Donald Trump Tweets About California Wildfires Upset Hollywood, Firefighters

President Donald Trump made a number of mistakes yesterday. First, he skipped the 100-year anniversary Armistice Ceremony because of “poor weather.” The White House said that the rain would make the 55 mile trip impossible by helicopter. French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel still participated.

Then, Trump turned a raging fire in Califonia that’s killed 23 people and burned 108,000 acres into a political event. On Saturday, Trump blamed the wildfires on “poor” forest management and threatened to cut federal aid.

“There is no reason for these massive, deadly and costly forest fires in California except that forest management is so poor,” Trump tweeted. “Billions of dollars are given each year, with so many lives lost, all because of gross mismanagement of the forests. Remedy now, or no more Fed payments!”

There is no reason for these massive, deadly and costly forest fires in California except that forest management is so poor. Billions of dollars are given each year, with so many lives lost, all because of gross mismanagement of the forests. Remedy now, or no more Fed payments!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 10, 2018

On Sunday he doubled down, tweeting “With proper Forest Management, we can stop the devastation constantly going on in California. Get smart!”

A number of Hollywood figures shot back at Trump. Katy Perry, Zach Braff, and the President of California Professional Firefighters, Brian K. Rice, all reacted.

Perry tweeted, “This is an absolutely heartless response,” she wrote. “There aren’t even politics involved. Just good American families losing their homes as you tweet, evacuating into shelters.”

This is an absolutely heartless response. There aren’t even politics involved. Just good American families losing their homes as you tweet, evacuating into shelters. https://t.co/DJ4PN26bLZ

— KATY PERRY (@katyperry) November 10, 2018

Braff was confused at the tweet. “Honestly thought this one was from a parody account,” he wrote. “The city is on fire and people and animals are dying.”

Finally, an expert tried to change his views.

“The president’s message attacking California and threatening to withhold aid to the victims of the cataclysmic fires is Ill-informed, ill-timed and demeaning to those who are suffering as well as the men and women on the front lines,” Rice said in a statement.

“At a time when our every effort should be focused on vanquishing the destructive fires and helping the victims, the president has chosen instead to issue an uninformed political threat aimed squarely at the innocent victims of these cataclysmic fires. At this moment, thousands of our brother and sister firefighters are putting their lives on the line to protect the lives and property of thousands,” Rice added. “Some of them are doing so even as their own homes lay in ruins. In my view, this shameful attack on California is an attack on all our courageous men and women on the front lines.”