Trump, Musk Unleash On California Democrats Over Wildfires

Republicans are seizing on the catastrophic wildfires that tore through the Los Angeles area early Wednesday, blaming Democratic policies for the deadly, wind-fueled conflagrations that forced tens of thousands to flee their homes.

President-elect Donald Trump lashed out at Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday, calling the fires “virtually apocalyptic” in a Truth Social post and pointing a finger at state rules protecting endangered species for limiting the amount of water that gets sent south from Northern California.

“I will demand that this incompetent governor allow beautiful, clean, fresh water to FLOW INTO CALIFORNIA!,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “He is the blame for this.”

Elon Musk also piled on, retweeting a comment by Libs of Tiktok criticizing a delay in building dams and adding: “Crazy.”

Local Los Angeles officials said Wednesday morning the Palisades and Eaton fires had killed at least two people and destroyed more than 1,000 homes, businesses and other buildings. Fires in Pacific Palisades, Altadena, Sylmar and the Sepulveda Basin had burned nearly 6,000 acres and remained out of control, with a massive windstorm forecast to continue throughout the day.

Newsom is girding for a fight. He's poured billions of dollars into better forest management and firefighting technology since Trump first suggested Californians “rake” their forests in his first term. But the governor’s efforts made little difference as hurricane-level winds upwards of 100 miles per hour fanned the flames through canyons in dense urban coastal neighborhoods.

Newsom quickly took the offensive against Trump, who has previously threatened to withhold disaster aid to California over its political leanings, on Tuesday at a press conference in Los Angeles.

“My message to the incoming administration — and I’m not here to play any politics — is please don’t play any politics,” Newsom said. “There’s a time and place for that. ... The precious moments we have to evacuate, we don’t have any time for that mishegoss.”

He praised President Joe Biden for quickly approving federal assistance for two of the fires, but will likely need more as the full scale of the damage comes into focus. He also canceled a scheduled D.C. trip on Wednesday morning, swapping probably his last chance to meet with Biden administration officials in the capital on outstanding requests to fully focus on the unfolding catastrophe.

Some in-state Republicans, meanwhile, seized on the fires to hit water and forest management in California, echoing a longstanding critique from frustrated rural conservatives who have borne the brunt of worsening wildfires.

Richard Grenell, who Trump named as presidential envoy for “special missions,” wrote “the far left policies of Democrats in California are literally burning us to the ground” on X from his home in Manhattan Beach. He also pointed out that many people can’t get property insurance because insurance companies have fled the state’s high risk.

Assemblymember Bill Essayli, a Republican from Riverside known for rabble-rousing, added: “We have to end bad environmental policies that have prevented us from managing our wild lands.”

Rick Caruso, a billionaire developer who owns property threatened by the Pacific Palisades fire and a former Los Angeles mayoral candidate, blasted his political rival Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. A Democrat, he compared Pacific Palisades to a “third-world country” and complaining about reports that some fire hydrants in the upscale neighborhoods were running dry.

“This is a window into a systemic problem of the city — not only of mismanagement, but our infrastructure is old,” Caruso told the Los Angeles Times.