The three wildfires raging in California have killed at least 31 people, with more than 200 others still missing. In response, President Trump has tweeted out victim-blaming statements, including incorrect claims that the state is to blame for the destruction, due to what he has called poor forest management.
That message from the White House brought about a public outcry, including a statement from California Professional Firefighters President Brian Rice:
“The president's message attacking California and threatening to withhold aid to the victims of the cataclysmic fires is ill-informed, ill-timed and demeaning to those who are suffering, as well as the men and women on the front lines.”
Rice added a fact-check of Trump’s tweets in a follow-up message, saying, "It is the federal government that has chosen to divert resources away from forest management, not California."
Jim Braude was joined by Gina McCarthy, former EPA administrator under the Obama administration. McCarthy is a Boston native and now the director of the Center for Climate, Health and the Global Environment at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. She is also an advisor at Pegasus Capital Advisors.
