OPINION 4A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, AUGUST 18, 2015 Introducing Donald Trump, diplomat Founded in 1873 STEPHEN A. FORRESTER, Editor & Publisher LAURA SELLERS, Managing Editor BETTY SMITH, Advertising Manager CARL EARL, Systems Manager JOHN D. BRUIJN, Production Manager DEBRA BLOOM, Business Manager HEATHER RAMSDELL, Circulation Manager 0HJD¿UHVDUHD warning, even here on the ‘wet-side’ HXJH ¿ UHV DUH D ZKLII RI WKLQJV WR FRPH S ome of the western red cedars on Long Island, Wash., in the Willapa National Wildlife Refuge and on neighboring mainland hills are thought to be 800 years old, their longevity WKDQNVLQSDUWWRDPRLVWFOLPDWHWKDWKDVQ¶WIDYRUHGZLOG¿UHV The way it’s going, our descen- dants will be exceptionally lucky if the ancient cedars are still around eight centuries from now. ,QIDFWWKHZD\¿UHVDUHVFRXULQJ Oregon and Washington this sum- mer, a person doesn’t need to be a pessimist to fear a day in our own lifetimes when local forests follow the tragic patterns playing out east of the Cascades. ,W ZRXOGQ¶W HYHQ EH D ¿UVW DI ter all, the Tillamook and Clatsop State Forest burns achieved the sta- tus of “folk memory” in this region EHWZHHQ DQG 7KH ¿UVW LQ WKDW VHULHV RI ZLOG¿UHV EXUQHG 311,000 acres. 6XFK³PHJD¿UHV´²GHVWUR\LQJ RU PRUH DFUHV ² DUH EH coming almost common. In an Aug. 9 story (tinyurl.com/ 0HJD¿UHV NDWLRQDO GHRJUDSKLF makes numerous thought-proving points about this problem that is ex- SORGLQJLQRXUEDFN\DUG • “These infernos, once rare, are growing to sizes that U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell describes as ‘unimaginable’ two decades ago. Five alone have consumed more WKDQ ¿YH PLOOLRQ DFUHV LQ FHQWUDO Alaska since June. Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado also experi- HQFHGWKHLUZRUVWZLOG¿UHVLQWKHSDVW seven years.” • “The main driver is climate change. Rising temperatures ex- acerbate drought, spread beetle infestations and melt the snowpack earlier. Early snowmelt alone has OHQJWKHQHG WKH ¿UH VHDVRQ E\ GD\V VLQFH µ7KHVH VWUHVVHV are going to become more wide- spread,’ says Craig Allen, a U.S. Geological Service forest ecologist in Los Alamos, New Mexico. ‘The drought itself is part of the natural variability here. What’s different is it’s a hotter drought than anything in the Northern Hemisphere in the last thousand years.’” ‡ ³7RGD\ ZLOG¿UHV RQ DYHUDJH burn twice as much land every year now as they did 40 years ago.” • “58 million acres of national IRUHVWVDUHDWULVNIRUVHYHUH¿UHEXW there is only enough funding to clean up 11.3 million acres.” The end result of these colossal blazes are landscapes permanently transformed in terms of both plants and animals. They burn so hot and are so extensive that former- O\ ³QDWLYH´ VSHFLHV QR ORQJHU ¿QG themselves at home. One scientist quoted in the story said that if he wants to continue specializing in the same type of forest, he should plan to move a couple hundred miles north. What does all this mean for the counties of the Lower Columbia River, which haven’t witnessed DQ\WKLQJ UHVHPEOLQJ D PHJD¿UH LQ more than two generations? This very dry summer, at least, the an- swer is that we should be talking about it and more actively including ZLOG¿UHSODQQLQJLQDZLGHYDULHW\ of civic discussions. For example, if national forests are poorly maintained in terms of PLWLJDWLQJ¿UHULVNPLJKWLWEHVDIH to surmise that state forests are even OHVV VR" 'RHV WKH IDFW WKDW 3DFL¿F County’s forestland in Washington is predominantly owned by large corporations ensure less build-up of ÀDPPDEOHGHEULVRQWKHIRUHVWÀRRU" Do federal and state agencies on the “wet-side” give adequate time and PRQH\WRSODQQLQJIRU¿UHUHVSRQVH in places like the previously safe na- tional wildlife refuge? 