Wildfires continue to plague the West Coast of the United States with at least 2 dozen people having lost their lives in California alone and millions of acres burning. According to California’s fire authority more than 16,000 firefighters were working hard to contain nearly 30 wildfires around the state. The largest fire is the North complex fire over much of Butte county. The weather forecast of strong winds in the coming days could exacerbate the flames. Across all three Western states that include Washington and Oregon, a total of 35 people have died. Smoke has blanketed the region and the western United States now has some of the worst air quality in the world. President Donald Trump, who has remained largely silent on the massive fire crisis, visited California on Monday. Trump, who has long been a climate change denier, has reduced California’s struggles with fire to poor fuel management, which experts say is only part of the problem. 

Trump’s rival, Democratic Presidential nominee Joe Biden, released a statement saying, “climate change poses an imminent, existential threat to our way of life. President Trump can try to deny that reality, but the facts are undeniable.” However, Biden has refused to go as far as endorsing a Green New Deal to tackle the climate and economic crisis. Vermont Senator and two-time Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders during a virtual townhall on Saturday addressed the issue of climate change saying this. On the other side of the country from the West coast fires, Tropical storm Sally was upgraded to a hurricane expected to hit the Gulf Coast with winds of up to 85 mph. The storm could hit the state of Louisiana as a Category 2 hurricane which has winds of 96-110 mph.

Meanwhile Trump continues to stoke anxiety with numerous disturbing statements over the weekend that showed little respect for the rule of law. The so-called “law and order” president in an interview on Fox News effectively said that a Portland protester who was killed by federal forces deserved to die and discussing the federal law enforcement’s killing of Portland protester Michael Reinoehl as “retribution,” ignoring the U.S. Constitution’s protections of due process and rule of law and offering it up as a justified extrajudicial assassination. During his weekend rally in Nevada Trump made another outrageous statement saying he would “negotiate a third term” if he were to win reelection in November even though the 22nd amendment to the U.S. constitution clearly stipulates only 2 terms for Presidents.