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Jim Larkin knows that President Donald Trump has shown little compassion for people like him, the victims of the campfire that lost everything in California's deadliest fire, but he voted for him once.
And he would do it again.
"Personally, I love the president," Larkin said Saturday before the disaster assistance center of the Federal Emergency Management Agency in Chico.
The house of this 63-year-old man was burned 10 days ago in a huge fire that ravaged forests, swept canyons and destroyed entire cities.
The city of Paradise, with a population of nearly 27,000, is the second largest city in Butte County after Chico, the university town with a more moderate political composition.
COVER OF CAMP FIRE:
Larkin has insurance for his modest home, but after several days calling for adjusters and drowning in paperwork, he decided to visit the FEMA rescue center in person.
In the days following the fire, Trump, in a tweet, criticized forest fire management and threatened to suspend funding for federal aid. Some Trump supporters were shocked by the president's insensitivity. Others, like Larkin, were not baffled.
Larkin said he knew Trump was visiting Butte County. But he did not have time to bother chasing a motorcade. Trump's explosion on Twitter was characteristic, Larkin said, and no one should be surprised that the president went to the disaster area and left without visiting the victims of the fire.
"He's a rich man who does not even know, he can not imagine what it is," said Larkin. "It's very difficult for people like that to like (understand):" Oh, they hurt. What is it hurting him? "
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The fire changed everything
In most of Butte County or Trump Country, as many Conservative residents say, the president does not just get a pass, he gets a pat on the back.
This northern California region is a mosaic of isolated rural communities in California's big cities, where many people are born and never leave. This is where a movement to separate from the rest of the state has weakened and developed over the years.
In 2016, Trump beat Hilary Clinton in Butte County by 4 percentage points, according to the California Secretary of State's office. Since the election, the president's conservative policy has been hailed by Republicans in northern California.
But a fire that displaced about 50,000 people and killed at least 71 people changed everything. People living in chaos are only beginning to understand the trauma that will last and those who are unaffected offer support despite government delays in housing and other immediate assistance.
Countless people live in tents and cars in car parks, and hundreds of others sleep in shelters. Across Butte County, people are beginning to understand that there is no end and no easy answers on the horizon.
On Saturday, Trump met with Paradise Mayor Jody Jones, Governor-elect Gavin Newsom, Governor Jerry Brown and FEMA Administrator Brock Long during the meeting. a visit to the burnt remains of Paradise.
The president's motorcade stopped in a mobile home and a burned-out campground.
President Donald Trump said he went to the heart of the fire that killed California to understand the extent of the damage caused by the landscape (November 17).
AP
"At the moment, we want to take care of people who have been so badly hurt," said the president. "It's very sad to see. As far as life is concerned, nobody knows it yet.
At the Chico Fire Control Center, Trump visited the first responders. Firefighters still work to contain the fire. The sheriff's deputies are working to find the missing.
The lost list climbed to nearly 1,300.
A new perspective
Larkin walked his dog, a silver gray pitbull named "Baby", into the grass on the parking lot of the FEMA Claims Center at Chico Mall. The center is in a closed Sears store.
On social media, people criticized officials for their ability to quickly install the FEMA site in an inner building while vulnerable populations, families with young children, the elderly and the elderly still lived out in the country. cold.
Trump supporter or not, the fire changed Larkin. He escaped with flames flanking his vehicle. He does not stop thinking about the elderly who can not go out of their homes. He heard people screaming and seeing other things he can not talk about yet.
"I'm 63 years old, I was born in the streets of Brooklyn, New York. I saw everything, "he said. "I have never seen anything like it. It bothered me.
For the first time in his life, Larkin plans to consult a counselor. FEMA offers a mental health assistance program for survivors of a disaster.
Although he found a community and eventually became the owner, he thinks he can leave the county.
"This is my first home at 63," he said. "I've had it for a year and it burned."
Larkin said the initial information indicated that his house was on fire, and then he was told that he should check the drone footage to be sure. He has family in other states. Maybe he'll be okay, he'll do it again, he says, rubbing baby behind the ear.
Larkin said that he had done something that he had never done Saturday before. He's still considered a person who gets out of business. He often paid little attention to people living on the street.
In Butte County, 19.5% of the population lives below the poverty line, according to the United States Census. According to census figures, the poverty rate in the United States in 2017 was 12.3%.
On Saturday morning, Larkin went to Carl's for a cup of coffee. It's something he's done the last few mornings, trying to create a routine and a sense of normalcy after the fire cost him his life.
He saw a man in the street who seemed homeless. The kind of person Larkin has seen in Butte County so often before.
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"Usually, I think just like anyone else, you can walk past a guy on the street or a person who is hurting or sleeping on the street," he says, his voice broken. , eyes full of tears. "How can you let it pass? It's a bit weird, you know. I could not do it. "
Jim said that he thought about how he woke up every morning, the cold bones in a motorhome parked in the street. It's bad, he said. But this man did not have socks.
Fire put life and people in perspective. Larkin stopped and gave the man 32 dollars.
"I shared my money with him," Larkin said. "I will defend the rights of a person like him after that."
