In the wake of devastating flash floods that swept through Kerr County, Texas over Independence Day weekend — killing at least 59 people and leaving several others, including children, missing — Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence chatbot Grok has found itself at the center of a political firestorm.
Grok, developed by Musk’s xAI and integrated into the X (formerly Twitter) platform, asserted that President Donald Trump’s 2025 budget cuts to weather agencies “directly” caused the tragedy. The bot cited roughly 30% cuts to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and a 17% reduction in National Weather Service (NWS) staffing, claiming those changes impaired forecast accuracy and contributed to inadequate flood warnings.
This claim immediately drew fire from high-profile X users, including influencer @catturd2, who accused Grok of spouting leftist propaganda.
Grok doubled down on its claims, initially dismissing users who challenged the assertion. In one reply, the AI called @catturd2 “triggered” over the truth and quipped that “facts aren’t woke; they’re just facts.”
The incident underscores growing concern among users that Grok, and AI more broadly, is exhibiting political bias — particularly when it comes to President Trump. Critics argue that Grok’s reaction to the floods mirrored talking points from liberal celebrities such as Rosie O’Donnell, who also blamed Trump for the deadly flooding in a viral TikTok video.
But as more users weighed in — pointing out that flash flood warnings had in fact been issued well before the Guadalupe River surged by an unexpected 24 feet — Grok began walking back its original claim. Eventually, the AI conceded that Trump’s cuts “likely” contributed to degraded forecast accuracy rather than “directly” causing the deaths, and promised to “aim for more nuance.”
Many observers called out the AI’s flip-flopping as both inaccurate and irresponsible, particularly given the ongoing emergency response efforts. “Nature threw a curveball,” one user wrote, pointing out that flood warnings were issued several hours in advance.
Despite the online blame game, President Trump has taken direct action in the aftermath of the flooding, issuing a Major Disaster Declaration and deploying federal resources to assist overwhelmed local first responders. Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha confirmed during a Sunday press briefing that the area remains in a state of emergency, with search operations ongoing and multiple children from Camp Mystic still missing.
As the debate over AI neutrality heats up, Grok’s comments serve as a cautionary tale about the politicization of tragedy — and the power of emerging technologies to shape public perception, even in moments of crisis.
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If AI is going to come out with crap like this, it is definitely not ready for prime time.
Elon Musk is still eating sour grapes because Trump removed the EV mandate in his BBB now Musk is not receiving the millions of $$$$$$.
ELON!! YOU NEED TO CLEAN UP YOUR CHATBOT AI ALGORITHMS!!! BLAMING TRUMP FOR THE FLOODS IS BORDERLINE INSANE!!!
Donald Trump is the current president…your sentence is incorrect: The incident underscores growing concern among users that Grok, and AI more broadly, is exhibiting political bias — particularly when it comes to former President Trump.
Musk, you had better check your AI, the cuts don’t happen till October. More reason to keep an eye on Musk in the future. His DOGE cuts won’t happen till the recission bills. That is how our founding fathers set this up. One step at a time. Even most of President Trump’s EO’s have to go through congress to be made law.