Nearly 90 large wildfires continue to rage
Ahead of his meeting to discuss the ongoing forest fires in California, President Trump declined to say that climate change is playing a role in the destructive wildfires taking place across the west coast.
Trump was asked on the airport tarmac on Monday what role climate change was playing in the fires, answering, “Well I think this is more of a management situation. If you look at other countries, if you go to other countries in Europe, Austria, Finland and numerous countries, I talk to the heads. They’re forest nations. They’re in forests and they don’t have problems like this. They have very explosive trees, but they don’t have problems like this.”
The President also suggested that other nations need to take responsibility for their levels of pollution more than the US, because the US is “just a small speck.”
“When you get into climate change, well, is India gonna change its ways? And is China gonna change its ways? And Russia? Is Russia gonna change its ways? So, you have a lot of countries that are going to have to change, because they make up, we’re just a small speck. They make up a big preponderance of the pollution and so you have to get them to do it. And nobody ever talks about that,” Trump said.
When asked if California has a climate change issue, Trump said he didn’t want to step on the toes of California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Newsom declared Friday that the debate over climate change is over, saying, “We are in the midst of a climate emergency. We are in the midst of a climate crisis. We are experiencing weather conditions the likes of which we’ve never experienced in our lifetime.”
