CNN’s Brianna Keilar slammed President Donald Trump Monday for “victim-blaming” in his comments about the California wildfires and forest management.
After his recent comments, one reporter asked the president Monday, “What would you like to see specifically done on the issue of forest management and is it possible it’s also forest management and climate change?”
Trump said, “When trees fall down, after a short period of time, about 18 months, they become very dry, they become really like a match stick and they get — you know, there’s no more water pouring through and they become very, very — they just explode. They can explode. Also leaves. When you have years of dried leaves on the ground, it just sets it up. It’s a fuel for a fire. So they have to do something about it. They also have to do cuts.”
He claimed that he spoke with “the head of a major country” who said “we have trees that are far more explosive than they have in California and we don’t have any problem because we manage our forests.” (He may be referring to Finland, given similar remarks the president made in 2018.)
“So we have to do that in California too,” Trump added.
After airing the president’s remarks, Keilar remarked, “He’s there in California. You have a ton of people there who are victims of forest fires. They’re on the leading edge of being victims of climate change and the president is victim blaming.”
Jamie Gangel said there’s a pattern of a “disconnect between people who are suffering and what the president says.”
“Whether it’s in this case or with the pandemic or with the Black Lives Matter protests, you know, when Woodward asked how he felt about that, he said to Woodward, ‘Well, you drank the Kool-Aid,'” she continued. “There’s a pattern of a lack of empathy and understanding about these situations.”
You can watch above, via CNN.
