In a bizarre Wednesday morning tweet, Donald Trump once again brought up the California Wildfires — despite it being the dead of winter — as a distraction from his disastrous Oval Office address last night. And like a Hollywood studio that just can’t let go of a bad script, he did a soft reboot of his idiotic claim that the fires wouldn’t happen if the forests were “properly maintained.”
Billions of dollars are sent to the State of California for Forest fires that, with proper Forest Management, would never happen. Unless they get their act together, which is unlikely, I have ordered FEMA to send no more money. It is a disgraceful situation in lives & money!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 9, 2019
Of course, once again, Trump neglects to acknowledge the fact that the vast majority of areas affected by last season’s wildfires were actually federal land, protected by his US Forest Service — not the state of California. And the President also refuses to acknowledge one of the main factors contributing to the fires: Climate change. That’s yet another thing his administration should be responsible for providing an adequate answer to.
This time, however, it appears Trump has actually issued the order that he only threatened to send out before — the cutoff of federal funding to the state to assist with the fires. Should that order extend into the next fire season, Trump himself will be responsible for the deaths that will inevitably be caused by new fires raging on federal land.
Many on social media recommended that the state of California address the issue with lawsuits. If fires that the federal government refuses to send aid for start on federal land, Trump’s very own tweets could be used against him, given that he is attributing the cause of the fires to a lack of maintenance. If those fires start on federal forest land, Trump’s own administration could be held to account for failing to provide “proper Forest Management.”
But then, Trump’s not known much for looking ahead. Apparently, all he knows at this point are his greatest hits.
Featured image via screen capture
