Jan.10

electoral-vote.com

Dem 47

   

GOP 53

Los Angeles Burns; Republicans Look to Score Points

L.A. County is badly burned, with 10 people confirmed dead, more than 10,000 structures destroyed or badly damaged, and fires still raging in some places. Joe Biden canceled his final foreign trip as president so he might be able to oversee the federal response, and announced that the federal government would provide generous aid to California to help pay for both current operations and for rebuilding.

By contrast, prominent Republicans have responded, almost uniformly, with finger-pointing, scapegoating, and cheap attempts to score political points. A rundown of some of the more select comments:

• Donald Trump "Truth"ed this:

  Governor Gavin Newscum should immediately go to Northern California and open up the water main, and let the water flow into his dry, starving, burning State, instead of having it go out into the Pacific Ocean. It ought to be done right now, NO MORE EXCUSES FROM THIS INCOMPETENT GOVERNOR. IT'S ALREADY FAR TOO LATE!

  Trump has long battled Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) over water management policies, which involve weighing the needs of cities and endangered species (broadly favored by Newsom) versus those of farmers (broadly favored by Trump). However, Trump's assertions that California is dumping water into the Pacific, and that Newsom could end the L.A. fires with a simple fix (opening up "the water main") have no basis in reality. Maybe Trump understands that, maybe he doesn't; it's always hard to tell with him.
  
  
• Roger Stone, who bears more than a passing resemblance to a parrot, promptly hopped on eX-Twitter after Trump shared his "analysis" of the situation, posting a picture of a smelt and the note "This is the fish Gavin Newscum burned California down in order to save."
  
  
• Alex Jones, who has clearly learned nothing by being bankrupted for peddling lies, also got on eX-Twitter, so that he could share this assessment: "DESTROYED BY DESIGN: Los Angeles Fires Are Part Of A Larger Globalist Plot To Wage Economic Warfare & Deindustrialize The United States Before Triggering Total Collapse." Keep in mind that "Globalist" is code for "The Jews." Co-President Elon Musk later "liked" Jones' tweet and added the comment "True."
  
  
• Joe Rogan, who apparently also decided that some antisemitism was called for, decided to interview L.A. resident and noted antisemite Mel Gibson about the fires. Gibson badmouthed Newsom a bit, and Rogan promptly joined in: "The whole state is just so poorly managed. It's so frustrating and confusing and then [Newsom] gets on TV and pretends everything's great. 'California's the best, we have the best state, we have the most amazing economy,' it's like, you're out of your fu**ing mind, dude. You ruined this state. You personally ruined it."
  
  
• Donald Trump Jr. joined many other Republicans in noting that the chief of the LAFD is a lesbian, and so must have been a DEI hire. The First Son-elect took to Instagram to share this witty observation: "Can we rename DEI to DIE since that's what seems to happen to the people downstream of those who place woke virtue signaling far above competency?!?"
  
  In fact, LAFD Chief Kristin Crowley is a 22-year veteran of the department who tested off the charts when she first applied back in the early 2000s, and has served as a firefighter, paramedic, engineer, fire inspector, captain, battalion chief, assistant chief, fire marshal and deputy chief. This is what it looks like when you earn your position, as opposed to having daddy hand it to you, which may be why the Trumps are confused.
  
  
• Scott Jennings, the fellow who was just hired by The Los Angeles Times to share his keen insights, concurred with Trump Jr. that California's problem is that the "main interest in the fire department lately has been in DEI programming and budget cuts."
  
  
• Fox entertainer Sean Hannity opined that the fires are proof of a failed "eco-socialist, Marxist, statist utopia under the Green New Deal."
  
  
• Jesse Watters, Hannity's Fox colleague, believes that the real cause of the fires is... the state's homeless population.

The thing is, there are legitimate criticisms to be made here (even if this is not really the time for it). Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass was out of town for the fires, acting as an envoy on behalf of the Biden administration, and did not hasten back when she really should have done so. She's also cut the budget for the LAFD, and the city's emergency water system (e.g., hydrants) has been neglected, given that it was not designed to handle these kinds of fires, which have become increasingly commonplace in the last decade.

None of the people in the list above is actually interested in policy or in fact-based criticisms, however. They are interested in culture wars, and in pandering to their voters or their viewers/listeners. It's an early reminder that the MAGA movement not only sees much of the world as "the enemy," but also much of the United States. Oh, and that they will be looking for ways to weaponize everything over the next 4 years. It's not a pleasant prospect to ponder. (Z)