Trump on CA fires: "I was with the president of Finland...they spend lots of time raking"

[Miles Archer]

Aaron Rupar
‏
Verified account

@atrupar

REPORTER: What can be done to prevent wildfires?

TRUMP: "We have to take care of floors of the forest..in our countries they do it definitely & different story. I was w/president of Finland...they spend lots of time raking & cleaning & doing things & they don't have a problem."

Link to tweet

Aaron Rupar
‏
Verified account

@atrupar

Trump's update on California wildfires: "Still going very heavily. There is a big area of very intense flame right now that is next to a very explosive area, wouldn't you say? That's a very big problem right now & they're going, they're fighting like hell."

Link to tweet

[Kingofalldems]

1. Finland has free health care too, I believe.

[Hekate]

22. Terrific public education as well

[John Fante]

30. It isn't known for having a dry, arid climate either.

Trump is one of the most appallingly stupid human beings in earth.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

63. CNN Video and replies from CA members of DU at this link:

It is dry in New Mexico and as a result of Climate Change, we had several this year. We can expect increases in insurance costs on a national basis.
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100211444791

[mainer]

42. No wonder they can spend all their time raking leaves

The Finns need to start posting videos of all the leaf raking they do.

[hatrack]

2. How does he tie his fucking shoes in the morning? Seriously, how does he remember to chew?

Does he know how an elevator works, and the difference between "up" and "down"?

How can anyone THIS FUCKING STUPID live to be nearly 73 years old?

JESUS. FUCKING. CHRIST. JUST. ENOUGH.

[RKP5637]

7. And his fucken idiotic supporters. Total stooges, lambs and lemmings. n/t

[flying rabbit]

16. Congratulations! you have just expressed my reaction to everything he says anymore.

Well said

[underpants]

51. ✅

[mainstreetonce]

59. You think he ties . His own shoes?

Really?

[question everything]

62. Peggy Noonan on Melania

"She’s married to a man who, emotionally and intellectually, is not exactly in the middle of the bell curve. "

Ya think?

[3catwoman3]

67. Good questions. Maybe he wears loafers.

He might have trouble bending down far enough to reach shoelaces.

Without all his enablers, he'd be living in a cadboard box under a bridge.

[Thomas Hurt]

3. RAGA! Rake America Great Again

[John Fante]

34. Dead

[RKP5637]

4. Damn fucken idiot. Who writes his tweets for him. SNL? n/t

[eShirl]

5. Wouldn't it be easier if they vacuumed?

[NoMoreRepugs]

8. Good one.

[uponit7771]

12. lofl

[unblock]

6. Well there you go, magats! Finally he created good jobs! Get out your rakes and clean that forest!

Hurry before the caravan come new and takes all those new jobs!

Boo!

[LAS14]

64. What a good word, magats. Hadn't heard it before. Is it your invention?? nt

[unblock]

65. It's a du term, been floating around here for a while ;)

[SunSeeker]

9. Trump keeps stepping on his rake.

[uponit7771]

10. Anyone else's concern meter go up every time this idiot opens his mouth? I mean there's no comedy

... skit that can express how freakin stupid this guy is.

[RockRaven]

11. That's pretty impressive. Finland has 1/6 the pop. density of CA, so they rake 6X as much per person

and based on some quick math, that's 15.5 acres for every single person in Finland (old and young, male and female).

[IcyPeas]

13. 1500 prisoners are helping out with the fires too.

he forgot to thank them.

[DFW]

14. Conan O'Brien used to spend time with the president of Finland, too.

Maybe he should be president instead of Trump?

[Totally Tunsie]

17. Well, that logic would make Dennis Rodman the president of North Korea.

We can't have that now, can we?

[DFW]

19. Do you think anyone outside of North Korea would notice? n/t

[Totally Tunsie]

20. tRump would just figure that Kim has a better tan machine than tRump's.

Pompeo might notice the height difference.

Edited: Good Pharma makes bad typing. Oy surgery!

[DFW]

26. No danger, then.

Why would Trump bring a diplomat along?

[BootinUp]

15. Holy zombie brains Batman!!!

[handmade34]

18. how do those

around him keep a straight face??

[Totally Tunsie]

21. Impressive, isn't it? LOL

Must be trained by the Secret Service to show no emotion.

[Garrett78]

27. I wondered the same thing.

It has to be hard to not say, "Stop talking. Just stop talking."

[SammyWinstonJack]

35. Right?

[ghostsinthemachine]

23. The man is an idiot.

Yep

[Blue_true]

24. This particular statement by him isn't too silly.

In fact, it is something we should look into. After the devastating fires of early 2017, Florida began cutting back brush in forest areas. Don't know whether it is effective because it has been reasonably rainy since then. But cutting back some areas and using bladed rakes attached to tractors to clear ground residue should slow fires significantly because to grow, they would only have trees as fuel. The method would have to leave habitat for animals, and people will have to be restricted from building houses in the habitat areas. The procedure can be done out to a certain distance from populated areas to reduce costs and maximize the amount of habitat for wildlife.

