Newly inaugurated President Donald Trump called the Los Angeles County wildfires “tragic” during his inaugural address Monday in Washington DC and he vowed to prevent such disasters from happening again. … Trump has been deeply critical of the response to the fires. He declared California Gov. Gavin Newsom “incompetent” and blamed the mammoth fires on the state’s water policies. “Governor Gavin Newscum should immediately go to Northern California and open up the water main, and let the water flow into his dry, starving, burning state, instead of having it go out into the Pacific Ocean,” Trump posted on social media as the fires broke out. Newsom has scoffed at Trump’s salvos, branding them misinformation, and has offered to explain the situation to Trump should he visit the state.

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• Center for Biological Diversity news release: Trump invokes authoritarian powers on day one to gut environmental protections