Trump’s Inside Secretary Doug Burgum simply delivered a brutal takedown of California Governor Gavin Newsom and the Left’s radical local weather agenda.
Talking on Pod Pressure One, Burgum dismantled a long time of failed environmental insurance policies which have turned California’s forests into powder kegs, arguing that wildfires have undone each ounce of so-called “progress” Democrats declare to have made on local weather management.
The California wildfires, which have destroyed 1000’s of properties and compelled tens of 1000’s to evacuate, had been exacerbated by robust winds, elevated inhabitants density, and Governor Gavin Newsom’s failures in managing forests and conducting managed burns.
Claims about failing to fill reservoirs for hydrants are substantiated and end result from two sources: infrastructure and demand points, in addition to mismanagement of water sources.
Whereas there isn’t a proof that DEI initiatives hindered the response, Los Angeles Hearth Chief Kristin Crowley has emphasised DEI as a precedence and implied a concentrate on rising range in hiring reasonably than hiring one of the best candidates.
Mismanagement of forests has been one of many biggest contributors to the devastating results of the fires, exacerbated by the restricted implementation of managed burns.
Managed burns, or prescribed fires, are an important forest administration observe that entails deliberately igniting particular forest areas beneath managed circumstances to scale back extra vegetation, which serves as gasoline for wildfires.
Regardless of their significance, California has struggled to make use of this safety measure successfully. In 2024, the U.S. Forest Service quickly halted prescribed burns, citing the necessity to allocate sources for lively wildfire suppression.
Earlier this yr, comic Adam Carolla went viral in a video the place he talked about how horrible the rebuild course of can be for the victims of the California fires due to progressive insurance policies within the state. Carolla stated:
So right here’s what’s going to occur. All these people who find themselves deep blue Democrats are actually going to have to tug a allow to rebuild, and so they’re going to get the 28 yr outdated bitch from the Coastal Fee telling them to go fuck off after which they’re going to vote for Trump or whoever’s Trumpian subsequent.
After they begin getting the regulation, they’re going to go nuts. And once they begin working into the forms and the purple tape, they’re going to start out going nuts and so they’re going to vote for Rick Caruso subsequent time.
California Governor Gavin Newsom tried to get out in entrance of this and stated that the purple tape can be reduce and constructing permits would move freely to ensure that these individuals to rebuild their lives and their properties.
And but… Gavin Newsom appeared on CNN and defined that folks ‘can’t rebuild the identical.’ Newsom suggests that there’s a new actuality as a result of ‘science’ and local weather change, and that each one of that needs to be taken under consideration as individuals rebuild.
In different phrases, Adam Carolla was proper. Newsom and different authorities in California could also be handing out constructing permits, however it’s fairly clear that there’ll nonetheless be purple tape and new guidelines for rebuilding.
Throughout a current look on Pod Pressure One, Burgum identified the stunning hypocrisy of California Democrats who preach about “local weather change” whereas their very own insurance policies gasoline the infernos that devastate the state yr after yr.
Doug Burgum:
“The gasoline load buildup that’s occurred in American forests can really return to the Clinton period. There was a well-known effort originally of the environmental extremist motion that stated, “Oh, the noticed owl! We are able to’t reduce any extra timber due to the noticed owl.” This was a part of the weaponization of the Endangered Species Act.By shutting down our forests, we destroyed our place within the timber milling trade. We killed rural communities that had been depending on timber. However the personal sector was keen to step in—as a result of once we did a timber lease, they wrote a verify to the federal government. With oil and gasoline leases, they pay us for the chance, after which they pay a royalty on high of it. These are ongoing, sustainable revenues.
In forestry, they might clear roads, do the thinning, and deal with all of the work wanted to handle the forest. So when a hearth did occur, it wouldn’t burn on the super-mega warmth ranges we see at the moment.
…It’s not environmental. A forest that’s clear can survive a hearth as a result of the wholesome timber survive, and that may be optimistic. Managed burns have a optimistic position. However these out-of-control, super-hot mega-fires do kill forests.
Now we’re burning extra timber yearly in America than we harvest—and we’re importing timber. By chance, proper? So uncontrolled fires eat extra of our asset base. We then spend cash attempting to cease these fires, versus being paid cash by the personal sector.
We—the residents, the general public homeowners—must be receiving income, not expending bills preventing fires. The quantity of timber we’ve stopped harvesting equals about the identical quantity we now import. So we’re additionally paying for imported timber.
And if individuals do care about CO₂ releases—when a forest burns, these are huge CO₂ releases. That’s the way you launch CO₂ from a tree—you burn it. When you could have a campfire, you’re releasing that carbon. The fires in California have launched extra CO₂ than all of their so-called efforts to “management” CO₂.”
WATCH:
.@SecretaryBurgum on forest mismanagement in the US through the years:
“By shutting down our forests, we killed our place in timber milling, we killed rural communities… The fires in California have launched extra CO2 than all of their efforts to regulate CO2.” pic.twitter.com/voT9lcZYbS
— Speedy Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) September 3, 2025
