Trump and Musk Blame California Dems for Deadly Wildfires

Republicans, led by President-Elect Donald Trump, are seizing on the catastrophic wildfires that are tearing through Los Angeles, blaming Democratic policies for the wind-fueled conflagrations that continue to force tens of thousands to flee their homes.

Trump lashed out at Gov. Gavin Newsom, calling the fires “virtually apocalyptic” in a Truth Social post and pointing the 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 that 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 hit back at Trump on Wednesday, calling the “water restoration declaration” Trump cited “pure fiction” in a post on X.

“The Governor is focused on protecting people, not playing politics, and making sure firefighters have all the resources they need,” Newsom’s press office said in the post.

Newsom quickly took to the offensive against Trump, who has previously threatened to withhold disaster aid to California over its political leanings.

“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 said at a press conference.

Newsom also praised fellow Democrat 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.

Meanwhile, several California Republicans followed Trump’s lead and took aim at Newsom’s water management policies, 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 complained 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.