November 17, 2018: President Trump Says "I Want Great Climate."

 

11/17/18: California firefighters gain ground in the fight against raging wildfires that have killed scores, burned down thousands of homes and left hundreds of square miles and entire towns charred ruins. 

Having traveled to California to survey the damage, Trump gets the name of the town where he’s standing  wrong. (It’s now a hellscape of blackened foundations, burned out hulks of cars and trucks, and melted appliances.) “Pleasure,” he calls the town. Ironic, he says, using a tone he imagines shows he cares. “Pleasure,” he muses. An aide leans close to whisper: the ruins are all that remains of Paradise, California. 

Standing next to Trump, Gov. Jerry Brown, looks as if he’s just as happy to be there as he would be if handcuffed to an arsonist.

Paradise, California.

____________________ 

“I want great climate.” 

President Trump

____________________ 

 

Reporters catch up with Trump and ask if he thinks climate change has anything to do with the extended fire season in the state (and all across the West) and the increased chances of wildfires. Trump sounds like an ill-prepared third grader presenting a science report to his class. “No. No. I have a strong opinion: I want great climate,” he says. 

(I “want” great climate???)

 

“We’re going to have that, and we’re going to have forests that are very safe,” he adds. 

Well, then, reporters put the question, how is he going to ensure that we have forests that are safe? 

We already know his administration proposed a 12% budget reduction for the Department of Interior in Fiscal Year 2018. That’s the department that manages wide swaths of forest across the West, including more than 74,000 square miles in California. Congress balked at such shortsighted policy. 

So, Trump and his cronies tried again this past February, calling for a 14% reduction in funding.

 

Trump isn’t worried about climate change. He tells reporters he recently talked to the president of Finland – or was it Munchkin Land? With Trump you can never tell. Anyway, he talked to the president, who told him a key to preventing the spread of forest fires was “raking.” 

The president of Wherever told Trump you had to rake forest floors. You had to rake tens of thousands of square miles. Then, we can assume, you bagged the leaves and pine needles and fallen nuts and maybe picked up dead squirrels. You put everything out at the curb for trash collectors to carry away, but you needed lots of rakes and rake-wielding foresters. 

The president of Finland says later he has no idea what the president of our country is talking about. 

The Finns, who almost universally believe in climate change and don’t like our president, have a great time mocking his pro-raking position. 

The hashtag #RakeNews gains currency.

Cleaning up the forest, as President Trump suggested.