(image credit: Ethan Swope/AP)
Most Americans outside Los Angeles are experiencing the horrific fires with compassionate empathy. What would it be like if I had to flee my home on an hour’s notice, lose all my family treasures, have to figure out where to live, how to get my mail, pay my bills, file insurance claims, and school my kids?
But Donald Trump doesn’t do compassion. It’s simply not part of his character or his political repertoire. Human catastrophes are only interesting to Trump as political opportunities.
After he used the tragedy of the fires to single out his nemesis, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, for blame and scorn, Trump’s next comment, on Truth Social, was perfect Trump pitch. “Thousands of magnificent houses are gone, and many more will soon be lost,” he wrote.
How like Trump. His focus was the real estate, especially the upscale mansions, not the human tragedy. While Biden is using his last week to get as much of FEMA’s available $27 billion out the door to L.A. as soon as possible, Trump is being cagey about whether he will provide any aid at all.
