President-elect Donald Trump’s eldest son suggested Wednesday that Ukraine, which is over 6,400 miles away from Los Angeles and busy repelling an unprovoked Russian invasion, is to blame for the wildfires raging across America’s second largest city.
In a post on X, Donald Trump Jr. pointed to a donation of surplus equipment by the Los Angeles County Fire Department to the war-torn nation as a potential contributing factor to the five uncontained blazes currently scorching Los Angeles.
“Oh look of course The LA fire department donated a bunch of their supplies to Ukraine,” he wrote.
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The donation was announced in 2022, when Ukraine was first subject to a full-scale invasion by Russia.
At the time, the department said it would send “hoses, nozzles, turnouts, helmets, body armor, and other associated personal protective equipment” to assist with shortages during the war.
L.A. fire officials have not cited a lack of equipment in their struggle to contain the wildfires, but rather a shortage of manpower.
“L.A. County, and all 29 fire departments in our county, are not prepared for this type of widespread disaster,” said Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone during a Wednesday press conference. “There are not enough firefighters in L.A. County to address four separate fires of this magnitude.”
Don Jr. is not the only MAGA fixture to have spread baseless conspiracies to score political points while the lives of tens of thousands of LA residents hang in the balance.
Trump’s billionaire backer Elon Musk claimed Wednesday, without evidence, that diverse hiring practices at the L.A. fire department were to blame, accusing officials of “prioritized DEI [diversity, equity, and inclusion] over saving lives and homes.”
And Trump senior lashed out at California Gov. Gavin Newsom—or “Newscum” as he brayed in his own social media posts—accusing him of failing to sign a “water restoration declaration” that Newsom’s office noted does not exist.
Trump’s attack centered on state rules that allocate water for cities and farms, but there is no evidence those rules are connected to the wildfires, which experts say were caused by a prolonged drought and extreme wind conditions.
Don Jr.’s harebrained Ukraine conspiracy is the latest in his budding career as a foreign envoy. On Tuesday, he visited Greenland amid his father’s repeated musings about seizing the autonomous Danish territory.
Greenlandic and Danish officials have vociferously rejected Trump’s entreaties, while France—a fellow member of the European Union—warned the president-elect to respect the bloc’s borders.
