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GOP leader: California wildfires are ‘God’s punishment’ for being liberal

A GOP leader in Ohio is being blasted for calling California’s killer wildfires “God’s punishment” of the “liberal” state.

Dave Johnson, the Republican Party chairman in Columbiana County, posted the flip meme — then deleted it — on Sunday. It also included a photo of the burning fires and the caption “Hell on Earth brought to you by the Liberals in California!”

He told Cleveland.com it wasn’t meant to be offensive.

“Look, that’s a meme. And it’s how I feel about liberals, but did I mean that God is going to punish everyone who lives in California? No,” he said. “It’s a figure of speech, and I probably shouldn’t have done it. But I did, and it doesn’t change how I feel about what’s happened in California.”





The post fueled backlash, including from Mahoning County Democratic Party chairman David Betras, who called on Johnson to resign over his “demented comments.”

“Johnson owes the victims, their families, and the heroes who fought the fire and participated in rescue efforts an apology,” Betras said in a post on the party’s Facebook page. “In addition, I think his demented comments disqualify him from holding positions of public trust.”

Seventy-nine people have died in the spate of wildfires that have broken out across the Golden State. About 700 people are missing.

The so-called Camp Fire in Butte County is the most destructive in the state’s history after razing more than 15,000 structures and wiping out the entire town of Paradise.





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