California official implores Trump to take climate change seriously. Trump insists 'it'll start getting cooler.'

President Trump and California officials discuss wildfires and climate change.
(Image credit: Screenshot/Twitter)

Climate change is real, and it's almost certainly making the West Coast's wildfires worse. But even when faced with that reality in California on Monday, President Trump turned to his old favorite advice of forest management and then seemed to flat-out doubt climate change altogether.

Hundreds of thousands of acres of land are still on fire throughout California, Oregon, and Washington. In California alone, 3.2 million acres have burned so far this year, and 24 people have died in the biggest wildfires the state has ever seen. But just like he did during California's then-record wildfire season two years ago, Trump got off Air Force One in California on Monday and immediately suggested forest management — raking forest floors and performing controlled burns, for example — could solve all of California's problems.

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Kathryn Krawczyk

Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.