At least 24 people are dead and as many are missing as roaring flames ravage Southern California, in what Gov.
Advertisement Story continues below advertisement “The fires are still raging in L.A.
The incompetent pols have no idea how to put them out,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Sunday morning.
During his first presidential term, Trump blamed Newsom for wildfires in California, suggesting the state should have “raked” its forests better.
Advertisement Story continues below advertisement Democrats have repeatedly pushed back against the claims.
In addition, state and local officials are resisting attempts by President-elect Donald Trump and his supporters to hold them accountable for the devastation as California continues to face devastating wildfires that are destroying entire neighborhoods and claiming lives.
Southern California is being ravaged by roaring flames, leaving at least 24 people dead and as many missing, according to Gov. The worst natural disaster in the United States, according to Gavin Newsom (D), is what he expects. S. the extent and magnitude of the harm throughout history. Additionally, Newsom stated in an interview that aired on Sunday that “a lot more” deaths will likely be added to the total number of fatalities. As search teams continue their efforts, it is anticipated that the number of missing people will rapidly rise by the dozens.
Instead of expressing sympathy or promising to rebuild, Trump, his billionaire ally Elon Musk, and prominent Republicans have largely spent the last few days blaming the state’s Democratic leadership for the crisis. This has exacerbated already high tensions between the Republicans who will soon be leading the federal response and the primarily Democratic officials on the ground.
“The fires in L are still going strong. 1. Trump posted on Truth Social on Sunday morning, saying, “The inept politicians don’t know how to put them out.”. “. They simply cannot extinguish the fires. Why are they acting this way?
“🌱.”.
Observe the environment and climate.
Although a lot of Trump and Musk’s criticism is based on false information, their reactions to the continuing devastation could endanger the political standing of incumbent Democrats in California, who are already demanding accountability and investigations into the fires.
Thanks to about $27 billion in new funding recently approved by Congress, FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said her agency has enough money to support its response to the wildfires in Los Angeles.
On Sunday’s episode of ABC’s “This Week,” Criswell stated, “We have the funding to support this response, to support this recovery, but also to continue to support the recovery from hurricanes Helene and Milton and the other 179 [disaster] declarations that we had last year alone across the United States.”. “.”.
The extent of the damage and its actual cost are still unknown. According to weather officials, Santa Ana winds—which have the ability to spread dangerous embers and fan flames—will intensify early Monday and last through Wednesday.
The way public servants react to natural disasters has the potential to either improve or permanently harm their reputations.
According to John Gasper, a professor of economics at Carnegie Mellon University, “voters reward actions from politicians” during emergencies, both locally or state-level and nationally.
According to some of our research, “what we actually saw is that voters would still reward the governor when a state governor requested aid and the federal government denied that aid,” Gasper said.
“The federal president would be punished, and the incumbent governor would receive a bump at the next election. That indicates that voters can at least somewhat determine who is representing them, he continued.
Afterward, President George W. Following the 2005 Gulf Coast and New Orleans devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina, Bush’s (R) approval ratings fell to a record low. According to a Washington Post-ABC News poll taken a month after the hurricane, a resounding majority of Americans were not happy with how government officials at all levels were managing the storm recovery. Eddie Compass, who was the police superintendent of New Orleans at the time, and Michael D. Brown, the administrator of FEMA at the time, both resigned following the storm.
After Hurricane Sandy, on the other hand, Chris Christie, the Republican governor of New Jersey, saw his approval rating reach a record high. (Other officials tied to the response at the time, including President Barack Obama, New York Gov. Following Sandy, both New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg and Democratic candidate Andrew M. Cuomo saw increases in their favorability ratings. ).
Even though Trump has gained popularity in California in recent years, Democrats in the state are already preparing for the effects of the president-elect’s second term, trying to “Trump-proof” the state during a special session in the state legislature late last year. He received 38% of the state’s vote in the 2024 presidential election, compared to 34% in 2020 and 31% in 2016.
In a statement last week, President Joe Biden pledged that the federal government would pay for all disaster aid expenses in California for the next 180 days, saying, “We’re going to be around a long while to help — the federal government.”. “.”.
Having a population of over 10 million, more than at least 41 states, Los Angeles County also has significant influence in politics, the economy, and campaign finance. However, when Trump takes office, it’s unclear how much he will respect or obstruct the continuation of federal aid. Local leaders say they are trying to find a time for the president-elect to visit and have been in communication with Trump’s team.
