Looks like Donald Trump‘s second term in the White House is sadly and truly going to be a lot like his first.
As great swaths of Los Angeles are destroyed from multiple wildfires and harsh winds, the 45th and soon to be 47th POTUS made his tried and true tactic of taking to social media to find someone to blame — in this case, Trump’s old West Coast nemesis California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
LA County is under a state of emergency, tens of thousands of acres scorched, at least two people dead and thousands of homes and buildings destroyed by fires in Pacific Palisades, Altadena, Pasadena and now parts of Malibu. Newsom is currently receiving a briefing with President Joe Biden from officials on the current state of the tragedy.
Trump being Trump decided to make it personal.
In a post this morning on his Truth Social, the President-elect wrote:
Governor Gavin Newscum refused to sign the water restoration declaration put before him that would have allowed millions of gallons of water, from excess rain and snow melt from the North, to flow daily into many parts of California, including the areas that are currently burning in a virtually apocalyptic way. He wanted to protect an essentially worthless fish called a smelt, by giving it less water (it didn’t work!), but didn’t care about the people of California. Now the ultimate price is being paid. I will demand that this incompetent governor allow beautiful, clean, fresh water to FLOW INTO CALIFORNIA! He is the blame for this. On top of it all, no water for fire hydrants, not firefighting planes. A true disaster!
The words by Trump are very similar to the way he treated Newsom when previous fires hit the state during his 2017-2021 term. Back then, as with more recently, Newsom was surgically critical of the conduct and policies of Trump. Still, perhaps out of expediency or perhaps because Trump’s eldest son dated the Governor’s ex-wife and former San Fran First Lady Kimberly Guilfoyle for many years, the two men had a few congenial moments.
On January 7, Newsom appeared to take a swipe at Trump in a press conference on the state of the fires and winds. “No politics, no hand-wringing, kissing of the feet, emergency proclamation is being drafted as we speak,” he said with implication to Trump’s partisan approach and the parade of bigwigs to Mar-A-Lago in recent weeks. In contrast, today Newsom was full of his usual praise and thanks to Joe Biden as the federal government yesterday authorized emergency measures and funds to fight the fires.
The Governor has made no response so far Wednesday to Trump’s latest insults, gross insensitivity and taunts.
President Biden called the fires and winds “astounding,” when being given his briefing in Santa Monica just now, at what was a clear photo-op. “We’re doing anything and everything and as long as it takes to contain these fires, to make sure you get back to normal,” he added as Newsom, the LAFD chief and others looked on. “It’s going to be a hell of a long way. It’s going to take time.”
Biden promised that 2,000 members of the National Guard would be deployed to assist in fighting the fires and supporting communities. To that Newsom did respond, with a big thanks to the newly minted great-grandfather and outgoing incumbent. “This means the world to us,” Newsom said. “For the President to be in the region it’s impossible for me to express the level of gratitude.”
Biden flew into L.A. late Monday to declare two national monuments on Tuesday, but those plans were stymied by the winds and fires. Setting up HQ at a westside hotel, Biden spend an additional night in LA with a new schedule to leave Wednesday on Air Force One around 2 p.m. PT.
No word of Trump coming out to L.A. any time soon.
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