Opinion – Bill Straub: California fire tragedy is devastating — but Republicans want to place the blame

Never ones to let an overwhelming tragedy pass without milking it for every conceivable political advantage, Republicans in Washington are blaming everyone in California up to Shamu the Killer Whale for the devastating wildfires that have engulfed the Los Angeles region.

The Easton and Palisades fires have led to at least 16 deaths, massive evacuations and the damaging or destruction of more than 10,000 buildings since Jan. 7. They are the most devastating wildfires in the history of a city known for wildfires. So, of course, President-elect Donald J. Trump and his band of cutthroats couldn’t wait for the embers to die before accusing the state’s Democratic leaders, including Gov. Gavin Newsome and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, for failing to effectively battle the ongoing blazes.

The situation is so disastrous that some of the Republican leading lights in DC, walking morons like Sen. Tommy Tuberville, of Alabama, maintain that the federal government shouldn’t dispatch a penny of relief aid to the Golden State. Others assert any funds headed for the coast should have strings attached, a way of treating the victims like children.

Of course two of the usual suspects from Kentucky – Sen. Rand Paul, R-Bowling Green, and Rep. Thomas Massie, R-SomewhereorotherLewisCounty – are hopping on the bandwagon, ignoring clear evidence that this devastating event is the result, to large degree, of global climate change. Newsome grabbing a rake to clear brush would have had little impact in the face of red-hot sparks meeting 100-miles-per-hour Santa Ana winds.

Paul, in an interview on Fox Business News, offered lip service to those suffering from the devastation but quickly veered off course and questioned the wisdom of dispatching federal funds to California to deal with the catastrophe.
“…we give billions of dollars already to California,” Paul said. “Maybe some of that money can be re-channeled into an effort. But there is a question, and I think President-elect Trump has brought this up, are the people out there capable of spending the money wisely? Are there man-made or governmental reasons why fires are increasing in California but decreasing in Texas?”

“We have to talk about the competence of the people we’re talking about giving the money to before you do it,’” he added.

First things first. Claiming that the federal government gives “billions of dollars already to California” is about as misleading, probably intentionally so, as possible. California is what’s known as a donor state which sends more federal tax dollars to the U.S. Treasury than it receives in return. Only one state, New Jersey delivers more and receives less in return than California, according to most recent figures. As of 2022, California collected 65 cents back for every dollar it sent to the feds.

And the Bluegrass State? According to the financial website Wallethub, “Kentucky ranks third when it comes to dependence on the federal government, with federal funding making up over 46% of the state’s revenue. Kentucky residents also get $3.45 in federal funding for every $1 they pay in taxes, which is a pretty great deal for them.”

In the past, when Kentucky faced natural devastation — imagine if a tornado pummeled a little town like, say, Dawson Springs — did Rand Paul insist on manipulating federal aid headed for the Commonwealth?

No. Didn’t think so.

(Momentary aside: The federal government, which everyone in Kentucky loathes, is continuing to wetnurse the Commonwealth, which responds by cutting the state income tax almost into oblivion, making it even more dependent on largesse from a federal government it despises. More at another time.)

So, why is Paul hooking up with the other GOP riffraff to question the competence of California officials caught in a desperate situation? Reasons aplenty.

Start with Newsome, who has his eye firmly set on the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination. His prospects, frankly, are iffy. But any way to cut down to size the governor of the nation’s largest and richest state is red meat for Republicans.

And they can use the heartbreak to attack, albeit in a slimy and totally horse manure way, efforts to assist marginalized people by hinting, like Trump advisor and vice president in waiting Elon Musk did, that Mayor Bass and Fire Chief Kristin Crowley, somehow benefitted from DEI –– diversity, equity and inclusion – since Bass is a Black woman (GASP!) and Chief Crowley is a lesbian (GAG!). After all, only virile White men armed with garden hoses are capable of battling the sort of destruction that has resulted in the scorching of about 40,000 acres. Get real, people. It’s the only way it adds up.

But the biggest benefit comes by diverting attention from the real issue, global climate change, and the Republican Party’s refusal to address the crisis.

Generally speaking, the dry season around Los Angeles runs from September through November. January is one of the rainiest months of the year in the city, with an average of five rainy days. But the wet days haven’t arrived in LA, resulting in extremely dry conditions. Since what is locally termed the beginning of the water year on Oct. 1, the region surrounding Los Angeles has received 5 percent or less of its anticipated rainfall. Downtown L.A. has received just 0.16 of an inch of rain since the onset of the water year, 3 percent of the average to this point.

Alex Tardy, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in San Diego, told the Los Angeles Times that “this is the driest start to any water year” in Southern California “and you can see extreme fire behavior with the ignitions.”

The dry conditions combine with the onset of the hot Santa Ana winds blowing in from the Nevada desert, which can reach over 100 miles per hour, to create havoc. These so-called devil winds can lift and move embers from an existing fire to start a new blaze.

A study by the Climate Central website found that wildfire seasons are lengthening and intensifying, particularly in the West. Historically, January is not wildfire season around Los Angeles.

“Climate change is affecting weather conditions in ways that increase wildfire risks. Warming temperatures and increasingly dry air, vegetation, and soils make fires easier to spread, and more difficult to fight or prevent,” the site reported.

One problem encountered in dealing with the fires was the unavailability of the 117-million gallon Santa Ynez Reservoir located near the fire ravaged Pacific Palisades. Otherwise, California had plenty of water on hand to battle fires.

Reservoirs across California have been near or above their historic averages.

But, given the results of the recent wildfires and the difficulty in addressing them, that changes will have to be made.

Regardless, with the ground so dry and the winds fanning the flames, experts maintain clearing more shrubs wouldn’t have had a significant impact. The fires are a terrible natural disaster, like flooding in North Carolina and, yes, like tornadoes in Kentucky. To put conditions on aid during a time of desperate need is like refusing to help an old lady across the street, which isn’t difficult to imagine when dealing with Rand Paul if it would cost him a single penny.

Oh, and then there’s a boy Tom, who had this to say on X:

“After disaster, federal government should be responsible for repairing federal infrastructure. But what principle obligates us to replace state and local infrastructure or private property? If we’re responsible when 1,000 homes are destroyed, why not when only 1 is destroyed?”

So now, in the Gospel According to Tommy Massie, the federal government should only fix the property it owns and to hell with everyone else.

Funny, on at least four occasions when Kentucky found itself in dire straits as the result of a disaster, our boy Tom asked the president to approve disaster aid, no strings attached. In fact, the website Rebuild by Design, in its Atlas of Accountability, reported that, from 2011 to 2023, eight Kentucky counties, led by Johnson, were among the top 10 counties with the highest disaster counts. Kentucky has received tens of millions of dollars in disaster aid. And Massie has a hand in some of those millions which, by the way, weren’t directed solely toward federal properties.

Anything to avoid addressing global climate change, especially if you get a political benefit out of it.