Donald Trump: Trial by Fire

Donald Trump is going to the fire-ravaged American West on Monday, Sept. 14.

As a president who is maladroit at handling crises, recent events are definitely not helping Donald Trump. Already entangled in the health and economic consequences of the coronavirus pandemic, for his reelection the candidate is now confronted with the gigantic fires that are ravaging the American West which some say will burn until the November election, when he will really notice them. Often in denial of reality, this time Trump does not wish to ignore what’s happening, and is taking off tomorrow for California.

There’s no doubt that he will blame the blazes on local authorities as he has done in the past, and not without reason. Their failure to maintain the forests is blatant, similar to the dilapidated electricity grids that have caused previous tragic fires, such as the one in the town of Paradise in 2018. Can the federal government completely exonerate itself, though? In a way, the neglect of forest management testifies that America is not as well governed as Trump likes to claim.

With his term ending, the American president must also address the climate change denialism that helped get him elected. The disastrous flames flaring across western America would not have been possible without environmental deregulation, and Trump is the one who withdrew America from the Paris Agreement without offering an alternative. Of course, he is still supported by many Americans who share his climate skepticism, but the numbers of those who disagree with him may dramatically increase by November.