Vox's Aaron Rupar says President Trump's explanation of forest management is 'totally beyond parody'

We’ve said it before, but the only reason to follow Vox journalist Aaron Rupar is to watch him post video clips of President Trump and then explain just how stupid the president is — let’s just say he’s not subtle about his political leanings.

As Twitchy reported, California Gov. Gavin Newsom blames the wildfires there on climate change, not poor forest management, and Joe Biden on Monday tried to scare suburban voters by claiming that reelecting “climate arsonist” Trump would lead to flooding and fires and hurricanes in the suburbs.

Trump, however, maintains that it’s poor forest management in California that makes the wildfires so severe, and Rupar called his explanation “totally beyond parody.” Watch for yourself:

"They can explode" — Trump's attempt to explain how poor forest management leads to wildfires is totally beyond parody pic.twitter.com/8yYmJ7lR8O

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 14, 2020

Hi @atrupar – Weird but just yesterday my mom and I were reminiscing about watching a fire from our house in California in the 70's that reached a stand of eucalyptus trees and watching them explode in flames.

I watched it. With my own eyes. So sit down. https://t.co/jHIVR2kEN2

— Kurt Schlichter (@KurtSchlichter) September 14, 2020

I grew up a mile from National Forest land in Oregon and am no stranger to forest fires. This isn't particularly outrageous or wrong. https://t.co/MVu7sOF4Yz

And California has lots of Eucalyptus trees where the chemical compounds do explode in fires. https://t.co/0ung3agWO4

— Mark Hemingway (@Heminator) September 14, 2020

And I remember fires in LA County in the 60s that turned the sky in San Diego orange. Some drifting embers even started a few spot fires in San Diego. One Friday in particular the heat and smoke were so bad that I walked home pushing my bike. Drifting sparks burned my forearms.

— Tom Reynolds (@Beregond) September 14, 2020

As for the exploding eucalyptus, I saw it many times. It isn't unique to California, you can see it happen on footage from Australia, where that strain of trees originally came from.

— Tom Reynolds (@Beregond) September 14, 2020

Eucalyptus sap – smells lovely, used to make eucalyptus oil. Very flammable. I can visualize the explosion!

Game, set match to the Kurt…

— The Deplorable Froggy (@abjoseph) September 14, 2020

High oil content in the trees and brush

Science

— Gene Ziemba (@gene_ziemba) September 14, 2020

I was a firefighter in NJ. I fought structure & brush fires in the Meadowlands.

Aaron has no clue how fire works.

— Ollie (@OllieMathews14) September 14, 2020

I've been a firefighter for 25 years, and yes, when it gets hot enough, trees can appear to explode.

Look up "area ignition". It's when the air gets hot enough that everything ignites instantly in an explosive manner.

— Mr. Kneecap ?? (@Kneecapsurfs) September 14, 2020

As a chemist I can explain this simply. The sap and internal fluids of the tree heat until they vaporize. On vaporization the volume of the liquids expands explosively. That explosion usually is accompanied with flame and heat. Aka “explosion”. Of course this happens all the time

— Black Swan (@Drliamx) September 14, 2020

Rupar either doesn't live where wildfires are common or is totally unconscious. Many in California fall into the latter category.

— torpido (@edgecitykid) September 14, 2020

When I was I kid, I used to spend the summers in Nova Scotia. Helped fight a fire. Trees do explode. Big fires are almost alive

— Steve Ferguson (@lsferguson) September 14, 2020

Grew up in Oregon. They literally DO explode. As in, to splinters.

— Grant Highland (@grant_highland) September 14, 2020

Trees do actually explode also when the sap or water content gets superheated.

— Chris ??? (@HeliJoc) September 14, 2020

Apparently he doesn’t know what combustion is

— Ace Dawg (@AceDawg19) September 14, 2020

When you spend your free time sipping oaky Chardonnay and noshing on avocado toast with your neo-Marxist friends, you typically do not acquire a good understanding of the outdoors.

— Magnus Döngle (@texas_chzhead) September 14, 2020

It seems clear he wasn’t describing spontaneous combustion.

— Del Quentin Wilber (@DelWilber) September 14, 2020

I guess he has also never fought a fire and has never heard of controlled burns.

— OR1 ?????????? (@OrcasRevenge) September 14, 2020

I guess they have never watched a log burn in a fire place or wondered why a fireplace has a screen, or why you split logs.

— Median Politics (@MedianPolitics) September 14, 2020

Our backyard was full of eucalyptus trees when I was growing up. One year someone started a fire in back of one of the houses on our block. That is exactly what happened to their trees. It was quite a scary thing to see .

— Eightisenough (@bayareagirl2012) September 14, 2020

It isn't rocket science. If you don't clear combustible material from an area and it builds up year after year it burns faster, the drier the faster and hotter it burns.
So yes the material can and often does explode.
Wildfire Explodes In Size. Caused by forest overgrowth. pic.twitter.com/Jbb5lteRiW

— baciesgrandson (@baciesgrandson) September 14, 2020

It's weird that forest management is a thing when Aaron doesn't think it's a thing. I mean forest management has been known about for many decades and been talked about and works. But Aaron doesn't think it's a thing. Is Aaron stupid?

— Fiery But Mostly Kimono QC (@TremendousArac1) September 14, 2020

Dumb ass doesn't know that sap can boil and cause the tree to literally explode.

— ǝᴉʞoHZ∀ (@AZHokie54) September 14, 2020

We’d put in a “party of science” comment here but we’re not even sure the Democratic Party is too conservative for Rupar.

Related:

‘Where’s your climate change now, Gavin Newsom?’ Guy arrested for starting brushfire in Portland gets released, allegedly starts more fires https://t.co/nEgZO6FCqW

— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) September 14, 2020