Gavin Newsom, CaliforniaDemocratic governor, appeared briefly to end his long-running feud with Donald Trump aside Friday, when he invited the president-elect to Los Angeles to study the devastation caused by the wildfires and meet the first responders, firefighters and affected “Americans”.
“In the spirit of this great country, we must not politicize human tragedy or spread disinformation from the sidelines,” Newsom wrote in a letter to Trump on Friday. “Hundreds of thousands of Americans – displaced from their homes and worried about the future – deserve to see all of us working in their best interests to ensure rapid recovery and rebuilding. »
The relaxation lasted less than 24 hours. By Saturday, Newsom, who is in the running to become Democratic Party leader in time for 2028, had returned to a more familiar opposition stance.
In a interview with Pod Save Americahe rejected Trump’s claim that water was being held back in Southern California to save an endangered fish, the delta smelt, calling the president-elect’s message on the issue “delusional” and part of a “consistent Trump mantra going back years and years.” and it’s reinforced again and again within the right… and it’s profoundly ignorant.”
Newsom said Californians’ fears that Trump might try to withhold federal relief funds were reasonable, despite the governor’s outreach efforts a day earlier; Newsom said Saturday evening that Trump had not yet responded to his call regarding the wildfire response.
“He’s done it in the past, not just here in California,” Newsom told the podcasters, pointing to Tump’s past actions in Puerto Rico, Utah, Connecticut and Georgia. “The rhetoric is very familiar, it’s increasingly sharp and obviously we all have reason to be concerned about it.”
The politicization of Los Angeles the fires could show signs of intensifying. For opposing political factions, the ruin of parts of Los Angeles offers an inviting but deadly canvas on which to lay out their opposing agendas.
For Democrats, the intensity with which the fires broke out, propelled by late-season Santa Ana winds, is evidence of climate change that some Republicans deny it as a political hoax. For some Republicans, including Trump, the fires are proof of mismanagement of Democrats’ campaigns for racial and gender equality.
Even before the extent of the damage became clear last week, Trump called Newsom “Newscum” and called on the governor to resign.
Addressing the governor in a message posted on his Truth Social website, Trump said: “One of the most beautiful and beautiful regions of the United States of America is completely destroyed by flames. It’s nothing but ashes and Gavin Newscum should resign. This is all his fault!!!
Asset blame Newsom for refusing to sign a water restoration declaration “that would have allowed millions of gallons of water, from excess rain and northern snowmelt, to flow daily into many areas of California, including areas currently burning in virtually apocalyptic fashion.”
On the Republican sidelines, Warren Davidson, a representative from Ohio, called Friday for federal disaster aid. to be held Since California unless the state reforms its forest management practices.
The feud between the two political leaders over environmental issues has spanned since at least 2018, after wildfires devastated Malibu and Paradise, when Trump accused Newsom and Democratic state leaders of “gross mismanagement» forests by failing to create firebreaks or clear flammable undergrowth.
At the time, Newsom defended California’s wildfire prevention efforts while criticizing the federal government for not doing enough to protect the state. “You don’t believe in climate change. You are excused from this conversation,” Newsom told Trump. in a post on.
This dispute was reignited earlier last year when Trump appeared to confuse former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown with former Governor Jerry Brown, saying he nearly crashed a helicopter while he was assessing the damage caused by the wildfires with (Governor) Brown.
A spokesperson for Newsom, who was on board the flight, said there were no problems, no emergency landings and no disparaging conversations about Kamala Harris, as Trump had claimed.
Karoline Leavitt, the Trump campaign spokeswoman, later responded that “the president has a lot of amazing stories from his life.”
The connections and potential fissures run deeper than politics. Newsom was married to Kimberly Guilfoyle from 2001 to 2006. Guilfoyle later dated Trump’s eldest son, Don Jr, and was recently named U.S. ambassador to Greece after leading a fundraising division for the campaign presidential election of Donald Trump in 2020.
Friction between the two appears set to continue, although, according to Politico, an anonymous Trump official downplayed the idea that he would withhold aid to the state.
Joe Biden has already approved a disaster declaration for the Southern California fires, committing the federal government to cover all costs of fire management and debris removal for six months.
“We are with you,” Biden promised. “We’re not going anywhere.”
Newsom thanked Biden – his fellow Democrat – for “endorsing our major disaster declaration.” According to PolicyIn his letter to Trump, Newsom wrote that Biden’s action had been “a strong indication of the partnership California needs and values with any federal administration.”
“However,” Newsom added, “the threat to lives and property remains acute.”
On Friday evening, Trump announced on Truth Social that he had appointed Ed Russo – who describes himself as a “tree advocate” and has described Trump as an “environmental hero” – to an environmental advisory panel.
Trump wrote in the message: “Together we will achieve American energy DOMINANCE, rebuild our economy and DRILL, BABY, DRILL.”
This comes as Newsom has acted closely with the California state legislature and the outgoing Biden administration to thwart Trump’s “America First” energy agenda ahead of Trump’s inauguration in 10 days .
Newsom said California’s legislative efforts were preemptive in nature and that he would approach the returning president with “an open hand, not a closed fist.”
But Trump made the future of California’s disaster funds an issue during his 2024 campaign when, in September, he asked Newsom to reform water policy to divert more water to California farmers if he wanted the flow of federal funds to continue.
“If he doesn’t sign these papers, we’re not going to give him any money to put out all his fires,” Trump said.