California Democrats get an early taste of new clashes with Trump as wildfires rage on

By Gregory Krieg, CNN

(CNN) — President-elect Donald Trump launched a new round of criticism Sunday targeting Democrats over their efforts to tame the Southern California wildfires, ripping rival liberal leaders as “incompetent” witnesses to “one of the worst catastrophes in the history of our Country.”

Trump’s Truth Social post is the latest in a series of attacks by the president-elect and his allies on California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. The Democrats already face tough questions from their constituents and other elected officials — including those from their own party and, increasingly, one another.

But the broadsides from Trump and supporters such as billionaire Elon Musk — several of them misleading or citing erroneous reports — are setting the stage for fights to come between the president-elect and liberal cities and states ahead of his inauguration next week. The push-and-pull recalls some of the touchy, high-stakes interactions between Trump and top Democrats during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, when leaders of liberal-leaning cities and states often pulled their political punches over concerns about alienating the first Trump White House and delaying federal support.

Newsom is no stranger to clashes with Trump, but the crisis sweeping Los Angeles now presents a unique and more urgent challenge. The governor, considered a potential 2028 presidential candidate, expressed frustration with Trump’s rhetoric, but also has invited him to come and survey the damage “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.”

The softer approach followed a more pointed response from the California leader during an interview last week with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, during which he sounded deeply frustrated by Trump’s commentary.

“People are literally fleeing. People have lost their lives. Kids lost their schools. Families completely torn asunder, churches burned down,” Newsom said. “This guy wanted to politicize it.”

He paused again, then added, “I have a lot of thoughts, and I know what I want to say.

“I won’t.”

Republicans target the ‘far left’

Republicans have been less hesitant to cast blame in California, especially on Bass, who was in Ghana for an official visit when the first fire in the Pacific Palisades broke out. They are increasingly seeking to wield the disaster as a cudgel against Democrats, particularly the leaders of big, liberal-voting cities and states.

GOP critics’ argument boils down to a claim — most often asserted with little or no real evidence — that Democrats were blind to the risks of a catastrophic wildfire outbreak and ill-prepared to combat it because of their focus on pushing liberal ideological policies.

“The far left policies of Democrats in California are literally burning us to the ground. Stop voting for people who won’t use common sense water management and forest policies. I’m pissed off. You should be, too,” Richard Grenell, Trump’s incoming “envoy for special missions,” posted on X last week.

Musk retweeted the message, which has become a rallying cry of sorts from many national Republicans — especially Trump’s most aggressive MAGA allies, many of whom have attacked Newsom and Bass over land and water management issues, often exaggerating or in some cases fabricating damning details of a mixture of scientific and bureaucratic processes.

Newsom and Bass are both plainly angered by the criticism, and keen to push back, but also realize that, in a little more than a week, they will rely on the president-elect for immediate and long-term funding for what figures to be a yearslong rebuilding process.

The issue has even penetrated reliably pro-Trump outlets like Fox News.

Vice President-elect JD Vance on Sunday morning was asked directly, during an interview on the network, whether the incoming administration might withhold aid from California — a state Kamala Harris won in the 2024 presidential election by more than 20 percentage points, or roughly 3.2 million votes.

“President Trump cares about all Americans,” Vance replied, pivoting to a criticism of President Joe Biden’s response. “(Trump) is the president for all Americans, and I think that he intends to have FEMA and other federal responses, much, much better and much more clued into what’s going on there on the ground.”

The uncertainty surrounding Trump’s plans for Los Angeles after he returns to office in eight days has been a topic of conversation in recent news conferences with city leaders. Bass on Sunday said that while she has not spoken directly to the president-elect, there has been constructive engagement with some members of his incoming administration.

“I joined in the invitation to the incoming President to come to Los Angeles. I joined with the supervisor and the governor. Spoke directly with the incoming administration yesterday,” Bass said. “It was a fine call.”

The wind-born firestorms tearing through historic oceanside neighborhoods; the Hollywood Hills; and, farther inland, communities in the San Gabriel Valley, like Altadena and Pasadena have resulted in evacuation orders for about more than 100,000 Angelenos, destroyed homes and, by Sunday, killed 24 people, according to officials. Disaster relief from Washington, DC, where Biden remains after canceling a trip to Italy, is being surged into the region and Bass on Friday said the Federal Emergency Management Agency has pledged to recoup every dime of the city’s fire-fighting expenses.

Dems squabble as an LA Republican grabs spotlight

As Democrats struggle to strike a balance with Trump, a little-known — outside Los Angeles — California Republican has emerged as perhaps the most competent communicator, to the public and to Trump, of anyone squaring up to the press and news cameras every few hours.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, a Republican, has been cheered by some in the city for her dispatches and updates on local and national news programs. On Saturday, she did what many Democrats are loath to do — dress up a request for help from Trump in congratulatory, flattering terms.

In a letter, Barger first praised Trump for his 2018 response to the Woolsey Fire, which hit the Santa Monica area during his first term. After extending a “formal invitation” for Trump to visit the affected areas in Los Angeles, Barger effectively spelled out the political upside of engaging with local leaders.

“By accepting this invitation, Mr. President-Elect, you will join us in supporting our citizenry and thanking our heroic first responders, who have risked their own lives to save others,” she wrote. “We would also ask you, as our President, to stand with the people of Los Angeles County as we set our course to rebuild. Your presence would be deeply felt and appreciated.”

A day after sending the letter, Barger offered a pledge to Angelenos affected by the fires.

“I’m going to see this through with you,” Barger said at a news conference. “We will not let up using every resource to fight existing fires. Displaced residents will be served to the highest level as we address your housing, welfare, health care and economic needs.”

Democrats have offered similar messages to the city and the victims of the fires, but those statements have been overshadowed in some cases, most notably in the last 48 hours, by thinly veiled efforts to spare themselves blame for shortcomings in the government response.

Newsom, in an interview released Saturday with the liberal “Pod Save America,” pointed a finger at local leaders, suggesting he was not given “straight answers” about the situation from the outset.

“I’m the governor of California and want to know the answer. I’ve got that question, I can’t tell you, by how many people, ‘What happened?’ — on my own team, ‘What happened?’” Newsom said.

He added, “I’ll be candid with you, I wasn’t getting straight answers.”

On Sunday, Newsom sought to get back on the front foot, signing an executive order suspending some requirements to build under state environmental laws to help fire victims rebuild faster.

“California leads the nation in environmental stewardship. I’m not going to give that up, but one thing I won’t give into is delay,” Newsom told NBC News, promising regulatory red-tape would not slow the recovery process.

The governor has also called for an independent investigation into problems with local water supply after reports that the Santa Ynez Reservoir was empty as the wildfires first struck, further hampering firefighting efforts in the Pacific Palisades.

California Sen. Adam Schiff backed the proposal and, during an interview with ABC News on Sunday, suggested the state “go further” and “do an independent commission review of all of this.”

This story has been updated with new reporting.

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