‘Don’t Deserve Anything’: Republican Cruelty In Face of Wildfires Grows
Former Republican strategist calls out right-wing demonization of California
Republican attacks — and their cruelty — against California while devastating wildfires continue to threaten life and property across a large swath in the Los Angeles area seem to escalate daily, prompting one outspoken former prominent Republican strategist to speak out against the cruelty.
The parade of Republican officials who want to deny federal disaster relief — or grant such aid only with “conditions” attached — continues to grow.
The fires, which began a week ago in the area around Pacific Palisades, Calif, have killed at least 10 people, destroyed some 10,000 homes and forced the the evacuation of about 180,000 people.
Republicans and other figures on the political right have been anything but compassionate, and have regularly politicized the tragedy.
Just days away from his inauguration as president, Donald Trump called for the resignation of California’s Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom and refers to Newsom on social media as “Newscum.”
Trump, perhaps unsurprisingly, has been spreading falsehoods and disinformation about the disaster.
So many of Trump’s claims simply aren’t true, according to CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale.
“So, this has just been a staggering quantity of wrongness from the president-elect in a very short period of time. And there have been some small specific examples,” Dale said. “Like, he keeps saying that Governor Newsom refused to sign a so-called Water Restoration Declaration. In fact, no such declaration even exists, as Newsom’s office has pointed out. He also said yesterday that they’re not using firefighting planes. We’ve seen those planes, they’re there. But more than that, Abby, I think the president-elect has promoted an overarching false narrative.”
Sen Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala), a staunch ally of the incoming president’s, said in an interview with a right-wing media outlet that Californians flat-out “don’t deserve anything, to be honest with you,” unless they make policy changes to the satisfaction of Republicans.
Fox News personality Jesse Watters baselessly claimed that the fires were started by homeless people.
“There is a good chance the home or start of this fire,” he said on-air.
Steve Schmidt, a one-time Republican strategist, this week pushed back hard against the right-wing nonsense and cruelty.
California, Schmidt noted, sends more money to the federal government than it gets back in aid and funding — unlike red states like Kentucky.
The entire nation depends on the ongoing strength and success of California, Schmidt said on his podcast.
“It is the economic engine of the country. It is the cultural engine of this country. It is the scientific and technological engine of this country,” said Schmidt who worked on campaigns for President George W Bush, Sen John McCain and one-time California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Republicans are dishing out casual cruelty towards fellow Americans, Schmidt said.
And those condemning California don’t actually know about fires, or water and forest management, he added.
“California is an American state. California is in the United States. These are Americans, and this is the awful cost of Trump,” he said.
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