Former GOP candidates push baseless QAnon conspiracy theory that Hurricane Ian was created to punish DeSantis

While Florida residents and emergency crews survey the devastation from Hurricane Ian, which continues to barrel along the East Coast, two former far-right congressional candidates floated a baseless conspiracy theory that the federal government created the storm to “punish” and “target” Republicans.

Lauren Witzke, a QAnon-supporting conspiracy theorist who was the GOP candidate for US Senate seat in Delaware in 2020, said she has “no doubt” that “technology exists to manipulate weather” that could be used to target Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

“We know the technology does exist,” she told former GOP congressional candidate Deanna Lorraine on her far-right conspiracy theory streaming channel, above a caption reading “Biden Builds Transhuman Cyborg Army Using Immigrants”.

“Of course they would be willing to do something like this to target red states. I have no doubt. The technology exists to manipulate weather,” Ms Witzke added in a clip captured by watchdog group Right Wing Watch. “I know Florida is prone to hurricanes, however this developed to [a category 5 or category 5 storm] overnight, and it does seem to be hitting the conservative areas.”

She said she is “not putting it past the elites to target something like this towards Florida” as “punishment” for eliminating Covid-19 vaccine requirements and “getting rid of child grooming,” referencing the state’s law prohibiting classroom discussion of LGBT+ people and issues by smearing its critics as “groomers.”

“These huge hurricanes always seem to target red states, red districts, and always at a convenient time, typically right before elections or, you know, because possibly Ron DeSantis has been stepping out of line a lot and fighting the deep state,” said Ms Lorraine, who received less than 2 per cent of the vote in a race against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in 2020.

Their claims echo similarly unhinged-from-reality statements central to the QAnon movement in the wake of Hurricane Ida in 2021, which devastated coastal Louisiana with impacts felt throughout the south and East Coast.

QAnon’s big tent conspiracy theorist movement includes references to “deep state”-controlled “weather manipulation” events – but fail to address the climate crisis, political figures who deny it, increasingly powerful storms fuelled by climate change, and a lack of critical infrastructure investments to combat them.

Nearly two million people in Florida remain without power after Ian made landfall on Tuesday.

The state’s death toll also continues to rise as emergency responders survey the damage. Officials have reported at least one confirmed death and 20 unconfirmed deaths in three counties.