storm, is expected to make landfall in Florida on Tuesday and hit the coasts of Georgia and the Carolinas on Wednesday and Thursday, according to the National Hurricane Center. 

"Looking like our great South Carolina could get hit MUCH harder than first thought. Georgia and North Carolina also," Trump wrote on Friday. "It's moving around and very hard to predict, except that it is one of the biggest and strongest (and really wide) that we have seen in decades. Be safe!"

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Read more: Hurricane Dorian is slowly inching from the Bahamas to the US, leaving devastation in its wake

Over the weekend, the storm reached Category 5 status and tore through the Bahamas, leaving at least five known casualties and flattening entire islands. 

"Pray for the people in the Bahamas. Being hit like never before, Category 5. Almost 200 MPH winds," Trump wrote on Sunday.

Amid Trump's updates on the storm, he also pulled from his normal repertoire of tweeting out positive quotes about his presidency from Fox News and taking jabs at other, less favorable, media coverage including decrying the "Failing New York Times columnist Paul Krugman," the "Amazon Washington Post," and "LameStream Media." 

He also took a swing at liberal actress Debra Messing, a vocal Trump critic, lamenting that she was once nice to him on the set of "The Apprentice" years ago. 

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Trump's response to the hurricane greatly differs from that of previous presidents, many of whom have sought to unite and calm the nation above all else.

As presidential historian Julian Zeiler told The Times, it seems as if Trump "doesn't want this role at all, and he has no interest in stopping his traditional, normal tweet storms."

Read more of Insider's coverage of Hurricane Dorian:

Almost 3,000 flights have been cancelled and 5 airports are closing as Hurricane Dorian slowly inches towards the US coast

Hurricane Dorian has killed at least 5 people in the Bahamas, including an 8-year-old boy who reportedly drowned

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Hurricane Dorian has struck the Bahamas, with Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas in its path. Here is where and when it's due to strike next.

Hurricane Dorian is stationary over the Bahamas, giving it more time to wreak havoc. Slower storms could be our new normal.

NOW WATCH: Megyn Kelly details how she was allegedly sexually harassed by Roger Ailes, then advised to 'just steer clear of him'

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