This article has me a bit puzzled. Did California, which has lots of experience and practice in submitting Presidential Disaster Declaration requests, muff this one up? Did the biggest fires in their modern history somehow not meet the qualifications for a declaration?
Was political gamesmanship in play, waiting for the governor himself to appeal and then the very fast roll over by the president due to a call from the governor of California? Did a spokesperson for the president speak the truth (maybe a fib?) when, "Judd Deere, a White House spokesperson, said aid for the September fires 'was not supported by the relevant data that states must provide for approval, and the president concurred with the FEMA administrator’s recommendation.'”
This is where integrity and truth telling from the past, or the opposite of it, outright lies, comes into play. The statement above could absolutely be the truth — but the history of lies by the administration causes me to question the above statement.
One of my personal quotes I've shared in the past applies: "Only you can take away your integrity!"
This is why I shared this blog post earlier in the week, "Is Integrity a Really Important Trait for a Leader to Have?"
