Trump Lays Down Terms for California Wildfire Aid

Last week, Donald Trump traveled to California to check the damage from the wildfires that have ravaged the state.

Rather than promise blanket aid for the state, Donald Trump offered Gavin Newsom some terms.

Trump-proofing California

After Donald Trump won the election, California Governor Gavin Newsom called a special session for the state legislature to “safeguard California values.”

Newsome dubbed it as Trump-proofing California. This includes legislation for the state DOJ to “immediately file affirmative litigation.”

Newsom, in part, stated, “The freedoms we hold dear in California are under attack — and we won’t sit idle. California has faced this challenge before, and we know how to respond.”

Senate President Pro Tem Mike McGuire, a Santa Rosa Democrat, added, “We learned a lot about former President Trump in his first term — he’s petty, vindictive, and will do what it takes to get his way no matter how dangerous the policy may be. California has come too far and accomplished too much to simply surrender and accept his dystopian vision for America.”

Trump Delivers Conditions

On Friday, Donald Trump offered conditions for the aid to residents of the state, demanding Voter ID laws be put in place if they want that federal money.

Trump stated, “In California, I have a condition: in California, we want them to have voter ID so the people have a voice because right now, the people don’t have a voice because you don’t know who’s voting, and it’s very corrupt. And we also want them to release the water. If they release the water, they wouldn’t have a problem.”

This may not go over too well with some readers, but Trump is both misinformed and wrong here. First, in terms of the water being released, it was not technically a water issue that caused these problems. The issue regarding water flow was in the construction of the hydrant system in these areas. More or less, this was a water pressure issue because of how the hydrant system is laid out. Because so many hydrants were being used at the same time, the holding tanks were drained so quickly they could not create the water pressure needed to send the water into the hills until the tanks were refilled. They literally never had a chance.

Second, and Democrats are already pushing this point, you cannot play politics when you have Americans in need, period. I get that the system was horribly constructed, initial response orders were flawed, etc., but putting such demands for aid when we are sending hundreds of billions overseas is not going to play well with anyone. This was a chance for Trump to play the hero, and he once again shot himself in the foot and is already coming off as the villain.

Dems Push Back

It took Democrats about five seconds to respond to Trump’s demand for voter ID laws, and it went just about as we would expect.

One of the first shots was fired by California Democrat Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, who stated, “Everyone in our legislature understands the urgency of this moment. You know, and I hope the federal government understands that urgency, as well. You know, this is not the time for politics and political games and finger pointing. We need to come together to rebuild this great American city.”

Again, I am on Trump’s side regarding wanting to see voter ID laws in place around the country, but there is a time and a place, and this is surely not it.

As I mentioned above, Trump really had a great opportunity to play the hero and convince the people who did not vote for him in this election that the right person was in office. When he made that condition, which I doubt he will hold firm to, he just gave the Democrats more ammo. As I have stated many times, unfortunately, Trump is often his own worst enemy, and he needs to smarten up on that front. We have two years to make an impression, or we will lose the House and possibly the Senate. There is literally no time to play games.