The state of Jefferson
At the Chico Fire Control Center, where Trump stopped, people suspended American flags and waited to film the departure of the president's motorcade. A small group of protesters waved placards on climate change.
"Welcome President Trump," reads on a sign.
Many families who live in this agricultural center in northern California, where orchards and rice fields line roads, believe that their rural communities are separate from Liberal bastion Trump when he talks about California regulation and politics.
The state's desire for cultural distinction has prompted a movement in favor of the independence of a newly formed conservative bastion or the so-called Jefferson State. The movement has grown as California Democrats fight Trump's policies on immigration, global warming, environmental conservation and corporate deregulation.
Signs indicating movement are hung on farms and country roads. A website is dedicated to the mission.
"We, the inhabitants of the 23 counties of Northern California, hereinafter referred to as Jefferson, formally demand the immediate split of Section 4, Section 3, into the United States. We declare that the State of California is in open rebellion and insurgency against the US government.
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The philosophy is rooted in a time when California was a place for pioneers, a place for prospectors in the middle of the gold rush. This has persisted in the idea that people who want to live in the state of Jefferson do not need the government.
The political and philosophical dream of secession has changed over the years. In 2014, a proposal to divide California into six states failed if it did not have enough signatures to vote.
Communities of fire zones in the central foothills of Sierra Nevada shelter a cache of conservative pensioners. People like Larkin who can not afford to pay the highest rents in the cities near Sacramento, the state capital.
Best president since Reagan
Larkin left his home in Buffalo looking for warmer climates and a quieter life. He’s lived in Paradise for about 15 years. When he split from his girlfriend, he scraped together enough money to buy the house.
Renters and people who live in trailers make up a large portion of Paradise residents.
Edmond McCullough, 53, was living in Section 8 housing before the fire burned down his family's home.
Since the fire, he's been living in an old camper with his wife Leticia and their kids. They’ve parked near a Walmart field to be close to their neighbors in Paradise who were also left homeless after the fire.
McCullough said he’s tired of Trump’s critics. He’s not one to follow politics but he supports Trump. He also supports a state of Jefferson.
McCullough said he’s been thinking about the state of Jefferson movement. He finds it odd that two cities, Paradise and Redding, with a substantial population that supported the secession, have experienced major fires. He supports the separation, but after the fire he wonders if there’s a chance.
“I feel the state of Jefferson is still a long ways off,” he said. “But I hope this is (something) that will bring them together, finally. That’s something I never did understand between the Democrats and Republicans about bickering and the different ideas and what the different two parties want to do. Let’s just become one people, American again and take care of America.”
His neighbor and friend Casey Belcher, 33, is also a Trump fan. But Trump’s initial comments after the fire, criticizing wildfire management and threatening to withhold aid, shook him.
“We’re the United States of America, we’re supposed to be great and all these things, but see how great you are whenever something uncontrollable comes,” he said.
Belcher said he doesn’t understand how anyone, president or not, could blame the children and families who’ve lost their livelihoods and homes in the fire. McCullough argues Trump deserves respect.
“I think Donald Trump is doing an excellent job,” he said. “People need to get off him, he’s the best president we’ve had since Ronald Reagan.”
Help for Butte County
The Trump supporters and neighbors who are living on the streets in a community that is not their own agreed on one thing. The president should spend time with evacuees, see their faces, hear their stories and leave Butte County understanding the widespread suffering first-hand.
Conservatives in the region may not agree, amid the fire, on Trump’s response but their anti-government streak still runs strong.
They said 10 days is too long to wait for housing assistance, especially for families with children. Families aren’t living in a Walmart parking lot by choice. They need FEMA to offer hotel vouchers or open a mass trailer site in Butte County.
"It should’ve been done by now,” McCullough said. “It’s been over a week.”
“You look at it as that’s the government for you, when will it happen?” Belcher said. “Who knows.”
'Take care of these people'
Larkin doesn't know if the president will have the heart to make a difference for people who are suffering after the fire. But if offered, he'd sit down and talk with Trump — man to man, Republican to Republican. He'd start with something Trump promised supporters: Cut the government red tape. Get people who survived the Camp Fire help now.
"I bet you I'd change his mind," he said. "Cut it to the chase and just take care of these people."
Larkin said he figures the president stayed behind a security detail and didn't shake a single survivor's hand.
"What are you going to do?" he said. "I wouldn't want to come out in public neither and shake hands. A lot of people hate this guy for some reason. I don't even know why. He's doing a great job as far as I'm concerned."
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Larkin said he also changed his mind about his neighbors in Chico. His son started a GoFundMe for him and people have donated to help get him back on his feet.
People across the community have offered trailers, money, clothes and food. Everything the government faltered on, he said.
Larkin leaned down to give Baby another rub behind the ear. He let her walk the grass for a bit.
Then he told his pup it's time to get in the car. Time to go back to the camper he parked on the streets of Chico, outside a friend's house.
It's where he'll spend the night until morning when he goes for his fast-food coffee. And maybe sees a man with no socks living on the streets.
Read or Share this story: https://www.redding.com/story/news/local/fires/2018/11/18/president-donald-trump-camp-fire-wildfire-destruction-california-support-criticism/2047084002/
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