California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) arrived at the Santa Monica Fire Department on Wednesday with a printout of the state's request for a major disaster declaration and met with President Biden as fires raged across the Los Angeles area. .
The governor didn't want to leave anything to chance or to Biden's successor, according to two people briefed on the episode. President-elect Donald J. Trump had already blamed Newsom for the devastating fires.
Biden quickly approved the declaration. The next day, he pledged that the federal government would cover the full cost of California's fire response for about six months. “We are with you,” Biden vowed from the White House. “We're not going anywhere.”
The reality, of course, is that Biden will leave office within days, leaving Newsom to navigate the difficult politics of federal disaster relief and a massive rebuilding project with a hostile president-elect who has heckled him with personal insults. I will do it. They have urged him to resign and have not hesitated to use natural disasters as political bludgeons.
Mr. Newsom has had on-and-off feuds with Mr. Trump over the years, but has emerged as an attractive early target for the president-elect's return to power. He is one of the most prominent Democrats in the country, the outspoken leader of the nation's most populous blue state, and has emerged as the leader of a new opposition to Mr. Trump.
On Friday, Newsom sent a scathing letter to Trump urging him to visit Los Angeles to “see the devastation firsthand.” “Do not politicize human tragedy or spread disinformation from the sidelines,” he wrote.
The letter was sent after Newsom visibly raged about Trump's personal attacks during a live interview on CNN earlier in the week, with a building going up in flames behind him.
“People are literally fleeing. People have lost their lives. Children have lost their schools. Families have been completely torn apart. Churches have been burned down. This man wanted to politicize it. '' Newsom said incredulously. “I have a lot of thoughts and I know what I want to say, but I don't say them.”
At another moment, Newsom, standing in front of a firetruck, expressed gratitude for the first round of federal aid from Biden, saying it was “nothing more than a text message.” And he drew a subtle contrast with the incoming administration.
“We're not going to do anything political, we're not going to wring your hands, we're not going to kiss your feet,” Newsom said.
He and Trump have not spoken since the election.
Days after Trump won the White House, Newsom called a special session of the California Legislature to consider a bill that would establish the state as a bulwark against Trump's policies in 2025. The high-profile move generated headlines such as “Stop Trump.” ” Trump quickly slammed the governor, repeatedly deriding him on social media as “Gavin Newscam.”
Mr. Newsom maintained that his legislative efforts to prepare for Mr. Trump's return were preventive in nature, not aggressive, and said he would approach Mr. Trump with “an open hand, not a clenched fist.” .
Now, as Mr. Newsom seeks federal aid to rebuild from a disaster that destroyed more than 10,000 buildings with an estimated economic cost of more than $50 billion, his outstretched hand holds a metaphorical There is a high possibility that the hat is being held.
Few expect a relationship with Trump to be easy.
During his first term, Trump repeatedly questioned and even withheld disaster relief from Democratic-controlled areas. The Trump administration initially withheld relief for six major wildfires in California that burned more than 1.8 million acres in 2020, but Trump later announced it.
Trump ignored a request for federal disaster aid from Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee after the two sides clashed over the coronavirus and climate change during wildfires in Eastern Washington in 2020.
Inslee, who is leaving office next week, said in an interview Thursday that “in response to the anger of the youth, Donald Trump has said he will not work with us at all.” “I was shocked,” he said, adding: “You have to hope that there will be a revelation that this man ultimately wants to help people, not score political points.”
During the 2024 campaign, Trump demanded that if Newsom wanted to unlock future disaster funds, he needed to change water policy to send more water to the state's farmers.
“If he doesn't sign these papers, we won't give him the money to put out all the fires,” Trump said at the time. He continued, “And if we don't give him the money to put out the fire, he's going to get into trouble.”
So far, there are few signs that Trump will change his approach.
This week, as fires raged out of control in Los Angeles and thousands of people were left homeless, Trump accused Newsom of “gross incompetence” and called for his resignation. “This is all his fault too!!!” he wrote on social media.
Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., said he was “disappointed, but sadly not shocked” to see Trump politicize the fires. He warned that Trump could pay a political price for blocking aid to the nation's largest state.
“I would be shocked if there weren’t more President Trump supporters living in the Palisades,” he said. “He should think twice about trying to just punish California across the board.”
Incoming White House press secretary Caroline Levitt declined to say whether the new administration would attach conditions to further aid. “President Trump campaigned on putting Americans first and helping our fellow citizens in need, and that's exactly what he will do,” she said.
Dan Newman, the governor's political adviser, said Newsom knows how to control Trump's moods and doesn't feel isolated.
Newsom “knows how to tune out the noise and focus on what's important,” he said.
Rebuilding some blighted areas of Los Angeles, including Pacific Palisades, where the rich and famous, is a major challenge and potential opportunity in the second half of Mr. Newsom's second term, but it's something he's not alone in. It may become a test instead. Not only leadership is important, but also democratic and progressive governance. Some right-wing activists have already accused the Democratic-led city and state of mishandling the fires and are calling for the 2028 Olympics to be moved from Los Angeles.
As former New York City Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and former President George W. Sometimes it is improved, and often it is damaged. Bush experienced the opposite in 2001 after the September 11 attacks and Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Her position was hurt in Africa, where fires broke out despite warnings about the conditions at the crater and the recovery took several days.
Mr. Newsom's own political future remains up in the air. Term limits mean he will retire in 2026, two years before the next presidential election. He has long hesitated when asked about becoming president, even though he has traveled the country and built a massive digital business.
For now, Mr. Newsom faces a growing set of logistical, financial and political challenges that could stretch into the future.
In California, for example, the fires are expected to overwhelm the already strained fire insurance market for residents. Some insurance companies had already stopped writing new policies in the state.
“We need help from the federal government, and it's a big unanswered question right now,” said Scott, who served two terms as California's insurance commissioner until 2018 and is now director of the Law and Energy Center's Climate Risk Initiative. says Dave Jones. University of California, Berkeley environment. “Mr. Trump is already making up stories about what happened and who's at fault.”
Jones said that depending on the size of the insured loss under the state's California Fair Plan, an insurance policy of last resort, homeowners in the state could be required to have appraisals to help rebuild in fire areas. He explained that there is.
“If that happens, it's going to be a terrible wake-up call,” Jones said.
Katie Glueck, Nick Colasaniti and Reid J. Epstein Contributed to the report.
