Newsom Extends Olive Branch to Trump Over Wildfires

There is a little gamesmanship going on between Donald Trump and California Governor Gavin Newsom.  

Trump has been hammering Newsom, outright blaming him for the California wildfires, but now Newsom has asked Trump to come to California to see the damage for himself.  

Trump Hits Newsom 

One of the biggest hits that Trump has come after Newsom for is because of certain water policies, such as protecting the smelt and sending runoff to the Pacific Ocean rather than storing it in reservoirs.  

For example, Trump stated, “He wanted to protect an essentially worthless fish called a smelt, by giving it less water (it didn’t work!), but didn’t care about the people of California. Now the ultimate price is being paid.” 

Trump also posted on Truth Social, “Governor Gavin Newscum refused to sign the water restoration declaration put before him that would have allowed millions of gallons of water, from excess rain and snow melt from the North, to flow daily into many parts of California, including the areas that are currently burning in a virtually apocalyptic way.” 

Now, there is some truth to what Trump said, but he also has his facts mixed up pretty well. For example, there is no “water restoration declaration,” but there was a proposal in 2019 to redirect water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to Central Valley farms and Southern California urban areas, but that was fought by activists and the Biden administration.  

Newsom Hits Back 

Newsom did respond to the Trump attacks, stating, in part, “I don’t know what he’s referring to when he talks about the Delta smelt in reservoirs. The reservoirs are completely full, the state reservoirs here in Southern California. That mis- and disinformation I don’t think advantages or aids any of us.  Responding to Donald Trump’s insults, we would spend another month. I’m very familiar with them. Every elected official that he disagrees with is very familiar with them.” 

On Trump’s threats, he added, “So that’s his style. And we take it seriously to the extent that in the past it’s taken a little bit more time. I’ve been pretty expressive about that in the context of someone threatening our first responders in terms of supporting the immediacy of their needs or recovery of our community.” 

Regarding Trump’s comments about the city running out of water, I researched this, and that is not what happened, nor was it an electrical issue, as Joe Biden stated. Very quickly, the fire hydrant system is not set up for wildfires in these parts, and it cannot handle virtually every hydrant being open at the same time.  

The pressure was gone because the water storage tanks had been drained so quickly, that they did not have enough pressure to move the water up into these hilly areas until they were refilled. Now, I firmly believe there are policies that were put in place by Democrats that made this far worse than the situation should have been, but I also want to make sure we have all four facts straight. 

The Invite 

Newsom has now offered Donald Trump an invitation to tour the disaster sites to see the destruction firsthand. He stated, “As you prepare to assume the presidency once more, I invite you to come to California again – 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.” 

I think Trump should go, 100%, but I think Trump also needs to make this about the people of California and not get into a name-calling contest.  

The Biden administration was also at fault here, and Trump can dial into those mistakes and vow to correct them, as well as assuring residents that FEMA will be funded to cover whatever insurance does not.  

As we move forward, I would encourage Trump to focus on the policies in place by Democrats that allowed these fires to rage out of control and to assure the people of California that he will work to reverse those policies and put safeguards in to minimize future damage. You do that, and you just might start to win over some voters in California and flip that state red.