Democrats have turned “never let a good crisis go to waste” into one of their key mantras. The moment something bad happens, they rush right in to ban or regulate whatever it is they blame for the situation. Whether it’s banning guns after a shooting or banning gas stoves because of whatever problem it is they think it will fix, the Democrats are there, ready to “do something” about it to impose their agenda.
And the Canadian wildfires have become the latest crisis they’re exploiting. As PJM’s Rick Moran noted, the left is trying to make this a “climate change” issue, even though it isn’t. The Democratic National Committee even put out a video bizarrely linking the Canadian wildfires to Republican denials of climate change.
The air pollution caused by the Canadian wildfires is bad. While I don’t live in one of the hotspots, I do live in an area that has experienced low air quality as a result. Visibility is down, and you can smell the hint of smoke outside. I’ve got air purifiers running 24/7 in my house to keep the indoor air as clean as possible, and I keep hoping it rains. But Democrats have no business complaining about the smoke that is affecting large swaths of the country. Frankly, they are part of the problem, as Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.) points out on Twitter.
Related: Is the Bad Air Out East Due to Climate Change or Is It Something Else?
“You know, I don’t have any sympathy for politicians in Washington, D.C., that are complaining today about the forest fires in Canada,” Zinke said in a video of himself overlooking the National Mall, where the smoke from Canada has reduced visibility dramatically. Zinke then pointed behind him, noting that because of the smoke, the Washington Monument, which could normally be seen from his vantage point, wasn’t visible and that this situation serves as a reminder that our forests need to be managed.
“Whether you’re a climate change activist or denier, it doesn’t relieve you of the responsibility to manage our forests,” Zinke continued. “And if we don’t manage our forests, this is what happens.”
I have zero empathy for D.C. politicians complaining about the smoke.
If you won’t allow us to responsibly manage forests, you should have to deal with the consequences just like we do in the West. pic.twitter.com/mY7bDP19dy
— Rep Ryan Zinke (@RepRyanZinke) June 8, 2023
It’s true. And while U.S. Democrats aren’t responsible for the Canadian wildfires, they have a history of preventing proper forest and grassland management over so-called climate concerns. President Trump even called them out about this back in 2018 in the wake of the wildfire season in California.
“There is no reason for these massive, deadly, and costly forest fires in California except that forest management is so poor,” Trump tweeted. “Billions of dollars are given each year, with so many lives lost, all because of gross mismanagement of the forests.”
There is an abundance of evidence linking science-based forest management tools like logging and thinning to reduced risks of wildfires — but Democrats oppose these efforts. Democrats must stop politicizing the environment and start doing what’s right for the people. Many of us are affected by what’s happening in Canada, and it is inevitable that there will be more domestic wildfires in the future that could cause similar problems. But we have the power to minimize that risk if Democrats will let us.