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November 19, 2018

Trump Claims Finland Prevents Fires by "Raking and Cleaning" Forests
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Trump, who initially threatened to cut funding to California, reiterated
his attack on forest management after his visit to Paradise, though he
did grant California's requests for federal funds. Trump, who is a
climate change denier, said California should follow the lead of Finland
by "raking and cleaning" its forests.

President Donald Trump: "I was with the President of Finland and he
said, 'We have a much different-we're a forest nation.' He called it a
forest nation. And they spend a lot of time on raking and cleaning and
doing things. They don't have any problem."

Trump's comments appeared to baffle Finland's President, who told a
Helsinki newspaper he didn't remember discussing raking forests with
Trump during a meeting earlier this month. Trump's comment drew ridicule
on social media, spawning the hashtag #Make America Rake Again. This
comes as the media monitoring non-profit Media Matters for America,
found that national broadcast news networks mentioned "climate change"
in less than four percent of their coverage of the deadly California
wildfires.


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