I buy most of what is said, but I have a hard time believing there was some consiracy to give up an American city in order to "get" the president.
I don't know, over that thousand years, people have done more for less.
They knew the kind of monster storm that was coming their way. They knew. They figured the city would get hit hard, and that there was no way to avoid it. Resigned to that, they planned a way to get something out of it.
No conspiracy, just a pragmatic decision made in the last few hours, probably, when they figured all was lost anyway.