Trump is hot over California’s mismanagement leading to fires; threatens to halt fed funds over it

President Donald Trump believes that the blame for the devastating fires spreading across certain parts of northern and southern California rests squarely with the state’s left-wing legislators.

“There is no reason for these massive, deadly and costly forest fires in California except that forest management is so poor. Billions of dollars are given each year, with so many lives lost, all because of gross mismanagement of the forests,” he wrote

“Remedy now, or no more Fed payments!” the president added, reportedly referring to federal aid he’d approved hours earlier to help California firefighters battle three ongoing wildfires.

Look:

The Camp Fire in northern California has already destroyed 80 to 90 percent of the homes in one town, killed at least nine and left 35 missing, according to CNN.

“The full extent of the destruction in the county was still unknown, but authorities said more than 6,700 buildings have been destroyed — many of those in Paradise,” the outlet reported.

The Woolsey fire in southern California has meanwhile spread to over 35,000 acres and spurred evacuations in Ventura and Los Angeles counties, forcing many noted celebrities to flee.

Footage from the latter fire may be seen below:

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The president’s complaints about California’s “poor” forest management derive from reports that the U.S. Forest Service has been forced in some states to sacrifice its best wildfire prevention techniques because of local laws, according to Jarrett Stepman  of The Daily Signal.

“[T]he U.S. Forest Service, which is tasked with managing public wildland, once had success in minimizing widespread fires in the early 20th century,” he noted, citing data from the Reason Foundation and Cato Institute. “But many of these successful methods were abandoned in large part because of efforts by environmental activists.”

Environmental activists who convinced California’s left-wing legislators to impose draconian laws.

“Forty-five years ago, we began imposing laws that have made the management of our forests all but impossible,” California Rep. Tom McClintock noted during a hearing on wildfire prevention last year.

He echoed this sentiment during a discussion on Fox Business just three months ago:

The president’s complaints also derive from California’s water policies, which “prohibit farmers and other industrial sources from taking lots of water from certain rivers and streams, in order to protect the habitats of endangered fish,” according to the New Republic.

“California 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 tweeted in August.

California Rep. Devin Nunes thanked him for the tweet shortly thereafter.

The media’s response to the president’s latest complaint has been to accuse him of spreading conspiracy theories.

“It was the first time Trump has spoken publicly about the Camp blaze, but the president’s assertions of mismanagement are a frequent fiery refrain, claims that are regularly disputed,” The Washington Post reported, citing no evidence to prove its claim.

“California fire officials shot back at the president’s claims, saying the real cause was climate change,” the Post added, glossing over the fact that fear-mongering over climate change is what led to the U.S. Forest Service abandoning the wildfire prevention techniques that worked.

Note social media’s reaction below:

It’s equally doubtful the media will pay attention to these facts as well.

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Vivek Saxena

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