In an effort to “allow victims of the recent fires to restore their homes and businesses faster,” Newsom signed an executive order on Sunday that decreased red tape and regulations, including those pertaining to environmental reviews. “.”.
In addition, Newsom announced Sunday that he would deploy 1,000 more California National Guard members, increasing the number of Guardsmen to 2,500. Texas Gov. was also thanked. For sending over 135 firefighters and 45 emergency vehicles to assist in fighting the fire, Greg Abbott (R), a staunch Trump supporter, deserves praise. “In times like this, we come together, red, blue, republican, democrat,” Newsom wrote on X.
However, a few of Trump’s closest supporters have been deliberately sowing discord. According to a Washington Post analysis, Musk used racist ideas and untrue claims in a flurry of X posts that were shared with his 200+ million followers in recent days to blame the wildfires on Democrats and diversity policies.
Musk minimized the impact of climate change by blaming specific lesbian and female firefighters of color, posting their names and faces but offering no proof that they were to blame for the fires’ ongoing spread. Additionally, Musk reacted to an hour-long propaganda video by right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, who asserted that the fires were “part of a larger globalist plot” to bring about the collapse of the United States. Experts say the fires were caused by a combination of extremely strong winds and dry conditions, which were made worse by climate change. “Very true,” Musk said.
Musk has emphasized time and time again that the Los Angeles Fire Department’s investments in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs waste money that could have been used for disaster response, thereby costing lives.
In an interview with “Fox News Sunday,” vice president-elect JD Vance also charged that Biden was “asleep at the wheel for a number of different crises.”. “”.
The assaults are the most recent in a string of incidents in which Trump and his supporters have blamed California Democrats and disseminated misleading information regarding the government’s handling of natural disasters. Trump spread false information about the government’s response to Hurricane Helene during the campaign trail last year and threatened to stop providing federal aid to California unless the state changed its water management practices.
Trump accused Newsom during his first term as president of causing California wildfires and said the state ought to have done a better job of “raking” its forests.
Democrats have denied the allegations on several occasions.
“To meet with the Americans affected by these fires, see the devastation firsthand, and join me and others in thanking the heroic firefighters and first responders who are putting their lives on the line,” Newsom wrote in a letter released Friday. He also underlined the need to avoid “politicizing human tragedy or disseminating negative information from the sidelines.”. “.”.
I called out to him so he could come out and see for himself. In an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, Newsom discussed his invitation to Trump, saying, “We want to do it in the spirit of an open hand, not a closed fist.”. “.”.
Newsom said, “No,” in response to NBC News correspondent Jacob Soboroff’s question about whether he had heard back from Trump. On Sunday afternoon, a request for comment from a representative of Trump’s transition team was not answered.
In his remarks on Thursday, Biden attempted to refute reports of the fires using “simple, straightforward language” without mentioning Trump. He also cautioned that “fear and rumors spread very quickly” during a crisis. “”.
Funding levels for the Los Angeles fire department have been a major source of criticism among conservatives. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) has criticized alleged but nonexistent cuts to the firefighting budget as proof of “feckless leadership” on the part of Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. The Los Angeles Fire Department’s overall budget increased by $80 million, or 9.1%, during the fiscal year 2024–2025.
As evidence of lawlessness in the nation’s second-most populous metropolitan area, some Trump supporters have also pointed to reports of occasional looting and arson.
Officers have taken at least 29 people into custody for fire-related offenses, L. A. . During a briefing on Sunday, County Sheriff Robert Luna stated. One of the suspects, according to Luna, was initially fooled by his convincing fire jacket and fire hat. The sheriff said the man was charged with impersonating a firefighter.
Following reports that overworked fire hydrants ran dry and houses remained burning with seemingly few firefighters in sight, some Angelenos have criticized the way the city responded to the fires. According to water specialists, the sputtering of fire hydrants was caused in part by the increased demand for water to put out the fires, which decreased water pressure.
Bass has also come under fire for being out of town when the fires started, as he was on a presidential delegation in Ghana when wind gusts were predicted to be dangerous.
Bass has promised to assess what might have gone wrong after the fire crisis is over. Bass returned to Los Angeles on Wednesday. A separate investigation into the water shortages has been demanded by Newsom and others.
This report was compiled by Andrew Ackerman, Annabelle Timsit, Maeve Reston, Pranshu Verma, Will Oremus, and Trisha Thadani.