Hello and Happy Tuesday, but with great respect for the ongoing disaster in Los Angeles. There are six days left until Inauguration Day, but President-elect Donald Trump appears to be spending most of it spreading misinformation about the devastating fires.

Of course he’s not alone. Truly, now he is never alone He has Elon Musk as a friend.. It seems like the two of them are physically inseparable and emotionally simpatico I think they deserve their own relationship name. So I officially named the duo “Elomp”.

And oh boy was Elomp busy! Count the ways.

It’s the Democratic Party!

As you’ve probably heard, Elonpe, both individually and collectively, has worked hard to blame the fires on the Democratic Party.

Gov. Gavin Newsom and Mayor Karen Bass are bearing the brunt of this. Elomp has gone after Newsom with so many false claims that it’s becoming difficult to keep track of him, but His administration launched an entire web page to try it out..

Among the most pervasive false claims is that Newsom’s water policies have reduced fire hydrant pressure. If you’ve ever turned on your garden hose, washing machine, and shower at the same time, you know that when too much demand is placed on the system, the pressure drops. Sadly, that’s what happened at the Palisades, where basically all the hydrants were used at the same time.

And Southern California too Despite their claims, most of the water doesn’t come from Northern California. Therefore, the smelt is not guilty.

California firefighters understand this because they have extensive experience fighting wildfires. That’s why they’re deploying water trucks (basically mobile fire hydrants) to try to supplement that demand as much as possible. The harsh reality is that the force of a hurricane The wind blows embers miles away from the flames.there was not enough water, no firebreaks, or herds of chaparral-eating goats to stop this fire.

As I wrote last week, much of Los Angeles is in a high fire risk area, and I’m sure that time spent investigating it will reveal where things could have been better or more could have been done. (Even if there was some fault, even if there was some fault), I couldn’t do any of those things. The reality of pressure and wind inside fire hydrants would have changed.

Elomp knows that, because they are not stupid, and also That’s because Musk photographed himself taking a class at the school on Monday.. But still, it doesn’t seem like they’re going to erase that or any other rumor.

And there are a lot of them – Musk-embarrassed retweets conspiracy theorist alex jones,(Sandy Hook’s infamous man) claims the fire was intentionally set as part of a “globalist conspiracy” to destroy the city as we know it.

Trump reposts meme “It’s not climate change. It’s the Democratic Party.”

My personal candidate is the worst. Mr. Musk’s argument is as follows.DEI means people die.Is it because black and LGBTQ+ people can’t fight fires? Please at least try to hide your racism and hatred.

purpose of blaming

Now, let me be clear: I have no interest in the fate of any particular politician, whether Democrat or Republican. But the truth is, I can follow suit. Especially during times of crisis when people are hurt, angry, and confused. Deliberately lying about that trauma is exploitation. And that’s cruel. Because it sends people in the wrong direction when our time could be better spent.

But it is rarely done without a purpose. Remember when we had to do something — right now -Is it because the immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, ate dogs and cats? That apparently resolved itself after the election. But it was always just a lie to serve a purpose and cause anger.

Elomp’s conspiracy binge advances their plans in two ways.

First, by supporting a conspiracy or lie, you are tacitly allowing others to do the same. For example, Marjorie Taylor Greene, who turned from claiming that Jewish space lasers were used to start wildfires, said: I used to think about it on Twitter, “Why not use geoengineering like cloud seeding to rain down California’s wildfires? They know how to do it.”

Okay, Marge. But it is also about truth and science dripping, dripping, dripping from our collective consciousness.

Second, and just as important, it provides cover for advancing actual policies that harm Californians. Why were claims of incompetence and misconduct made so much of a fuss and given without any evidence?

This comes as House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters on Monday that federal aid to California could be limited or have conditions attached to it because of these unproven — and easily disproved — claims. He said it was sexual.

“It appears to us that state and local leaders have failed in their duties,” he said. “So that’s something that has to be taken into account.”

And the politicization of the tragedy for Republican purposes intended to punish California was pushed from rumor to policy in a matter of days.

Faster than a forest fire.

What else to read:

Must read: Live updates: Strong winds could cause ‘increase in explosive fires’ across Los Angeles County this week
What happened: What started the Palisades fire? Beloved hiking trail may have tough answers
LA Times Feature: Reporter reflects on losing his home as a child

stay golden,
Anita Chhabria

PS In addition to the Times, which makes all of its fire coverage available for free, there are three other trusted resources for facts about the state and federal government responses:

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