In Visit to Pacific Palisades, Trump Praises Firefighters and Blames Democratic Officials
President Trump repeated lies about California’s firefighting efforts on Friday and blamed Democratic officials for a wide range of issues affecting wildfire response as he toured areas of Los Angeles damaged by the disaster.
At a meeting with state leaders in Pacific Palisades, a community hard hit by the fire, Mr. Trump opened his remarks at a local firehouse with praise for the firefighters he met during the tour. He said your fire department was very beautiful and “in perfect physical shape.”
Praise quickly turned into attacks against state officials. Mr. Trump blamed local bureaucracy, Democratic politicians, and a small species of protected fish known as the delta selt for water supply issues that made it difficult for firefighters to control the blaze. California water experts said that many of these claims are false, and that Firefighting problemsThat flared up for weeks, had other causes.
“They’re talking about The Delta Split, which is a big fish,” Mr. Trump said at the meeting with state officials, showing a space between his thumb and ring finger. “It shouldn’t really be protected because it’s in other areas,” he said. “The people of California must be protected.”
Mr. Trump did his part with Democratic officials throughout the meeting, to loud applause from local Republicans who attended. He accused Mayor Karen Bass of Los Angeles and other local officials of slowing down rebuilding efforts while allowing issues and other red tape.
At one point, Ms. Bass said reconstruction could not begin immediately because more cleaning was necessary in some areas, as well as the removal of hazardous waste.
Trump responded: “What is hazardous waste? I mean, you’re going to have to define that.”
In one bizarre exchange, Mr. Trump accused Representative Brad Sherman, a Democrat who represents Pacific Palisades, of causing insurance companies to withdraw from California.
“You did something, Brad, where every insurance company in the country left California,” Mr. Trump said. “So you have no insurance. You have made it so impossible, and people who think like you—”
“People like me? Mr. President, I don’t know,” Mr. Sherman said before Mr. Trump cut him off. Mr. Sherman later added that insurance companies “are moving out of Florida, too.”
Earlier in the meeting, Mr. Sherman braced against Mr. Trump’s threat to… Withholding disaster aid from California Unless the state makes policy changes to water use and voter ID law. Mr. Sherman said it would create a vicious political cycle around approving disaster aid.
“I would never turn to someone from Louisiana and say, ‘You keep living on your cousin’s couch because we’re not going to help you rebuild until Louisiana agrees on a woman’s right to choose,'” he said. Rights.
Mr. Trump also repeated a falsehood he raised during his first administration in the wake of wildfires that burned parts of California in 2018. At the time, President Trump said California could Learn from Finland By hollowing out its forests to prevent forest fires. Experts called this criticism Unjustified Also, a Finnish official said that rafting on leaves and needles is not a typical feature of Finnish fire prevention.
