Trump’s visit to Calif. was eye-opener for him

President Donald J. Trump visited Paradise and came face-to-face with Paradise lost. And while Trump still won’t admit that the devastating fires in California are the result of climate change, as many credible climate scientists will attest, he did soften his stance on assigning blame.

“We’re going to have to work quickly,” the president said Saturday during a visit to the heart of California’s killer wildfire. “ … Hopefully this is going to be the last of these because this was a really, really bad one. … I think everybody’s seen the light, and I don’t think we’ll have this again to this extent.”

The town of Paradise is all but gone as a result of a wildfire ignited Nov. 8. The devastation, which stretches for miles, has left neighborhoods destroyed and fields scorched.

At least 77 people have died across Northern California, and authorities are trying to locate about 1,000 people. Fortunately, not all are believed missing.

More than 5,500 fire personnel were battling the blaze that covered 228 square miles and was about 50 percent contained.

President Trump, who was visibly affected by what he saw, called the wildfires “this monster.”

There was none of the finger-pointing that underscored his initial reaction to the blaze.

Here’s what Trump tweeted on Nov. 10: “ … there is no reason for these massive, deadly and costly fires in California. Billions of dollars are given each year, with so many lives lost, all because of gross mismanagement of the forests. Remedy now, or no more Fed payments!”

Not surprisingly, Trump’s eagerness to play politics with the massive human and environmental tragedy in California triggered a national firestorm of its own.

But while most thoughtful Americans were shocked by the president’s callousness, his supporters were predictably silent.

NEW ATTITUDE COMMENDED

Trump’s change in attitude is to be commended – if it is sincere. Time will tell.

“It’s going to work out well, but right now we want to take care of the people that are so badly hurt,” the president said during his visit to what remained of the Skyway Villa Mobile Home and RV Park. He noted “there are areas you can’t even get to them yet” and the sheer number of people unaccounted for.

And the following comment from Trump may well be the closest thing to an apology for his Nov. 10 snarky tweet:

“I think people have to see this really to understand it. … We’ve never seen anything like this in California. It’s total devastation.”

It is to be hoped that the president and his followers will realize there’s a time and place for partisan politics. It is evil to use the widespread death and destruction in California to score political points.

On the other hand, merely blaming the spate of wildfires on the mismanagement of the forests, while refusing to acknowledge the effects of climate change, is myopic, at best.

Trump has said that while climate change may contribute “a little bit” to the wildfires, “The big problem we have is management.”

But Gov. Jerry Brown, who has been on the front lines of California’s new-normal natural disasters, attempted to provide some much needed context.

“If you really look at the facts, from a really open point of view, there are a lot of elements to be considered,” the governor said, after accompanying Trump on his visit. “The president came, he saw and I’m looking forward over the next month and beyond to really understand this threat of fire, the whole matter of drought and all the rest of it. It’s not one thing; it’s a lot of things, and I think that if we just open our minds and look at things we’ll get more stuff done.”

There’s no doubt that humans and nature share blame for the wildfires, but as the Associated Press noted, fire scientists are divided as to whether forest management played a major role.

“Nature provides the dangerous winds that have whipped the fires, the state has been in a drought and human-caused climate change over the long haul is killing and drying the shrubs and trees that provide the fuel,” the AP reported.

President Trump, who has pledged federal assistance to California, should remove his blinders and start looking objectively at the issue of climate change.

Wildfires, hurricanes, tornadoes, flooding and earthquakes are now the rule rather than the exception.

The president can no longer pretend that this very complicated issue can be addressed with simplistic solutions.