The president of the California Professional Firefighters union said this weekend that former President Trump "should be ashamed" of his threat to withhold federal firefighting aid to the state if he were elected.
Brian K. Rice, president of the California Professional Firefighters union, which represents more than 35,000 firefighters, said in a statement Saturday evening that it "is shocking that we have a presidential candidate who is threatening our public safety."
"His rhetoric is dangerous, his ideas on public safety are dangerous, and his ignorant rhetoric has grown exponentially," Rice said.
Trump, in a news conference at his Rancho Palos Verdes golf club on Friday, said that, in a second term, he would stop sending California federal firefighting aid unless Gov. Gavin Newsom — whom he repeatedly called "Newscum" — enacted his policy priorities on issues such as water and taxes.
The former president's threat came amid a tangent on California water and land management policies, water allotments for farmers, and protections for the endangered delta smelt, a tiny fish that Trump said "is not making it anyway."
"With this group, everything is dead," Trump said of California's Democratic politicians.
"The automobile industry is dead, the water coming here is dead, and Gavin 'Newscum' is gonna sign those papers. And if he doesn’t sign those papers, we won’t give him money to put out all his fires. And if we don’t give him all the money to put out fires, he’s got problems. He's a lousy governor.”
Trump did not specify which papers he was referring to.
Newsom responded on X that Trump was revealing who he was.
“Every voter should be made aware of this. @realDonaldTrump just admitted he will block emergency disaster funds to settle political vendettas,” Newsom wrote. “Today it’s California’s wildfires. Tomorrow it could be hurricane funding for North Carolina or flooding assistance for homeowners in Pennsylvania. Donald Trump doesn’t care about America — he only cares about himself.”
Rice compared the comments with Trump's 2018 visit to fire-ravaged Paradise, when, standing amid the ruins, he said: "We've got to take care of the floors, you know? The floors of the forest."
He then referenced Finland, saying that country focuses "on raking and cleaning. They don't have any problem."
Trump on Friday compared California's forests to those in Austria, where, he said, trees do not catch fire because of good forest management.
"The forests are so brittle because no place is like California," he said. "I go to Austria, the head of Austria tells me, 'We have trees that are much more flammable than what you have in California. We never have forest fires.' Because they maintain their forests."
Austrian officials have previously debunked Trump’s claims about their forests, including that they have " more explosive " trees.
"To clarify: No, we don't have any exploding trees in Austria!" the country's then-agricultural minister, Elisabeth Köstinger, wrote in an article in the London-based Independent in 2020.
"Many people may find Donald Trump's statements about Austria’s forests amusing," Köstinger wrote. "For us, it also serves as an opportunity to highlight the beauty of our forests and our country as a whole — while clarifying the truth behind the controversial words."
In recent days, wildfires have scorched more than 100,000 acres in Southern California, displaced thousands of residents in mountain communities, and burned dozens of homes.
"As of today, thousands of firefighters are on the front lines responding to wildfires throughout the state, and countless Californians are in harm’s way as they heed evacuation orders," Rice said in his statement. "Nevertheless, former President Trump expressed that he would play with their lives and their homes if he doesn’t get what he wants. He would rather watch our state burn in the name of his political games, than to send help if he were to become president again."
The former president's threat, he said, is "a serious public safety issue."
"It is a disgrace to our great nation and to every Californian that this man has a platform to threaten our livelihoods, safety, families and our state," he wrote.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times .
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