President-elect Donald Trump decried the neglect that led to the death and destruction wrought by the Los Angeles wildfires, telling Newsmax on Monday it's as if the area was struck by a "nuclear weapon."
In a wide-ranging interview with "Rob Schmitt Tonight," Trump said he's "bothered" by the fact that California Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom ignored his guidance about water and forest maintenance years ago. But setting that aside, the sheer destruction and loss of life is "far worse" than what we see on TV, he said.
"I just saw some very guarded pictures of it. And it's far worse than you even see on television, if that's believable," Trump told Schmitt. "I believe it's greater damage than if they got hit by a nuclear weapon. I've never seen anything like it. Vast miles and miles of houses just burned to a crisp. There's nothing standing. And they're going to find many bodies, you know, only the dogs will find them, right? ... But we're going to find many bodies and many more dead."
The entire tragedy could have been prevented, Trump said.
"You know, when I was president, I demanded that this guy, the governor, accept the water coming from the north, from way up in Canada. ... It flows down right through Los Angeles. ... Massive amounts coming out from the mountains, from the melts," Trump said. "And even without it, even during the summer, it's a natural flow of water. They would have had so much water they wouldn't have known what to do with it. You would have never had the fires."
Further, "[t]hey could have, you know, maintained their forests. And as I said ... you're going to have a real problem here someday. And unfortunately I was right."
Trump was noncommittal about whether he would accept Newsom's invitation to survey the damage and meet with him once he takes over the country next week, telling Schmitt that this time is "different" than in 2018 when Paradise, California, burned.
"And you have to remove those trees because they're literally — it's like lighting a match. And they don't do that. And I said, you have to maintain your forest," Trump added. "They never did anything to keep this from happening, and it always bothered me."
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Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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