It was inevitable. There was a narrative to sell, and Trump to bash. Once DOGE started attacking waste and cutting it, opposition media would find a sob story, fashion a narrative to make it Trump’s fault and lead with it. Even better if someone dies. Or trees. Maybe puppies too.
A woman in Thailand died. Her oxygen was “cut off” when US aid was stopped. Her daughter took a photo of the woman’s funeral – with her smartphone.
One might ask, why is America funding Myanmar refugee camps in Thailand? Why isn’t the Thai government, or a host of other Asian countries, spending their money on refugee camps in their own backyard? Why did this woman need oxygen in the first place? And why, of all things, did the IRC suddenly cut off the “oxygen supply” within a few days of Trump taking office?
Meh, there was a narrative to sell. “Trump killed an old woman.”
Except, he didn’t.
5 minutes of research and I found out the NGO that couldn’t afford oxygen without USAID has a $98 million stock portfolio and a CEO making $1.2 million a year.
— Oilfield Rando (@Oilfield_Rando) February 13, 2025
I wear a hard hat to work, @sneweyy https://t.co/LvU6N4Ecda
In Yosemite National Park, the “only” locksmith was terminated. If someone gets locked in the loo, they might die! Turns out that the locksmith had posted a whole lot of photos of himself climbing granite cliffs. Seems his job was a lot of pay-to-play.
One more narrative blown up.
AP has been a consistent mouthpiece for leftist talking points long before Trump’s second term. In D.C., the AP claimed that being kicked out of the Oval Office and sent to the kiddie table was a threat to democracy and free speech. Democracy dies at the kiddie table or something. Now, the AP is reporting that Trump and DOGE are killing trees in poor neighborhoods.
Their headline blares:
“$75 Million was awarded to plant trees in places that badly need them. In anti-DEI push, that’s over.”
$75 million was awarded to plant trees in places that badly need them. In anti-DEI push, that's over https://t.co/da2Fj0UQsd
— The Associated Press (@AP) March 1, 2025
Those efforts will be set back by the U.S. Forest Service’s decision in mid-February to terminate a $75 million grant to the Arbor Day Foundation, which was working to plant trees in neighborhoods that might not otherwise be able to afford them. The program is the latest victim of a drive by President Donald Trump’s administration against environmental justice initiatives.
AP’s photographer took loads of photos in the 9th Ward of New Orleans. Unhappy people next to trees and “bald” seedlings.
I’m guessing but AP is suggesting that in two weeks, those seedlings were killed by Trump’s cuts?
The benefits of trees are vast. They capture stormwater and replenish groundwater. They help clean the air in polluted areas, improve mental health, and cool air and surfaces of the built environment, especially during heat waves that are growing more intense and frequent with climate change.
AP hit every “dead puppy” talking point with words and photos. Poor blacks are losing their trees. Trump is cutting “Environmental Justice.” Trump is cutting “diversity, equity and inclusion.” AP adds that climate change is growing. People will die. Trees will die. Puppies too, I think.
Why haven’t New Orleans and the state taken the laboring oar on replanting trees? Why is this considered a “DEI” issue? Why are Google Maps photos loaded with photos of trees? Why is the federal government the only source of money to plant and water trees? So many questions.
The article ends with a discussion about Talent, Oregon. Apparently two-thirds of Talent's trees were lost in recent wildfires.
The grant money from the Arbor Day Foundation was being used to help low-income and disadvantaged mobile home park residents — among the hardest-hit by the fires — identify and remove hazardous trees badly burned or killed, and replant trees for shade and cooling.
“This is a rural red area that needs it badly,” said Oxendine. “We hit temperatures that exceed 110 degrees every summer now. We go through massive droughts and we’re always prone to wildfire here.”
I looked up the average temperatures for Talent Oregon.
In Talent, the summers are short, hot, dry, and mostly clear and the winters are very cold, wet, and mostly cloudy. Over the course of the year, the temperature typically varies from 31°F to 92°F and is rarely below 22°F or above 101°F.
I also took a peak at Google Maps at a spot near a mobile home park in Talent. The photo is from May 2024. A fair amount of new growth and trees. Based on what AP was reporting I expected to see a landscape looking like Nagasaki in September 1945.
Why people have to invent or inflate facts to make a point is up for discussion, but it seems AP can build a narrative to do just that.
Trump didn’t kill a grandmother in Thailand, and he’s not killing trees in New Orleans. But, you knew that, AP.
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