President Trump will enterprise into deep-blue California on Friday for a closely-watched go to that might decide catastrophe assist for the state and the way Trump will work with Democratic governors all through his 4 years in workplace.
Trump’s journey to fire-ravaged Los Angeles comes after he traded barbs with California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D). The president may even make journeys to North Carolina, which was hit onerous by Hurricane Helene, and to Nevada, two states he received in November.
The journey to Los Angeles additionally marks an enormous second for Newsom, who has been floated as a possible 2028 contender however who has additionally come beneath intense scrutiny for the state response to the fireplace.
Congress will probably have to think about catastrophe assist for California forward of the fast-approaching March 14 authorities funding deadline. A variety of prime Republicans, together with Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) have known as for situations to be placed on federal assist to the state. Final week, Trump floated tying the help to a future reconciliation invoice.
Rep. Younger Kim (R-Calif.), whose district neighbors the areas most affected by the blazes, instructed The Hill {that a} go to to the area may change Trump’s perspective on conditioning the help.
“[It’s] the same argument I’ve been making with my colleagues,” Kim stated. “If this disaster hit your district, you would think differently and not talk about the conditions because look at my colleagues from North Carolina, look at my colleagues from other disaster areas like Louisiana, and then here in Southern California.”
Earlier than former President Biden handed off the California catastrophe reduction to Trump, he prolonged the reduction for the state to one hundred pc for 180 days, which stretches properly into Trump’s presidency. Biden stated earlier than leaving that Congress might want to present extra assist to the state, the place he shares a very good relationship with Newsom.
Trump then inherited the catastrophe and opted to go to California on his first week in workplace. He stated on Wednesday that he hasn’t thought of if he’ll meet one-on-one with Newsom. He additionally opted to go to North Carolina after being essential of the federal and native response to the hurricane that hit there in September.
He instructed Fox Information on Wednesday, “I don’t think we should give California anything until they let water flow down into their system.” And he steered that states ought to deal with their very own responses to pure disasters.
“FEMA is a whole nother discussion, because all it does is complicate everything,” Trump stated. “FEMA has not done their job for the last four years.”
Trump argued this week that wildfire reduction will make conversations over catastrophe assist “simpler.”
“It’s been in some ways made simpler by Los Angeles because they’re going to need a lot of money,” he stated. “Generally speaking, I think you’ll find a lot of Democrats are going to be asking for help so I think maybe that makes it more one-sided. We’re going to take care of Los Angeles.”
Trump visited Southern California in 2018 after a wildfire and toured the harm with Newsom, who was the governor-elect, and then-Gov. Jerry Brown (D). Newsom, on the time, praised Trump, saying, “there are no politics being played here.”
When requested about that go to in comparison with now, Trump instructed Newsmax final week, “Well, this is different than 2018.”
For one, Trump has a special crew behind him than he did in 2018. His chief of workers Susie Wiles and press secretary Karoline Leavitt are new faces and his Homeland Safety secretary nominee Kristi Noem has not but been permitted by the Senate; Benjamine Huffman is serving as performing secretary. Huffman leads Homeland Safety’s Federal Regulation Enforcement Facilities, which trains legislation enforcement officers.
Trump didn’t designate an performing director for FEMA, which is inside Homeland Safety, and has not named his nominee but for the function.
To make sure, Trump and Newsom’s interactions will probably be carefully watched. The 2, who’re no strangers to sparring with one another, have traded barbs over state and federal emergency responses to the catastrophe. Regardless of the backwards and forwards, Newsom invited Trump to go to the state and urged him to not “politicize human tragedy or spread disinformation from the sidelines.”
Newsom took goal at Trump once more this week after the president signed a sequence of government orders to roll again Biden-era local weather initiatives, together with a withdrawal of the U.S. from the Paris Local weather Settlement, a freeze on new offshore wind leasing, and increasing oil and fuel drilling the Arctic.
“If you don’t believe in science, believe your own damn eyes,” Newsom stated in an announcement, adopted by photos of the wildfires.
Trump, within the interview on Wednesday, stated Newsom may launch water, a remark that comes after Trump has hammered the governor over water shortages. He repeated his claims that California may higher fight its fires in Los Angeles if it directed water from the northern a part of the state to the southern half.
“Look, Gavin’s got one thing he can do: He can release the water that comes from the north,” Trump stated. “There is massive amounts of water, rainwater and mountain water that comes due with the snow, comes down when — it as it melts. There’s so much water. They’re releasing it into the Pacific Ocean. And I told him for — it’s a political thing for the Democrats. I don’t know.”
Some Republicans are hopeful that, regardless of Trump’s actions within the first week of his return to the White Home, the president may very well be pleasant with Newsom if the 2 come face-to-face.
“If we’ve learned anything from the first 48 hours of Trump 2 is that there’s not much room for nuance and comfort for his opponents,” stated C. Stewart Verdery, Jr., former assistant secretary of Homeland Safety within the George W. Bush administration. “It is unusual that the location of the wildfire disaster is right at the headquarters of ‘Trump resistance’ in California and SoCal in particular. But I’ll predict that despite the political barbs being thrown at Mayor Bass and Gov. Newsom, Congress is going to do its usual thing and provide aid to the fire victims as soon as the numbers are finalized.”
Republicans say politically there is a chance for the president within the blue state to distinction his administration’s management with the state’s Democratic management.
“Trump has this opportunity to basically not try to screw California but to come to California and say, ‘Hey, these guys that you’ve elected don’t govern well and we’re going to fix California for you,’” stated Rob Stutzman, a California political guide and former aide to former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R).
“However Republicans additionally level to the sensitivity of the difficulty, contemplating Trump’s feedback that the wildfires assist negotiations.
Trump has already unilaterally stepped in on the state of affairs — on Monday, he signed an government order directing departments to “route more water” from Northern California to Southern California.
Different Republicans warn that Trump has to “be sensitive” on his go to, after many individuals within the better Los Angeles space have misplaced their houses and companies from the wildfires.
“This is an important visit for the president given the magnitude of the tragedy and his stated desire to unite the country. However, it is also complicated for him because he has already indicated that he will leverage the situation in order to advance other priorities in Congress,” stated former Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-Fla.).
Mulvaney, however, stated talks about conditioning assist ought to have taken place lengthy earlier than the latest pure disasters in North Carolina and California.
“Twenty years ago we should have started talking about conditioning disaster relief money on remedial activities to make sure that the next disaster isn’t as costly,” stated Mulvaney, former director of the Workplace of Administration and Funds in Trump’s first administration.
“I’ve never known Donald Trump to shy away from a tough conversation,” he added.
