One common theme among Republican politicians that Trump must adhere to in order to appeal to voters is an appreciation for the military, police, and firefighters. The fact that so many of them show that same appreciation in their policies is another commonality they share, but Trump stands alone in his history of insulting and putting firefighters at risk while posing for photo shoots and making a show of his support.
Today, May 4th – is International Firefighters Day! We remember all of those who put their lives on the line to save others, and are grateful to those who continue to do so 24/7/365. We love our great firefighters, thank you! #ThankAFirefighter pic.twitter.com/LBSfQRFZ7k
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 4, 2019
Trump may hope everyone has forgotten, but it’s not easy to forget that firefighters’ lives have been put at risk and one man died as a result of Trump’s greed. One year ago, Trump Tower in New York caught fire; one resident died and six firefighters were killed. The reason the fire was able to spread so quickly and cause the amount of damage that it did, not to mention the loss of lives and injuries it caused, was because Trump had been too cheap to install sprinkler systems.
The building was constructed before sprinkler systems were mandated by law and when the law changed, developers fought back due to costs. Rather than use some of his proclaimed billions to install them in order to protect the residents of his property, Trump took advantage of the failure to enact those laws.
When Paradise, California experienced massive wildfires and firefighters reported the reasons why the flames had been able to spread so widely and cause so much damage, Trump ignored them and blamed the state of California for not properly sweeping the forest floors. He also gave a speech while standing next to firefighters who had been through weeks of trauma and disaster response and twice got the name of the city he was in wrong.
Perhaps this is why the firefighter’s union is endorsing one of Trump’s Democratic challengers for 2020, Vice President Joe Biden.
Twitter hasn’t forgotten any of this, either. Read some of their comments below:
Featured image via Flickr by Gage Skidmore under a Creative Commons license
