On Monday, President Trump traveled to California to receive a briefing on the response efforts to the recent wildfires engulfing the state and region. President Trump blamed the devastation on a failure of state officials to manage their forests and cast doubt on the science on climate change and its role in exacerbating the fires. During his visit, the President argued that forest mismanagement was the primary culprit for catastrophic fires in recent years, telling officials they should "clean" the forest floors to safeguard forests from dry leaves and fallen, "explosive" trees that ignite "like a matchstick." Washington Governor Jay Inslee provided a stark counter opinion to the President for his comments redirecting blame for the wildfires away from climate change, “it is maddening right now that when we have this cosmic challenge to our communities, with the entire West Coast of the United States on fire, to have a president to deny that ... these are climate fires."