‘Make America Rake Again’: Confusion in Finland over Trump’s wildfire comments

You really cannot make this stuff up, folks. 

The fire devastation in Paradise, California brought President Trump to Northern California last weekend.  In talking about the fires during the visit, President Trump looked to Finland as a model for fire prevention measures — through raking the forests.

CNN follows up on the remarks and reported that Finnish President Sauli Niinistö said that although President Trump claimed the European leader told him Finns rarely have forest fires because they “spend a lot of time raking,” he doesn’t recall discussing that with Trump when they met last weekend in Paris. Niinistö told a CNN affiliate that the subject of raking was never brought up in his conversations with Trump. He said that they did discuss the California wildfires when they met, and that he told Trump “we take care of our forests.”

The Finnish President said that he intended to convey that although Finland is covered by forests, the nation has a good monitoring system which has helped to prevent catastrophic wildfires. He added that he only sees raking in his own yard.

KJ