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Blaming The Victims Of The California Fires

1,107 views · Published 12 November 2018 · 11:18 · Indexed 7 October 2026

Channel: GBH News · 2018 · News & Politics

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The three wildfires raging in California have killed at least 31 people, with more than 200 others still missing. One might think concern for victims would be top of mind at this time. But President Trump instead tweeted out victim-blaming statements, including bogus 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 understandably 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, EPA administrator under former President Barack Obama, who is a Boston native and now the director of the Center of Health and the Global Environment at Harvard's Chan School of Publc Health. McCarthy is also an advisor at Pegasus Capital Advisors.

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