Donald Trump Jr.
, the eldest son of former President Donald Trump, has recently sparked controversy with his remarks on the naming of a hurricane.
In a post on X, a social media platform, Trump Jr. criticized the name of the hurricane, Beryl, suggesting it was a reflection of the "nonbinary" trend. "Beryl? Even our Hurricanes are gender nonbinary now," he wrote.
According to Newsweek, the criticism was met with a swift response from the community, clarifying that Beryl is a traditionally female name with roots in the 19th century, not a nonbinary one. The community note further explained that the names for tropical cyclones have been in use since 1979 and are recycled every six years. The name Beryl was last used in 2018 for a Category 1 hurricane.
Meteorologist Ricky Matthews was among those who responded to Trump Jr.'s post. He pointed out that hurricanes are referred to as 'it,' not he or she. "Also this name has been in use for years, as part of a rotating list that comes around again every six years. English, Spanish, and French names make up the list since the Atlantic borders countries that speak those languages," Matthews wrote.
Trump Jr.'s comment also drew mockery from other X users. One user wrote, "Imagine being triggered by the name of a Hurricane," while another commented on it as "additional evidence of DJTJ's lack of functioning brain cells." Yet another user criticized Trump Jr.'s lack of research, stating, "This clown gives a great example of why the right is losing the culture war. How do you expect to win anything when you're incapable of using Google for three seconds to find out Beryl has been used for Atlantic storms since 1982? F****** useless."
Meanwhile, Beryl has developed into a hurricane and is expected to escalate into an "extremely dangerous" Category 4 storm before it reaches the Windward Islands early on Monday. Hurricane warnings have been issued for Barbados, St. Lucia, Grenada, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Tropical storm warnings and watches have also been issued for Martinique, Tobago, and Dominica respectively.
As of early Sunday, Beryl was located about 465 miles east-southeast of Barbados, as reported by the National Hurricane Center in Miami. The hurricane was moving west at 21 mph, with maximum sustained winds of 100 mph. The hurricane center anticipates that Beryl's center will move across the Windward Islands early on Monday, then across the southeastern Caribbean on Monday night and Tuesday.
Despite the potential threat posed by Beryl, AccuWeather hurricane experts believe that the U.S. is unlikely to be directly impacted by the storm. "Direct impacts to the United States look unlikely; however, it is very important to note that if the high pressure across the Southeast weakens, that can allow the storm to move farther north and potentially directly impact the Gulf Coast," said AccuWeather lead hurricane forecaster Alex DaSilva.
Login