Donald Trump likes being president but the gig comes with limitations. For instance, at the moment, he can’t jail journalists for writing unflattering things about him, like his buddy Vladimir Putin gets to do. He can’t disappear critics like his pal Mohammed bin Salman can. Crucially, he can’t force the government to issue propaganda reports about his accomplishments like Kim Jong Un’s father did, which would, of course, include that he made his first billion before he was six and has been the cover model for People’s Sexiest Man Alive issue every year since its inception. Oh sure, he gets to funnel money from taxpayers directly into his own pockets and install his children in powerful positions, but it’s not the same. On the flip side, the president has made serious authoritarian inroads when it comes to the weather, specifically the new rule that he decides where hurricanes go and anyone suggesting otherwise has three seconds to get off government property.

The New York Times reports that, as it turns out, the statement the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued on Friday—the one suddenly claiming the agency had been wrong about Alabama not being in Hurricane Dorian’s path—did not arise because staffers had realized they’d made a mistake. On the contrary: