During an interview with MS NOW Senior Political and National Reporter Jacob Soboroff released on Monday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) responded to a question on what qualities he demonstrated in response to fires in the state that are good ones for a president by saying that, “I’m still there, having the backs of the folks down there…unlike the president of the United States, who’s not done a damn thing, hasn’t lifted a finger. So, you talk about the attributes for a president of the United States, take a look at what you’ve got and consider the opposite, and that’s what the American people deserve.”
Soboroff asked, “You’re thinking about running for president of the United States. You’ve said that fate will ultimately determine that. But your record in California, including on these fires, will also determine that. When you have Americans looking at the way that you responded to these wildfires one year ago, what are the qualities that you think they should see that are befitting of a future commander-in-chief?”
Newsom responded by recommending Sobroff’s book on the fires, saying, “I think you did a rather decent job, didn’t like everything I read in it, but I thought it painted a pretty fair picture of a Governor of California trying to do his best in a remarkable and challenging time. Look, no other state in America has done more to try to address the issue of climate crisis in the first place. I’ve 10xed vegetation and forest management. Donald Trump’s cutting those budgets. I’ve doubled the size of CAL FIRE, … largest civilian aerial firefighting fleet in the world. We fast-tracked our vegetation and forest management, our fuel breaks. We have flooded the zone in terms of support. We flooded the zone with the biggest prepositioning in California history for these fires, it was on the scene, didn’t leave, for weeks and weeks, I’m proud of that. I’m still there, having the backs of the folks down there. You’re going to find folks, of course, people are out there, furious, upset, I get it. Their lives have been completely torn asunder. But we continue to go back, and we’ll have their backs, unlike the president of the United States, who’s not done a damn thing, hasn’t lifted a finger. So, you talk about the attributes for a president of the United States, take a look at what you’ve got and consider the opposite, and that’s what the American people deserve.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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