'If you're not going to help, stay home': 'The View' weighs in on Trump's visit to California town destroyed by wildfires
The hosts did not appreciate the president's comments.
President Trump has received international criticism for saying that wildfire management in Finland involves “raking,” during his visit to parts of Northern California scorched in the Camp Fire.
On Saturday, Trump told reporters that wildfires were not a problem in Finland because crews “spend a lot of time on raking and cleaning and doing things" to clear forest floors.
Finnish President Sauli Niinisto said in an interview published Sunday in the Ilta-Sanomat newspaper that he spoke briefly with Trump about the California forest fires, but couldn't recall raking coming up.
Trump also received criticism for referring to the town of Paradise, California, an area that received the brunt of the Camp Fire’s impact, as “Pleasure.”
On “The View” Monday, Whoopi Goldberg weighed in on the president’s comments.
“What I need him to do… is shut up,” said Goldberg.
“I try not to be too rude, but you know what, people lost their lives. Families lost their homes. This is not a joke,” she continued. “This is not cute… and if you don’t know this… you sure don’t give a damn about the people in California!”
“It takes the focus away from what’s actually going on in California,” said co-host Abby Huntsman. “If you’ve seen photos of these neighborhoods they’re not even neighborhoods anymore! Everything is burnt to the ground.”
Meghan McCain said Trump’s comments aren’t worth paying attention to.“Don’t try and rationalize crazy talk… It’s not rational,” said McCain. “I’ve been to many forests, as have all of you, and you can’t clean up all the leaves in the forest,” she quipped.
Goldberg finished the discussion with message to the president.
“People lost everything. Listen, if you’re not going to help, stay home,” she said.