Ex Washington Gov. Slams GOP For Threatening to Deny Aid to California
A former governor of Washington has ripped into the GOP for suggesting there should be strings attached to aid in the wake of some of the most devastating wildfires in U.S. history.
Speaking with MSNBC’s Ali Velshi on Friday, Jay Inslee explained that the president-elect does unfortunately have prior form in this area, having denied additional funding to Washington after the 2020 wildfires, and forcing the state to wait until Joe Biden assumed office more than five months later.
As Inslee said, “Imagine a couple standing in the ruins of their home embracing and crying, which I’ve seen on multiple occasions, because these fires are increasing because of climate change.”
He went on, “Imagine them turning to the president of the United States, saying could you lend us a little hand here? And he says no, I don’t like you because you live in a blue state, you happen to have elected Democrats on occasion.”
Inslee then clarified that this was “exactly what [Trump] did to my constituents when they suffered in the Malden fire, where the whole town burned down, 15,000 acres, even burned the fire department, the library. And he just said, ‘Go fish.’”
The former governor went on to say that it was “inconceivable” that a U.S. president would react like this in the aftermath of a natural disaster “until Donald Trump came on the scene.”
Commenting further on suggestions from the GOP leadership, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, that conditions should be attached to federal aid for California, Inslee said, “This is an attack on American people who made a voting decision that Donald Trump doesn’t like.”
He added, “They deserve to be treated like Americans.”