7KLV\HDU¶VPHJD¿UHVDUHDVWURQJ whiff of things to come as we in the 3DFL¿F1RUWKZHVWOHDUQWRFRSHZLWK warmer temperatures and without reliable snowpacks to see us through the summer. Intelligent, appropriate- ly funded counter-measures can help make the difference. Jessica Lehrman/The New York Times Donald Trump, the business mogul and Republican presidential candidate, with sports memorabilia at his office in New York on Friday. The belt on his shoulder is Mike Tyson’s championship belt, the one in his lap bearing his name is from World Wrestling Entertainment, where he has made frequent guest appearances. food and the best high WKDW KH FDQ VHHP UH¿QHG chair? enough to win over voters “Honestly, I don’t think who think he’s crude and onald Trump gives me his cartoonish? people change that much,” Grumpy Cat look. Trump said. “I’m a solid, How does he tone it ,¶P VLWWLQJ LQ KLV RI¿FH LQ7UXPS down when he’s proud of stable person.” Knocking Tower high above Fifth Avenue, next his outrageous persona, his on the wooden restaurant ZDOO KH DGGHG ³, DP D to a wall plastered with framed mag- ¿HU\ ZHHKRXUV 7ZLWWHU DU man of great achievement. azine covers giving the effect of an rows and campaign “gus- I win, Maureen, I always LQ¿QLW\PLUURUKLVIDFHHQGOHVVO\PXO WR´DQGJUDWL¿HGE\WKHZD\ win. Knock on wood. I WLSO\LQJ²LQFOXGLQJDQROG3OD\ER\ he can survive dissing John Maureen win. It’s what I do. I beat with the real estate mogul slyly smil- McCain and rating Heidi Dowd people. I win.” ing next to a comely bunny. Klum when that would be No insecurities? “I could put up 40 of those walls,” a death knell for someone like Scott “I don’t know how you would de- he says. “I have covers in warehouses. Walker? It’s crazy.” “Sometimes I do go a little bit far,” ¿QHLQVHFXULW\DVLWSHUWDLQVWRPH´KH I’m trying to tell the freshly mint- KH DOORZHG DGGLQJ DIWHU D PRPHQW replies. He does have a germ phobia and ed pol that Megyn Kelly had the right “Heidi Klum. Sadly, she’s no longer carries packs of germicidal disposable to ask him a question in the debate on a 10.” how he talks about women, and that +HFRXOGDFWPRUHUH¿QHGKHPXV wipes. He describes how a man came she should be tough on the front-run- es over spaghetti and meatballs, with out of a restaurant bathroom the other ner. a side of pulled pork, in the Trump night with wet hands wanting to clasp He’s not buying it. In fact, in his Tower restaurant, as fans gawk and his hand. “So what do I do?” Trump stubborn “I win, you lose” way, he has ZDLWIRUVHO¿HVEXWWKDWZRXOGPDNH asked. “I don’t eat. That’s OK.” I note that many people still think an assistant come over to hand me a for a boring lunch. printout of Gabriel Sherman’s NHZ He relishes giving me a play-by- his bid is more runaway Macy’s YRUN magazine piece headlined “How play of the Kelly and Rosie O’Donnell Thanksgiving Day balloon than a run Roger Ailes Picked Trump, and Fox donnybrooks as though he’s talking on meaningful issues. +H VD\V LW¶V UHDO QRWLQJ ³, ZDV News’ Audience, Over Megyn Kelly.” about Pacquiao-Mayweather. He But the 69-year-old is trying hard beams with pride when he talks about with Carl Icahn yesterday and I said, not to bare his claws at any women Rush Limbaugh marveling about how ‘Carl, if I get this thing you are going to represent me on China. Maybe I’ll right now. His wife, Melania, and much “incoming” he can take. daughter Ivanka “I’m a counter- even give you China and Japan.’ You have told him they puncher,” he said. know, the money they are ripping It’s hard to don’t want him to “I can’t hit people from us.” He is trying to be a bit more low come across as a who don’t hit me. misogynist when imagine Trump Maybe that’s my key. He says he thought it would be they don’t see him Perry “cool” not to put his name on his implementing weakness. that way. started it. Lindsey “Make America Great Again” caps. “I have many Graham started it. But it’s hard to imagine Trump imple- impulse women executives This moron Rand menting impulse control. control :KDWLI,DVNKLPKH¿UHVRIIDQX and they are paid Paul just started it at least as much as because he is