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meThis is a “nasty question,” Donald Trump said Monday in Sacramento when asked why it took him nearly three weeks to travel to California. The president had only commented on the catastrophic fires on the West Coast on Twitter on Friday. The flames have destroyed millions of acres of forest in a dozen states, killing at least 35 people. For days, the images of the red sky in the disaster area have caused horror around the world. Now Trump justified his long silence by saying that he had at least declared a state of emergency in the areas in order to release funds.
Last but not least, Trump’s trip to California is also about the election campaign. Democrats have repeatedly emphasized otherwise, but climate change has so far not been a big campaign issue, even if Trump’s challenger Joe Biden announced that he would invest in climate protection with an infrastructure program and halt the withdrawal of Trump of the Paris Agreement. The coronavirus pandemic, discussions of racism and the personal suitability of the candidates were clearly in the foreground. Furthermore, Biden cannot mobilize many people in the party with his climate protection agenda because he does not support the left party’s “Green New Deal” investment program.
“Please respect the difference of opinion”
Due to the force of destruction in the West, the issue has now reached the focus of the election campaign. There are not many Republican votes to win on the West Coast. For the president on Monday, however, it was important not to leave the reactions to the catastrophic situation only in the hands of the political opponent. Republicans, whose supporters include many who deny global warming, must seek explanations other than the scientifically proven connection to climate change.
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In a joint appearance with Governor Gavin Newsom, Trump was initially respectful. For the people of California, there is no doubt that climate change caused increasingly hot temperatures and fires, Newsom said. “Please respect the difference of opinion that exists here on the fundamental problem of climate change,” he asked Trump. Using this formulation, he did not offer the president any goals, so Trump only replied, “Absolutely.” By the time he arrived in Sacramento, the president had answered the question of whether he saw climate change as a major problem in California. to ask the governor: he doesn’t want to “step on Newsom’s feet.”
When speaking with California government officials, Trump was less reluctant. Wade Crowfoot, head of the Bureau of Minerals and Natural Resources, described the situation in the state to the president. The temperatures had broken all records this summer; summers would be even warmer in the future, as would winters. It is important to understand that climate change is responsible for the fires, the agency chief said, not only, as Trump had repeatedly claimed, forest management in the affected areas.
