The hatchet was buried for a day between Donald Trump and California. Accused of abandoning the West Coast states affected by the fires – states that do not “Not vote for him”, as underlined by the Democratic mayor of Los Angeles, Eric Garcetti – the American president added, Monday, September 14, a visit to the Golden State to his electoral tour in two Republican strongholds in the Southwest where the polls are likely to worry him (Nevada and especially Arizona). He devoted two hours to the State devastated for a month by the most widespread forest fires in its history.
Before boarding for the Sacramento airport, invaded like the rest of the state by toxic smoke from the fires, Mr. Trump first threw a few pikes in the direction of his Californian hosts: ” I’ve been saying this for three years. We need real forest management. “ Two years ago, in 2018, Donald Trump came to comfort the survivors of what remains as the deadliest fire in the state, Camp Fire, which killed 85 residents of the community of Paradise. With his feet in the ashes, he then advised Californians to take inspiration from the Finns, who know how to do it in terms of forest management.
This time, he did not compare California’s Mediterranean climate with that of Scandinavia, although he still recommended drawing inspiration from “Europe” in terms of brush clearing.
Everything went well: the disputes with the Golden State over the “sanctuary” cities and the wall on the border with Mexico were ignored. Mr. Trump admired the resilience of the centuries-old redwoods that survived the flames (“Does it make marks on the bark?” “). Above all, he had the satisfaction of presenting a medal of bravery to the seven soldiers and national guards who saved 242 people cornered by the Creek Fire at a campsite in the Sierra Nevada on September 5. A ceremony timely as have recently multiplied the testimonies describing what he thinks in private of his generals.
“We are not on the same planet”
During a briefing at the headquarters of CalFire, the firefighting agency, Mr. Trump patiently listened to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s presentation: The 14,000 lightning bolts a month ago that lit 1,100 fires in three days, the “Twenty-four lives lost”, 4,100 buildings destroyed, 16,500 firefighters who have not yet overcome them. The elected Democrat warmly thanked the president for the federal assistance of an amount “Record” granted to California. And admitted that the state “Had not done justice to the management of its forests”, the presidential mantra.
You have 59.43% of this article to read. The rest is for subscribers only.
