CNN meteorologist Tom Sater ripped Donald Trump's claims about California's "lack of forest management" while informing his audience of what is really happening.
"This has nothing to do with forest management," he scoffed. "We're not looking at dense forest here, especially down in Malibu. Forest management has nothing to do with mountain winds coming down the passes at 75 miles an hour dropping Thursday humidity from 35% down to single digits."
After noting that Trump's threat to strip fire funds from California was like taking funds from the National Hurricane Center after a hurricane, Sater counted the cost of these fires, which are largely the consequence of global warming.
"But more importantly, people died in their homes," he said. "They found bodies outside the homes, in their vehicles try to flee. Outside their vehicles just trying to run away."
The winds, the winds, the winds. The winds are the problem, as any inhabitant of Southern California knows, and climate change is driving hotter, faster, drier winds.
"Santa Ana winds are keeping the rain out of the area," he said. "We should have five to six inches of rain since the beginning of October. We haven't had a drop."
"Again, fingerprints of climate change there," he added.
After noting the patterns exacerbating fire danger, Sater turned to Thousand Oaks, which not only has been ravaged by the fires, but also survived a mass shooting last week.
"They're trying to save Malibu right now, but, again, how about for the folks in Thousand Oaks?" he mused. "They just went through some miserable period with the shooting, and many of them are evacuating 24 hours later, or at least packing up."
His forecasts were grim. "By Tuesday I think we revert back to possibly the entire region looking at strong winds like we had on Thursday when this first started," he predicted. And then wrapped up with this exclamation point: "But forest management? Not with this."
All of this should go without saying. Any "leader" of the United States should know better than to kick people in the teeth when they're down. Worse yet, that area is Reagan country, proving that Trump doesn't give a damn for anyone but himself. No one else.