mired clear tweet at Vladimir Putin insulting the men,” he said. in 12th place and his pecs or Kim Jong Un calling him a “fat little slob”? ³,¿QGZRPHQWREHDPD]LQJ´ he’s a U.S. senator.” “I’ll only do it for a purpose,” he The billionaire braggart known for He said Rosie was a bully and the VD\LQJXQ¿OWHUHGWKLQJVLVWU\LQJWREH only way to beat bullies is to smack said. “I have total control. I will get along great with these people. I’m a diplomatic. Sort of. them in the nose. It has suddenly hit Trump that he’s So he doesn’t think of himself as dealmaker. I’m the best dealmaker there is.” OHDGLQJWKH5HSXEOLFDQ¿HOGLQDUDFH a bully? How will he deal with Carly Fio- where many candidates, including the He looks hurt. “Oh, no, the oppo- two joyless presumptive nominees, site,” he said. “In fact, I’ll go a step rina, who is being hailed as the one to are sputtering. He’s got the party by further. The way to do best with me is slay Trump after she excoriated him, interpreting his blood “wherever” re- WKHWDLO²VWLOODSXQFKOLQHEXWQRWD to be really nice to me.” joke. I mention that George Will has mark as being about Kelly’s period. (I TKH :DOO SWUHHW -RXUQDO huffed written a column demanding that Re- GRQ¶WWKLQNKHPHDQWLWWKDWZD\ “Carly has to be a little bit careful,” that Trump’s appeal was “attitude, not publican leaders renounce Trump as substance,” and the nascent candidate a cynical opportunist “deranged by he warned. What if he bursts into Trumpian LVVWLOO¿JXULQJRXWWKHSHVN\OLWWOHGH egotism.” tails, like staff and issues, dreaming up “So George Will came to Mar- analysis of how Carly and Hillary his own astringent campaign ads for a-Lago 10 years ago and made a look? “Oh, I would never talk about Instagram on ISIS and China. speech,” Trump said. “I refused to go The other candidates, he says, because he’s a boring person.” Trump their looks,” he replied primly. He “have pollsters; they pay these guys said he stayed on the patio and had did, however, imitate how his ears felt $200,000 a month to tell them, ‘Don’t dinner and that offended Will. (Will ³(HHHHHHHHH´ZKHQKHKHDUV&DUO\¶V say this, don’t say that, you use the says he has “other and better reasons “staccato bing, bing, bing” voice and wrong word, you shouldn’t put a com- for thinking it might not be altogether delivery. How important are women’s looks ma here.’ I don’t want any of that. I wise to entrust him with the nation’s istory is never neat and clean. LVJRLQJWRYRWHWROLIWWKHWUDGHHP have a nice staff, but no one tells me QXFOHDUDUVHQDO´ to him? He said he has found looks can I tell Trump that he has transcend- But some watershed moments bargo if they’re not moving with re- what to say. I go by my heart. The hold you back, that “some of the combination of heart and brain. When ed the level of narcissism common in are especially emblematic of change spect to issues of conscience,” Hillary gets up there she reads and a profession full of narcissists. He is, great-looking men and women, in the relationship of nations. Last 2SHQLQJ D IXOOÀHGJHG HPEDVV\ then goes away for three days.” after all, wearing a red tie with a label they’ve never had a problem getting )ULGD\¶VÀDJUDLVLQJDWWKHQHZ86 in Havana matters for reasons well As he headed off this weekend to by “a wonderful guy named Trump,” a date, they’ve never had a problem in embassy in Havana contained doses beyond the borders of that island VHHWKHEXWWHUFRZLQ,RZD²³,RZDLV as he wryly puts it, with his Brioni life, now they get into a world which of sentiment and realism. nation. To all of Latin America, very clean. It’s not like a lot of places suit. In the latest Time, Jeffrey Kluger, LVDFUXHOSODFHDQGWKH\GRQ¶W¿JKWDV “This was a decision to stop be- this symbolizes a new attitude in where you and I would go, like New the author of TKH NDUFLVVLVW NH[W hard.” I ask Trump if he can at least ad- ing the prisoners of history,” said :DVKLQJWRQ ,W LV VLJQL¿FDQW WKDW