Media

Lara Trump Slams People Blaming California Wildfires on Climate Change

HOT TAKE

The president-elect’s daughter-in-law made her case during a rant which also included the virtues of grilling.

Lara Trump used a Fox News interview Thursday night to criticize people blaming the deadly wildfires ripping across California on climate change.

The president-elect’s daughter-in-law, who formerly co-chaired the Republican National Committee, dished out several hot takes during the segment on Hannity. Host Sean Hannity brought her on the air after he angrily dismissed a tweet from Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) calling the Los Angeles fires a “preview of coming atrocities.”

A view of flames at the mountain as seen from Topanga Canyon near Pacific Palisades in Topanga, Los Angeles, California on January 9, 2025.
A view of flames at the mountain as seen from Topanga Canyon near Pacific Palisades in Topanga, Los Angeles, California on January 9, 2025. Anadolu/Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images

Hannity also flipped out at a Fox News Digital report claiming that New York officials are considering introducing emission standards for commerical charbroilers.

“Now they want to stop charbroil burgers and wood-fired pizza ovens in New York,” Hannity said, introducing Trump. “They want you to get rid of gas stoves, refrigerators, new air conditioners, no drilling, no fracking. And we’ll be bankrupt in no time. What did they not learn about this election? Are they that tone-deaf?”

Trump, who is married to Eric Trump, replied by adding another complaint to Hannity’s laundry list of grievances. “This is the kind of stuff that drove people away from the Democratic Party. People just want to be able to wash their clothes, and only wash their clothes one time, Sean,” she said.

“They want their washing machine to work, their dishwasher to work. And my gosh, grilling over an open flame is just about as old as mankind,” Trump continued. “This is the way that people have been cooking food forever, and now they want to go after that, too. I can guarantee you people in New York City are more concerned with being pushed in front of a subway car or stabbed than they are about chargrilled burgers.”

Then-Vice-president of the Republican National Committee Lara Trump speaks during the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) Argentina 2024 on December 04, 2024 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Then-Vice-president of the Republican National Committee Lara Trump speaks during the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) Argentina 2024. Tomas Cuesta/Tomas Cuesta/Getty Images

Trump then turned her attention to the wildfires in Los Angeles, claiming that “no one wants to take any blame for anything out in California.”

“Instead, they’re blaming climate change,” she said. “I would really love for someone out there to explain to me how climate change is the reason that the reservoirs were dry, that there’s no water in the fire hydrants.”

Trump continued with a thinly veiled dig at California Governor Gavin Newsom, the new Donald Trump and Elon Musk punching bag, as well as L.A. mayor Karen Bass.

“Was it the fact that climate change got rid of $17 million of the Los Angeles Fire Department’s budget?” she said. “Is that what happened out there? Or was it climate change that didn’t manage the forestry properly? These are things that are basics.”

She was referencing cuts to the LAFD 2025 budget of over $17 million which, though Mayor Bass has claimed that no reductions were made that would have impacted the response to the ongoing disaster.

Donald Trump with daughter-in-law Lara Trump (L).
Donald Trump with daughter-in-law Lara Trump.

Finishing off her rant, Trump claimed that people blame her father-in-law when in doubt.

“Until we get back to basics and people can just do the things that make them happy and life worth living, then they need to actually start to focus on those that this stuff is absolute insanity and to blame Donald Trump for it—that one is very rich, Sean,” she said. “This man hasn’t been in office for four years, but when in doubt, blame Donald Trump. That’s what they [do], blame him.”

Multiple studies have shown that climate change has increased the length of the wildfire season, the frequency of wildfires, and the burned area, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

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