“There is no drought!”
Campaigning in Fresno, California on Friday Donald Trump made that remarkable — and false — statement. California is, in fact, in midst of a drought. Last year capped the state’s driest four-year period in its history, with record low rainfall and snow.
The map (on left) shows the current drought situation as of May 24, 2016.
Instead of a drought, Trump claimed the state is denying water to Central Valley farmers so they can send it out to sea “to protect a certain kind of three-inch fish.”
In fact, politically influential rural water districts and wealthy corporate farmers in central California have been fighting longstanding federal laws protecting endangered fish and other species for years.
But opening up more water from dwindling rivers up north doesn’t mean there isn’t a serious drought.
Trump either knows this and is lying to voters, or he doesn’t understand the implications of a drought in America’s largest state.
Either way, serious minded voters have to be shaking their heads in disbelief.
