Trump Tariffs Will Not Stop Wildfires
This article was originaly published on January 10, 2025
In sadly predictable fashion, Trump and GOP leadership have turned the LA Fires into attacks on rivals and a way to push further into the culture war. This mudslinging is proof the upcoming administration is not looking to seriously govern the country or provide for its citizens. They are looking to serve a hyper-minority of special interests and elite supporters who feel that crisis’s like wildfires and floods don’t concern them. With their recent treatment of the LA fires, they are showing the country they will only act on issues when it serves their goals, not the needs of the people. Defunding FEMA, gutting the federal government of experienced workers, and suddenly calling for the annexation of Greenland and Canada are not the plans leaders make when they hope to do good for those they govern. It’s what they do when they plan to abuse power and elevate themselves above others.
This should also be a wake-up call for those who feel they can ignore the next four years and walk away unharmed by Trump’s leadership. Climate change is here today. Extreme weather and other events like the LA fires do not care about state borders or government policy. These events will not worry about who someone voted for. They will not respect the US because of its economy of military. They will simply come forth, kill people, destroy lives, and leave nothing but destruction in their wake. Our country is so large that climate refugees will not only come from outside the country, but other states. We must also face the fact that Donald Trump cannot impose tariffs on wildfires to get them to stop. Threatening to annex winter storms will not make them go away.
“We must also face the fact that Donald Trump cannot impose tariffs on wildfires to get them to stop. Threatening to annex winter storms will not make them go away. ”
Right now, thousands of people in Los Angeles are experiencing the loss of their homes and the lives they were leading. As I am writing this, at least 10 people have died, with the possibility of many more being found during the aftermath of these fires. If you are not in LA or have not lost a home to fire, it might be hard to image the real harm and trauma happening right now. Especially when a president-elect is minimizing what is happening through their actions. Even if these fires were not becoming a political flashpoint, it would be hard for anyone to comprehend the scope of what is going on if they can only see in through cable news and social media.
While most people want to support LA and its people, many have gone the opposite direction and seemingly are willing to follow Trump’s lead. Disturbingly people online have minimized the impact of these fires, or even mocked and dismissed the suffering unfolding. Some are justifying this behavior because some houses being lost are in expensive neighborhoods. Other’s because LA is seen as a bastion for liberal and elite decadence. Either excuse is inhumane and appalling no matter their class background or politics. Celebrating and turning away from human suffering because a person does not fit into a preferred category is bigotry. Having money or living in a certain place does not erase the impacts of losing everything. If you have done this, it is not the reaction you want people to have when climate caused destruction comes for you.
In 1993, just two weeks before Christmas, my mom was wrapping presents while sitting under our new tree. We lived in an old, 1950’s trailer that had one-bedroom, wood panel walls, and threadbare carpet. To keep the peace with his wife, my dad built a new, enclosed porch for the front door shortly after we moved in. This gave mom a place to enjoy her beloved Marlboro 100’s year-round and spared him from smelling them inside. The smoking lounge quickly became a second living room. Chairs, side tables, and old rugs made it a place she and I spent plenty of time in. I remember summer nights on that porch playing with toys a few feet from her. Often, she was joined by one of our neighbors and they would drink Hamm’s Beer and chain smoke late into the night while swapping gossip and news from around the trailer park. The snaps of a bug-zapper and croaking frogs always provided our evening’s music.
Late that night, mom shook me awake. She was bare-chested and her red hair was wild and unkept. Dragging me by the arm, she pulled me through the house and out the back door. We ran to the street where my dad eventually joined us. Standing there in nothing but our underwear, we watched our home burn to the ground. Firefighters told us we were lucky to be alive. Old trailers like the one we lived in are tinder boxes. An industrial fire extinguisher my dad swiped from work is what saved us. He used it to buy us the time we needed to get out. While fighting the fire he suffered major smoke inhalation and the damage to his lungs caused him to cough up thick, black mucus and have a distracting soreness in his chest for months. Of course, mom’s smoking was the source of the fire. One way or another, a small ember had gotten to the gifts and the tree, staring a fast blaze after we had gone to bed. Probably an ember started smoldered in the rug she was sitting on before spreading to the pile of paper and cardboard she had spent so much time on.
We lived three months in a cramped motel room after that. And while we were eventually able to get a new place to live, it took years for us to recover. Without the kindness of people in our community we would have ended up homeless despite my dad working fulltime. It was ten years before we put up another tree, but that only represented a half-hearted attempt claw back Christmas. To this day, our celebration is normally a quiet dinner at a restaurant a few days before or after the actual day. We don’t exchange gifts.
I try not to think about the fire. I was young when it happened, but I remember that night vividly. Dad will bring it up every two years or so. Sometimes he talks about how horrible it was or complains about all the books and keepsakes he lost. If a report of a house fire comes on the news, he’ll go quiet for a long time before muttering, “we know all about that.” As an adult, he admitted to me he had nightmares about it for years after. As for me, it took me years before I could be next to a campfire. To this day I obsessively keep paper towels or anything else that’s flammable away from the stovetop.
How much worse would it be for my family if we had to deal with the antics of Trump and the GOP? What would it have done to us if strangers we didn’t know mocked us for what happened and said we deserved it for living in a trailer park? What would our lives have been like? My family’s situation is not comparable to the LA fires, but I cannot imagine our family losing everything only to have government leaders and strangers mark us for attack and ridicule. The residents of LA deserve better from the country and our leaders.