Growing up in Queens, New York President Trump had as much exposure to the magistery of the nation’s forests as a penguin does to the tropics.
The president displayed his complete ignorance of the nuances of forestry management today as he toured the devastation wrought by the still uncontained Camp Fire in Northern California with Governor Jerry Brown and Governor-elect Gavin Newsom.
In a rambling monologue, Trump demonstrated his roots in the real estate business by bizarrely focusing on floor care rather than on the victims and survivors of the cataclysmic blaze — forest floor care that is.
Trump: "You gotta take care of the floors. You know the floors of the forest, very important… I was with the President of Finland… he called it a forest nation and they spent a lot of time on raking and cleaning and doing things and they don't have any problem." pic.twitter.com/cC8syQobdC
— Contemptor (@TheContemptor) November 17, 2018
With Trump’s focus on raking leaves rather than preventative measures against climate change as the solution to the nation’s unprecedented increase in the number and extent of deadly fires, both Brown and Newsom must have struggled to keep from displaying their inner reactions to the president’s House and Garden approach to forest management.
While his ignorant comments did inspire at least one awesome meme on Twitter, they did little to console the survivors of the disaster or inspire hope that the federal government would be able to offer much assistance in addressing the root causes of the ever-increasing infernos while he is still at the helm of the levers of power.
Even after seeing the devastation, Trump still thinks he has the solution to fix the wildfire problem. Unfortunately climate change isn't on the top of his list. Because he's an idiot. I don't like him. No I don't.
Thank you to the real heroes in CA. Fire and rescue! pic.twitter.com/pyMa4hkLUV
— Kregger 🏳️🌈 (@kregger2012) November 17, 2018
NBC News White House correspondent Geoff Bennett was on hand while Trump visited first responders at a Chico, California fire command post and confirmed that fires have not altered the president’s views on climate change in the least.
Trump — visiting a fire command post in Chico, Calif., when asked if the seeing the devastation firsthand changes his view of climate change — says, "No. I want great climate."
— Geoff Bennett (@GeoffRBennett) November 17, 2018
While Trump may want great climate, he is fighting the planet’s ability to reverse the decades of damage that human activity has caused to the earth’s environment by continuing to deny that those effects are indeed man-made and instead supporting the desires of profit-hungry corporations that continue to exploit our natural resources by polluting the air, water, and earth that our species, and most other mammals at least, need to survive the next century.
In his fantasies, Trump envisions a future where he will be lauded as one of the greatest presidents in history with statues around the country dedicated to his memory, perhaps even an addition to Mt. Rushmore carved in his honor.
Instead, his villainous environmental handiwork should only earn him a picture on a wanted poster for environmental criminals and place him on the list of the most dangerous figures in the destruction of our global ecosystem.
We all want great climate, and we know that as long as Trump is in power, our future, the entire world’s future, is in grave danger. Let’s hope that a new Democratic majority in the House of Representatives will be able to stave off the worst excesses of Trump’s destructive policies, but until the Republicans who view the earth as a treasure chest provided by a deity exclusively for their enrichment are all voted out of power, progress in restoring a livable planet will be at a standstill.
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