Trump inexplicably blames California wildfires on the state's 'bad environmental laws'
On Sunday night, President Trump finally said something about the deadly wildfires raging in California, but instead of words of comfort for the victims, he blamed the state for what's going on.
There are 17 major fires burning across California right now, some started by arson, others by accidental sparks, and most fueled by dry brush caused by drought, high temperatures, and strong winds. At least nine people have died over the last week, hundreds of homes and thousands of acres of wildlife habitat have been destroyed, and an unknown number of animals are hurt. Trump tweeted that the wildfires are "being magnified & made so much worse by the bad environmental laws which aren't allowing massive amount of readily available water to be properly utilized. It is being diverted into the Pacific Ocean. Must also tree clear to stop fire spreading!"
Trump did not elaborate on these "bad environmental laws," and Cal Fire told BuzzFeed News' Brianna Sacks it has "no idea" what he's talking about. "We have plenty of water for the firefight," the agency said in a statement. "The Mendocino Complex [fire] is next to Clear Lake and the Carr fire has the Whiskeytown Lake and Lake Shasta." Evan Westrup, a spokesman for Gov. Jerry Brown (D), told Sacks Trump's tweet "doesn't merit a response."
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Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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