By Nathan Layne, Helen Coster and Alexandra Ulmer
(Reuters) – For California Governor Gavin Newsom and other Democratic leaders in the left-leaning state, the still-raging wildfires could have been a chance to showcase their competence and unity with the White House in dealing with a natural disaster.
Instead, questions about the state’s preparedness and response to the massive fires have rendered party leaders vulnerable to escalating attacks from the right, in a possible prelude to the politicization of disaster response under president-elect Donald Trump.
Newsom and Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass have tried to deflect criticism of their leadership, stressing the unprecedented scale of wildfires that have leveled whole neighborhoods and killed at least 24 people in less than one week.
But with Trump and tech billionaire Elon Musk using their reach on social media to attack both leaders, the crisis has evolved into a political battle with lines drawn broadly along two competing visions for America: the environmentally-conscious and regulatory-heavy ethos of the left versus a right skeptical of government expertise and progressive ideas.
Roger Salazar, a Sacramento-based Democratic strategist, said he believes Trump will continue to use California as a political foil once he takes office on Jan. 20, as a way to advance the Republican agenda of regulatory and tax cuts.
“They want less regulation,” said Salazar, who was appointed by Newsom in 2020 to an unpaid position chairing a state recreational commission, but who is not involved in the disaster response. “The easiest way to do that is to demonize those on the other side.”
The political fallout comes with potentially grave consequences for the most populous state. House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson, a Trump ally, said on Monday that Congress should place conditions on aid for California, saying local officials had mismanaged the response.
Trump, who derogatorily refers to the governor as “Newscum,” plans to tour the destruction next week, a source familiar with the matter said, following President Joe Biden’s trip to Los Angeles last week, where he promised significant federal aid.
In an interview on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” over the weekend, Newsom criticized Trump and his allies for deploying what he described as mis- and disinformation covering a range of topics from water and forest management to programs protecting fish.
Several have claimed – without providing any evidence – that Los Angeles officials were more focused on ensuring race and gender diversity in the ranks than fighting fires.
“DEI means people will DIE,” Musk wrote on his social media platform X, referring to diversity, equity and inclusion programs. The post has received 38 million views.
Presidents and other political leaders traditionally waited until after a disaster had subsided to air criticisms. Trump broke that precedent during the COVID-19 pandemic in his first term, when he fought openly with governors.
“His federalism is: if you’re nice to me, then I will be nice to you,” said Timothy Kneeland, a professor at Nazareth University in Rochester, New York, who has authored a book on the politics of natural disasters.
Kneeland said it was counterproductive for Newsom and Bass to have to counter Trump’s broadsides when “all the government resources should be focused on putting these fires out, rescuing people and attempting to help them recover.”
Zach Seidl, a spokesperson for Bass, said the mayor was “laser focused” on keeping Angelenos safe and protecting property.
“She has secured the federal, state and local resources we need to continue fighting these fires and is moving forward on an all-of-the-above plan for recovery.”
Representatives for Newsom, Trump and Musk did not immediately respond to emailed requests for comment.
NEWSOM AS FOIL
Many political analysts expected Newsom to use the run-up to Trump’s inauguration and the early days of his presidency as a period to establish himself as a standard bearer for his party. He’s been forced to play defense instead.
“Newsom should be living in Los Angeles right now and be very focused on this disaster,” said Jon Fleischman, former executive director of the California Republican Party. “Is that going to keep him from really engaging with Trump and setting himself up to be the 2028 alternative? Probably. But on the other hand, adversity creates opportunity.”
Newsom has acknowledged some things went wrong.
He has called for an independent investigation into the local water supply, for instance, after some fire hydrants ran dry on Wednesday, especially in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood.
Officials have said that ahead of the windstorm, the city had filled all available tanks, including in Palisades. Municipal water systems were working effectively, officials said, but were not designed for tackling wildfires. Palisades quickly exhausted its three water tanks.
Trump has used his Truth Social platform to portray the water shortages and widespread destruction as evidence of “gross incompetence and mismanagement of the Biden/Newscum Duo.”
Bass, who was on an official trip to Ghana when the fires broke out on Tuesday, has come under similar criticism from Trump. When asked about her travels at a news conference last week, Bass declined to directly answer.
Trump also falsely claimed that Newsom prioritized preservation of small endangered fish called smelt over public safety. In the “Meet the Press” interview, Newsom called any connection between the fish and the fire “inexcusable because it’s inaccurate.”
The ongoing clash over the fires reflects a broader effort by Trump and his allies to paint Newsom – and Democratic leaders elsewhere – as part of the rich establishment that is out of step with large swaths of the American public.
It’s how Musk himself framed a decision in June to move the headquarters for both SpaceX and X from California to Texas, pointing to a law California passed that barred school districts from mandating that parents be informed of a child’s gender identification.
Berkeley political scientist Henry Brady said attacking California made political sense for conservatives.
“Watch Fox News,” he said. “California is the boogeyman. California has cities out of control. California is doing all these crazy things with climate change. We are the people who have sanctuary cities and the place where people are woke beyond belief.”
He added: “Punishing California is something that is, from their perspective, a positive good.”
(Reporting by Nathan Layne and Helen Coster in New York; Alexandra Ulmer in San Francisco; editing by Paul Thomasch and Lincoln Feast.)
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