'Trump stopped hurricanes?' Mass confusion over White House's bizarre presidential tribute

Countless onlookers were baffled Sunday morning after the White House thanked President Donald Trump for a lack of hurricanes on the Atlantic Ocean.

USA Today reported Saturday that no hurricanes had yet formed in the Atlantic Ocean as of Sept. 12, setting a “new record for the latest date in a modern hurricane season without at least one hurricane.” The Atlantic hurricane season runs June 1 through Nov. 30, and the previous record-holders, 2002 and 2013, didn't see their first hurricanes until Sept. 11.

The weather outlier prompted the official White House “Rapid Response 47” account on Saturday night to say on X: “Thank you, President Trump!”

The bizarre tribute left a number of critics baffled.

Emmy Award-winning comedy writer David Javerbaum, writing from his popular satirical X account in which he posts as if he were God, replied “Welp, I'm out of jokes."

Democratic strategist Josh Schwerin wrote that he “had to double-check” the White House’s online post to verify that it “wasn’t a parody account,” and The Bulwark’s managing editor Sam Stein bluntly asked: “Trump stopped hurricanes?”

Elections analyst Drew Savicki argued that the White House’s bizarre online post would have been “a major scandal” under the Biden administration, and another X user comically noted that the White House’s post was an implicit admission that Trump was responsible for the deadly 2017 hurricane season, which ultimately caused thousands of fatalities and billions of dollars in damages.

Ryan Scholl, a professional storm chaser, felt compelled to issue a blunt clarification to his more than 18,000 followers.

“Actually the president has absolutely nothing to do with zero hurricanes in the Atlantic so far this year,” Scholl wrote. “Hope this helps!”