Because the Los Angeles wildfires proceed to trigger devastation throughout the state, Governor Gavin Newsom invited President-elect Donald Trump, who has railed towards the dealing with of the disaster with out offering believable options, to view the rising destruction himself.
In a letter signed “With respect and an open hand” that Newsom posted on social media on Friday, the governor gave Trump the chance to stroll across the state, thank first responders, and “meet with the Individuals affected by these fires.”
“Within the spirit of this nice nation, we should not politicize human tragedy or unfold disinformation from the sidelines,” Newsom wrote, pointing to how the previous and future president has responded to the wildfires over this previous week. “A whole lot of 1000’s of Individuals — displaced from their houses and fearful for the long run — need to see all of us working of their finest curiosity to make sure a quick restoration and rebuild.”
Newsom’s olive department comes as Trump has called the governor “incompetent,” said he ought to resign, and repeatedly referred to him as “Newscum” on Reality Social. On Wednesday, as neighborhoods had been burning down and tens of 1000’s of Angelenos had been instructed to evacuate with little discover, Trump wrote that the fires “might go down, in greenback quantity, because the worst within the Historical past of our Nation.” He additionally expressed concern about “whether or not insurance coverage firms will even manage to pay for to pay for this disaster.”
To date, the fires have killed not less than 11 individuals and burned greater than 37,000 acres, an space larger than San Francisco, based on reporting from the Washington Submit based mostly on Cal Fireplace. The flames have taken greater than 12,000 constructions and displaced tens of 1000’s.
As Self-importance Truthful’s Eric Lutz wrote this week, “The MAGA assaults on Democrats have been shameless and stuffed with flagrant lies, together with Trump’s suggestion that FEMA cash to help Los Angeles has as a substitute been spent by Joe Biden on the ‘Inexperienced New Rip-off,’ referring to the Inexperienced New Deal that was by no means truly enacted.”
The president-elect’s response mimics how he has responded to different environmental crises all through his political profession. In line with Stephanie Grisham, who served because the White Home press secretary beneath Trump from 2019 to 2020 and went on to support Vice President Kamala Harris’s 2024 marketing campaign, one of many first questions Trump would ask if a state wanted catastrophe support whereas he was in workplace was, “Are they my individuals?”
When Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico in 2017, which led to thousands of deaths, Trump reportedly delayed catastrophe support and diverted funding from FEMA to pay for his effort to return undocumented migrants to Mexico. A 2021 report by the Housing Division’s Workplace of the Inspector Common discovered the Trump administration held up greater than $20 billion in support for Puerto Rico after the storm ravaged the island. As a substitute of offering this money, he opted to throw paper towels right into a crowd at a church in San Juan.
