Trump has made utterly incoherent statements on Twitter about the wildfires ravaging California over the past week, including a bizarre claim that the state can't fight wildfires because their water is being diverted into the ocean. Or something.
As incoherent as his tweets may have been though, a member of his cabinet is acting on them.
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has ordered federal officials to prioritize the use of water for fighting wildfires over protecting endangered species in an apparent response to Trump's tweets.
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross ordered the National Marine Fisheries Service to "facilitate access to the water" needed to fight ongoing wildfires, rather than continue to provide some of it for protecting endangered species, such as Chinook salmon.
The policy directive follows tweets President Trump sent that were met with confusion by California officials, including firefighters, who said the state has more than enough water to combat the blazes.
The good news is California's firefighters don't need more water.
Moreover, fighting wildfires is not just a matter of having access to water. Water is important, but water has relatively little to do with fighting fires of this size. Wildfires are fought by clearing land to create lines or "firelines" that isolate the fire and deprive it of material to burn through such as dead leaves and brush. When news reports say a wildfire has been partially contained, that means crews have created firelines around it. Firelines are known as firebreaks when they're constructed before fires even start.
There's been some speculation that the Trump regime is just using the wildfires as an excuse to weaken the Endangered Species Act, but I think that may be giving them too much credit.
Wilbur Ross's brain is a potato and Trump is far too stupid to understand any of this let alone create a conspiracy around it on his own.