[Hekate]

39. A lot of our fires are in chaparral: low, bushy habitat that evolved to burn over periodically...

Dried-out chaparral burns like you wouldn't believe, and of course when the wind is up the embers can travel far and fast into urban areas. Even our forests have seeds that only germinate after they have passed through fire.

And we are in a drought of many-years' duration with no end in sight. Pine forests weakened by drought long ago became infested with pine-bark beetles, which killed a lot of trees.

California is geologically diverse -- but the amount of space devoted to very rugged, very high mountains would probably surprise people only acquainted with our coast.

I don't know how much of Florida is mountainous, but I've always thought of it as pretty flat, and in any case the East Coast mountains are different from the geologically younger upthrust-tectonic-plate mountains of the West Coast.

>sigh< At least we don't get hurricanes.

You are certainly right about one thing: it is hazardous to build deep into the wildlands without also having adequate exit routes, whether in Malibu or Paradise.

[Blue_true]

43. Florida is very flat.

I was not denying the effects of climate change. Only idiots do that. But cutting down underbrush and clearing the ground near populated areas should help for two reasons, first the amount of fuel for a fire gets reduced, second, when it does rain, the rain gets to the roots of trees more efficiently, providing some minor moisture for the trees.

[John Fante]

41. Nope, Trump is a gigantic fucking moron, and this one of his

most idiotic statements yet. To insinuate that California leaders haven't looked into raking leaves as a way to prevent fires, is pretty insulting.

[Blue_true]

45. You have no idea how much I wanted to throw up when I saw sense in what Trump said.

But no one that I know should ever expect me to vote for a republican or wear a MAGA hat.

I didn't see him insult Cal leaders, maybe I missed that part.

But the technique involves more that raking straw and leaves. It involves removal of underbrush and grass in specific area to reduce fuel for a fire.

If we get to knee jerk opposing anything that comes out of Trump's mouth, we are making a serious mistake, because even if he has only one decent idea that we oppose, we get labeled as extremists, that is how republicans roll.

[meadowlander]

46. Isn't that what we used to do in the 50s and 60s before deciding it doesn't work

and adopting more modern forest management techniques like controlled burning?

The problem is that it's a ecosystem that is designed to burn every few decades.

[Blue_true]

55. I vaguely remember Dozer rows, where a row was cut down to sand.

The problem was the rows were too narrow, fires jumped them, a second problem was that if they were not maintained, combustible material covered them.

[Hekate]

25. Finland: a small country with a totally different geology. Does he even know where it is?

The Mad King is an international embarrassment.

[Garrett78]

28. He couldn't spot Finland...on a map of Finland.

[Vinca]

29. Guess the Pacific Ocean has nothing to do with it.

[SammyWinstonJack]

31. STFU!

[dameatball]

32. Maybe he should have sent 5,000 troops to California to rake leaves, instead of sitting idle on the

border.

[onecaliberal]

38. THAT

[smirkymonkey]

33. Are you fucking kidding me?

I can't believe he said that without everyone present stuffing dirt into his fat pie-hole.

Arghhhhhhh! He is such a raging stupid fucktard!

[greatauntoftriplets]

36. Maybe they could use Roomba's in the forests.

[onecaliberal]

37. I'm sure it has nothing to do with the severe drought.

[Hekate]

40. Or the high winds

[meadowlander]

44. Or all the houses built where they shouldn't have been.

[onecaliberal]

61. Oh really? So that city shouldn't have been built there huh? Enjoy the dust bin.

[area51]

47. And why is it he keeps appearing with his arms crossed,

looking like the petulant little boy that he is?

[hatrack]

48. To paraphrase Sean Bean . . .

[url=https://imgflip.com/i/2mty2d][img][/img][/url][url=https://imgflip.com/memegenerator]via Imgflip Meme Generator[/url]

[krispos42]

49. Somebody needs to ask him how often he smells burning toast.

I'd love for Acosta to ask him at the next press conference.

I mean, really, what on God's green earth is he talking about?

[ailsagirl]

50. Thank you, dump-- we Californians feel much better

What the hell does that even MEAN???

[underpants]

52. Well then carry your sorry ass to Finland

Good riddance

[Yonnie3]

53. ROFL! Rake Our Forest's Leaves

[CatMor]

54. I have a hard time believing he talked about ....

raking forests with the president of Finland. I doubt he even knows the president of Finland's name.

[ailsagirl]

57. He's a veritable ignoramus

[Yavin4]

56. Anything outside of a rally in front of his base or a meeting with Putin, he's just not going to put

any energy or thought into it. Like a kid being dragged to church on Sunday morning.

[MontanaMama]

58. Gavin Newsome was trying not to laugh

when the Shit Stain was talking and gesturing about raking. How did any of them contain themselves?

[Blue Owl]

60. Man, they could use some of that very wet water...

n/t

[Ruby the Liberal]

66. Make America Rake Again!

What a moron.