Donald Trump is, as Rex Tillerson pointed out, a moron. But in Exhibit 19,872, there was Trump tweeting about the wildfires. It made not one lick of sense, however.
Governor Jerry Brown must allow the Free Flow of the vast amounts of water coming from the North and foolishly being diverted into the Pacific Ocean. Can be used for fires, farming and everything else. Think of California with plenty of Water – Nice! Fast Federal govt. approvals.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 6, 2018
Except this is total bullshit.
“We are not having any issues accessing any water supplies,” said Cal Fire spokesman Scott McLean. “We have plenty. The fires are right near reservoirs. We’re doing the job, we’re fighting the fight, we have the resources.” (KQED)
But being that this is just one of Trump’s stupid tweets, you would think we would just ignore it and move on. But no, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross figured he should up the ante on this stupid.
U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross has directed fisheries officials to “facilitate” access to water in order to aid in firefighting efforts in California.
The administration appears to have taken a misleading Trump tweet as an opportunity to swipe at the Endangered Species Act. But practically, nothing may come of it.
“The protection of life and property takes precedence over any current agreements regarding the use of water,” he said in a written statement.
But as noted above, protecting life and property is totally unrelated to our use of water.
In reality, this is about the Central Valley Ag interests having put something in his ear about water at some point. Except that people have died from these wildfires. (A third firefighter was recently killed in an accident.) And instead of commending the firefighters for their hard work, or mourning the loss of life, Trump decided now was the time to score a point politically.
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