Scandalgate: Difference between revisions

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* "Sharpiegate" 1.0 (Sep 2019): [https://www.americanoversight.org/how-sharpiegate-turned-a-simple-misunderstanding-into-a-media-frenzy-and-headache-for-noaa-employees Once upon a time], [[Donald Trump]] tweeted about hurricane Dorian danger for Alabama. NWS Birmingham tweeted about lack of hurricane danger for Alabama. NOAA tweeted about inherent uncertainty in predictions of the next week's weather. Trump doodled a worse-case scenario on a hurricane map as an illustration. With a sharpie. [[And That's Terrible]], just like everything Trump ever did, at least according to his detractors. Because drawing on a map handout, per 3 versions most common on Twitter, either: desecrates Science™, bullies bureaucrats, or is a clear sign of insanity. According to emails within NOAA, some didn't even know the map was doodled upon by an outside party, and many of those who did weren't aware it was his, just "someone in WH"; mostly, they were annoyed by the whole thing. Then a Coast Guard rear admiral issued a statement that this was a reference to some of the predictions included in a briefing. Which gave new material to those willing to run in circles — more than one prediction of the next week's already anomalous weather is unthinkable, so this clearly means Trump bullied the admiral, too. Meanwhile, Alabama receives a warning from NWS Birmingham that they expect showers and storms, but "not associated with Dorian", and indeed gets some of those (not the full strength hurricane, however). Then again, a search suggests dangerous storms are not rare in Alabama either way.

** …All of which led nowhere, except lots of low-effort snowclone jokes (draw something ridiculous on a photo) on Twitter, and Trump's campaign people making fun of the press by advertising for "the official Trump marker", which is unlike all other markers.

** The only part of this that might have been an actual scandal (and thus an example of this trope) was the fact that an elected official (to wit, the POTUS) altered an official government report. And even that's a big stretch.

* "Sharpiegate" 2.0 (Sep 2019): Trump signed a section of border fence. [[And That's Terrible]].

* "Sharpiegate" 2.0 (Sep 2019): Trump signed a section of border fence. [[And That's Terrible]].{{context|reason=How is this a scandal?}}

* "Fartgate": in November 2019 Eric Swalwell's speech was intruded upon (but not quite interrupted) by a characteristic sound… on live TV. And then it turns out the fart jokes are "#bifartisan".

* ZerohGate: in August 2018 (when the Disney attempts at ''[[Star Wars]]'' sequels were consistently crashing, but they didn't give up yet) fan Mike Zeroh either leaked knowledge from an insider, perpetuated a rumour or voiced a pure speculation, that Rian Johnson's trilogy is getting cancelled. Which would be no big deal if it didn't cause a storm in corporate teacup. Rian Johnson tried to dismiss it a little too clumsily («[https://disneystarwarsisdumb.wordpress.com/2018/08/31/mike-zeroh-may-be-smarter-than-bobblehead-rian-thinks/ What’s even funnier is the notion that Rian Johnson would know who Mike Zeroh is at all]») and confirmed they «had a guy keeping an eye on online rumors», Disney shills followed the overreaction, then Rian Johnson deleted those tweets, while Mike Zeroh’s YouTube Channel caught a surge of subscribers, which confirmed that protesting too much and loudly is but one more form of [[Streisand Effect]]. This didn't seem to lead anywhere in itself, but gave more credibility to the accusations of plagiarism.