It’s never been said that Republicans make sense: GOP presidential candidate and political dilettante Vivek Ramaswamy came out against DEI policies again because, he claims, having a native Hawaiian sitting on Hawaii’s water management commission contributed to the damage caused by the wildfires.
“That request went unanswered for hours, withholding critical aid to islanders,” the self-important blowhard declared on Twitter. “Now we’re learning that the official who delayed the approval is an Obama Foundation ‘Asia Pacific Leader’ & a climate activist who believes water should be ‘revered’ first and foremost.”
As you can imagine, the situation is not as cut-and-dry as Ramaswamy depicts, but to claim “DEI” or the Obama Foundation is responsible for the lack of water in fighting the Maui wildfires is, frankly, irresponsible and ignorant, and it demonstrates Rama-swarmy‘s craven adoption of targeting civil servants for conservative ire with few facts.
Kaleo Manuel, deputy director of the Hawaii Commission on Water Resource Management, is the current target. As the story Ramaswamy pitches goes, Manuel denied firefighters’ requests to redirect water from reservoirs in Hawaii to fight the fires. This led to reduced water pressure in hoses, “they say,” which led to deaths, so it’s obviously Obama’s fault.
This is the story from someone who thinks simplistically. In reality, the situation was exacerbated by a complex water management scheme in Hawaii where private landowners–like agricultural operations–control significant stores of freshwater, a vital commodity on an island. As firefighters fought the rapidly spreading fire, officials attempted to run through regulations required to release water, which included contacting local farmers to advise them and collect feedback on the impact to agriculture.
On top of that, as the fires raged, West Maui Land Co., which manages three of the largest freshwater reservoirs on the island, advised the commission it had run out of reserves and asked the commission to bypass its regulations to divert freshwater streams into its reservoir. The process through which the commission could authorize that–with or without landowner permission and notification–is not one a deputy director of the commission has the authority to do instantaneously, but that doesn’t stop Ramaswamy and other conservatives, who have little understanding of organizational operations, from targeting a bureaucrat.
But still, targeting a Hawaii native for a systemic failure and claiming that the Hawaiian was in the position on a Hawaiian commission because he was placed there to meet some fictitious DEI requirement to have an “Asia-Pacific leader” in the position in fucking Hawaii is absurd. The GOP is a joke.