Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Trump scoffs at California drought in sea of protests
FRESNO, Calif. — Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump told California voters Friday that he can solve their water crisis, declaring, “There is no drought.”
Speaking at a rally in Fresno, Trump accused state officials of denying water to Central Valley farmers so they can send it out to sea “to protect a certain kind of 3-inch fish.”
Trump’s rallies Friday in Fresno and San Diego drew crowds of protesters under heavy police presence.
About 1,000 Trump foes demonstrated outside San Diego’s convention center, some engaging in shouting matches with the candidate’s supporters.
Many protesters carried signs critical of his plan to wall off the U.S. border with Mexico, which runs just south of the city.
In his drought comments, Trump appeared to be referring to water that runs naturally from the Sacramento River to the San Francisco Bay and then to the ocean. Some farmers want more of that flow diverted to them. The 3inch Delta smelt is a native California fish on the brink of extinction.
Politically influential rural water districts and corporate farmers in and around California’s Central Valley have been pushing back against long-standing federal laws protecting endangered fish and other species, saying federal efforts to make sure endangered native fish have enough water is shortchanging farmers of the water they want and need for crops.
Meanwhile, Trump says he will wait to debate the official Democratic nominee, and not debate Bernie Sanders, calling the Democratic Party nominating process “totally rigged.”
Trump said in a statement Friday that “it seems inappropriate that I would debate the second-place finisher,” criticizing frontrunner Hillary Clinton and the Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz as “crooked.”
Trump also added his voice to the growing chorus of Republicans encouraging Marco Rubio to run for re-election to the Senate, despite mocking him for months as “Little Marco” and insisting he “couldn’t get elected dogcatcher” in Florida.
Rubio declared that he’d be “honored” to speak at the Republican National Convention in favor of Trump, the same person he trashed as a “a con man who’s pulling the ultimate con job on the American people.”
In other news, John Hickenlooper, Colorado’s term-limited Democratic governor, released an autobiography and is doing the book talk rounds this week, reviving speculation that he is positioning himself to join Clinton’s presidential campaign ticket.
Hickenlooper insisted Friday that he hasn’t been approached by Clinton’s camp.