Finland Pokes Fun At Trump And Starts Vacuuming The Forest

By Frances Langum — November 19, 2018

By now you've likely heard of the latest worldwide embarrassment coming out of Donald Trump's mouth.

Trump claims that Finland has better fire marshaling because they "rake their forests." Newsweek:

“I was with the president of Finland and he said: ‘We have a much different—we’re a forest nation.’ He called it a forest nation, and they spent a lot of time on raking and cleaning and doing things. And they don’t have any problem.”

Finnish President Sauli Niinistö addressed Trump's comments head-on on Sunday, asserting that he never touted the country's forest "raking and cleaning" skills.

“I mentioned [to] him that Finland is a land covered by forests and we also have a good monitoring system and network,” Niinistö reportedly told Ilta-Sanomat, Finland's second-largest newspaper. He also recalled telling Trump that Finns "take care of our forests."

Turns out Finnish Twitter has a great sense of humor. The hashtag #haravonti means "raking":

Here I am just #raking around as all us #finns do to prevent forest fires. pic.twitter.com/lNFUiQoqmj

— Iida Korhonen (@iidaKorhonen) November 18, 2018

Just an ordinary day in the Finnish forest ~ Ihan normipäivä suomalaisessa metsässä #Trump #forest #firesafety #raking #forestry #Finland #Finnish #CaliforniaFire #RakingAmericaGreatAgain #rakingtheforest #Suomi #haravointi #metsäpalot #rakingleaves pic.twitter.com/YOKA3D6C2K

— Pyry Luminen (@pyryluminen) November 18, 2018

#haravointi
Oh bless your hearts you cute little Finns. It’s so quaint that you frolic among the elves while raking leaves. Here in Canada we have automated with our forest Roomba. The money we saved is going into building a border wall. Guess which border we’re walling off? pic.twitter.com/AvMltRT0x4

— Larry Gouge (@sunnyinsooke) November 19, 2018

Update: Josh Marshall's reader explains patiently why Trump is so very, very wrong. - Karoli

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